In the face of a presidential call to break the country's dependence on fossil fuels such as coal, Gov. Joe Manchin III defended the state's premier export.
President Obama, in his first Oval Office address Tuesday, called the BP oil spill "the most painful and powerful reminder" that "the time to embrace a clean energy future is now." Manchin, in an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review hours before Obama's address, said coal remains the most important energy source in the country and pushed back against efforts to move away from it.
He said the Obama administration risks "self-inflicted economic pain" in its quest to curtail carbon emissions and spur renewable energy development.
"The bottom line is, they continue to try to over-regulate and over-tax," said Manchin, a Democrat. "I'm not being critical. I'm being very factual with what I see."