As Jack Conway continues to stress the drug issue in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race, Rand Paul is talking energy.
Speaking before touring the Robards, Kentucky Big Rivers power plant on Wednesday, Paul held a news conference to rail against Cap and Trade's carbon energy tax, potential action by the EPA and how that would affect the cheap electric rates in Kentucky.
Frank Boyett of the Evansville Courier Press reports:
"I think un-elected bureaucrats should not write laws," Paul said during a press conference in front of the Big Rivers power plant.
"People are still talking about some form of a carbon tax. Any form of a carbon tax will not be good for Kentucky.
"Joblessness across Kentucky is at a significant high. People are suffering. The current administration, President Obama and the national Democrats, do not get it. They do not get it that cap and trade will kill industry in Kentucky."
The Conway campaign, meanwhile, re-released comments Paul made earlier this year against federal mine regulations. However, another Paul quote about coal that the Conway camp says he made in February was actually a sound bite pulled from a YouTube clip of Paul campaigning for his father in 2008:
Coal's a very dirty form of energy," Paul says on the video clip, "You may have coal around here that needs to be mined, but I mean the thing is that it's probably one of the least favorable forms of energy."
With repeated questions about whether Conway has consistently been opposed to Cap and Trade, he released a statement:
“I’m always going to protect Kentucky coal because it creates good-paying jobs, attracts industry, and keeps electricity bills low. That’s why I’m opposed to any and all Cap and Trade legislation, which unfairly punishes coal states like Kentucky and
raises utility rates on middle class families. I even sued the EPA to keep them out Kentucky and protect our coal economy. I want to make sure that coal is a part of America’s energy future, and that’s what I’ll do in Washington.”
