Fox's Megyn Kelly recently hosted a lengthy segment on the coal industry featuring a Mitt Romney campaign ad and the CEOs of a coal trade group and a coal mining company. The industry representatives claimed that President Obama is waging a "war on coal," but the facts about the Obama administration's efforts to enact long overdue clean air regulations were noticeably absent.
On Fox News' America Live, host Megyn Kelly interviewed American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity CEO Mike Duncan and Murray Energy Corporation CEO Robert Murray. After Kelly aired a campaign ad featuring Romney speaking at the Century Mine, Murray belabored the “human issue” of regulations and the plight of coal miners who “just want to work in honor and dignity.” But Kelly didn't mention that Murray, who owns the mine, recently came under fire for forcing miners to attend the rally without pay, or that his company has a history of labor and safety violations.
During the segment, Murray claimed that Obama “is going to export millions of jobs to China by destroying low-cost electricity in this country for no environmental benefit at all.” But in fact, the Obama administration has put in place regulations that have large environmental and public health benefits; at the same time, U.S. coal mining jobs have remained steady at about 85,000. Furthermore, studies show pollution from coal causes tens of billions of dollars of damage, including death and disease for many coal miners, more than offsetting its “low cost.”
Previously: