The Republican National Committee (RNC) attacked the Obama administration as anti-coal in a Web video released Thursday that coincides with a campaign trip to Ohio by Vice President Biden.
The RNC video, titled "The Obama-Biden Attacks on American Coal Energy Jobs," features clips of the president and vice president discussing their concerns about coal production.
"The Obama administration has been against coal jobs from the very beginning," said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus in a statement. "Who can be surprised that this administration has instituted one of the most aggressive anti-coal campaigns in memory after repeatedly attacking them during the campaign?"
The Obama campaign
added a section on “clean coal” to its website earlier this month after House Republicans alleged that the president’s “all-of-the-above” energy plan neglected the fossil fuel.
“President Obama has set a 10-year goal to develop and deploy cost-effective clean coal technology,” the website says.
Ohio is among the top five U.S. states in coal consumption, used primarily for generating electricity, according to the latest data available from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The vice president used his speech in
Youngstown, Ohio, Wednesday to hammer presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on his economic philosophy and private-sector record.
Speaking at a factory, Biden took Romney to task for offering a glum assessment of where the economy is heading and for opposing the bailout of the auto industry — a major issue in Ohio.
“It’s not just that manufacturing is coming back. The middle class is coming back,” Biden said, almost shouting as he spoke. “America is coming back. Workers are coming back.”
Biden on Thursday remains in Ohio, which is considered a swing state in the presidential election, where he will deliver remarks at a campaign stop in Martins Ferry.
— Andrew Restuccia contributed.
