An audio clip from January has just emerged on the internet with leading presidential candidate Barack Obama stating that "if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them." He further stated that "we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there."
Clean coal has been a buzzword in the political world. More recently, Obama has been more careful: "And we must find a way to stop coal from polluting our atmosphere without pretending that our nation's most abundant energy source will just go away. It won't," Sen. Barack Obama said in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, this month. "That's why we must invest in clean coal technologies that we can use at home and share with the world."
Republican Sen. John McCain in Missouri has had similar comments: "Perhaps no advancement in energy technology could mean more to America than the clean burning of coal and the capture and storage of carbon emissions.
It has been reported recently that clean coal production has been hit by project failures, irregular investment and technologies that have yet to be tested in the marketplace.
Earlier this year, the feds canceled support for a project in Illinois that would have demonstrated clean coal technology.
In Colorado, Xcel Energy has shelved its clean coal project, saying it doesn't need the power and citing regulatory concerns about carbon dioxide emissions.
Investors are also skeptical with their scant interest in Colorado's two clean coal companies, Rentech Inc. and Evergreen Energy Inc. which are trading well below $1 per share.
Renewable energy venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has said policymakers and companies should be "pragmatically" and not "religiously" environmental.
Today's question is what are Obama's plans for the current industry. Are they pragmatic or dogmatic?
In any case I would be skeptical this week on trading in coal companies like Peabody (BTU) Energy Corporation as word spreads that Obama is willing to "bankrupt" the industry. I also think there is some truth in that. The move towards protecting the enviromental will surely have its victims. This new audio clip is a reminder of that fact.
On the other side of the coin, Democrats may take a moderate approach and protect current coal companies and only heavily restrict emerging players, which would actually be good for these entrenched companies. However, with the expected near super majority Democratic government that is likely to be elected on Tuesday, I would be highly cautious in a sector like this.
