Romney digs for coal votes in swing states

• Several critical swing states have significant coal industry presence
• The United Mine Workers endorsed Obama in 2008 but not this year
• The coal industry fears environmental and health regulations may cost jobs

At a recent rally in coal-rich Belmont, Ohio, Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan encouraged voters there to cast their ballot early for Mitt Romney in order to keep "good paying jobs" in the coal industry safe.

The Romney campaign has used the argument for coal as a way to court a relatively small percentage of voters, many of who are Reagan Democrats, who occupy key coal-producing counties in several battleground states.

While most of the 25 coal producing states are solidly in one camp or the other electorally, four are considered possible tossups this cycle: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado and Virginia.

Under the banner of the "war on coal," Republicans have repeatedly hammered the Obama administration's environmental policies as "job-killing" and preferential to newer, cleaner and more expensive fuels and technologies.

Both campaigns have visited coal country several times over the past few months. Most recently Ryan stopped in Belmont and Romney's son, Matt, stumped for the campaign at a coal rally in Grundy, Va., on Sunday. Obama surrogate Bill Clinton attended a rally in Wintersville, Ohio, last week.

Voters in some of these coal-rich areas helped carry the president to victory in Ohio and other states in 2008, and the Obama campaign contends that the president's "all of the above" energy plan has made "one of the most significant federal investments in clean coal technology in history."

Nationwide employment in coal mining has fluctuated over the past four years but has risen overall since Obama took office, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. As of September, 82,200 were employed in the coal mining industry, up from 77,200 in January 2008.

Obama won significant portions parts of coal country in 2008. For example, of the 18 Ohio counties that produce coal, seven voted for Obama including Belmont, the largest producer in the state.

Even so, he may have a tougher time this year.

Barbara Altizer, director of the Eastern Coal Council in Cedar Bluff, Va., said that when Obama ran in 2008, she was pleased with his record on coal, but that during his term as president his administration seemed to draw "alliances with the anti-coal people."

"We've never been under attack quite like we are right now," she said.

According to a National Mining Association report, as of 2010, there were about 5,000 directly employed in the mining industry in Virginia, where Romney and Obama are running neck and neck, according to most recent polls.

The association has a voter-outreach effort called Mine the Vote, which provides information on mining issues, candidate voting records and registration information. Spokeswoman Carol Raulston said that since August, 220,000 visitors have used the platform with most inquiries coming from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.

Coal mining companies, executives and employees have donated more than $15 million this cycle, and 90% went to Republican candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And the United Mine Workers of America, which endorsed Obama four years ago, has said it will not endorse a candidate this year, for the first time since 1972.

Coal advocates say the Obama administration is pursuing costly new regulations on mines and on power plants that burn coal will be a devastating blow to the industry.

"If there's less coal being demanded, especially certain types of coal, that certain jobs are required for, then you are going to reduce" mine employment, said Dan Kish, senior vice president of the Institute for Energy Research.

Kish said many of the regulations have not gone into effect yet and most of the current drop-off in the coal industry has more to do with the "temporary market forces because of the price of natural gas."

Some coal facilities have shut down -- including Patriot Coal in eastern Ohio this summer -- saying they were unable to meet new requirements on emissions imposed by the Obama administration, such as new federal standards on the amount of dust in a mine.

Mike Carey, chairman of the Ohio Coal Association, said coal mining jobs have decreased in the past two years, pointing to recent mine closures in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

"Even if someone lives in eastern Ohio, they could be easily working in West Virginia," he said. "It's a regional issue."

Cathy Duvall, political director for the Sierra Club, said that the recent regulations on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants were initially mandated by the Clean Air Act and had languished during the George W. Bush administration.

"The mercury rule was created because people are dying from it," she said.

In a speech Friday in Virginia, Obama mocked Romney's embrace of coal, pointing to a news conference he held as governor of Massachusetts in which he said a soon-to-be-shuttered coal plant was hazardous.

"If you say that you're a champion of the coal industry when while you were Governor you stood in front of a coal plant and said, 'This plant will kill you' – that's some Romnesia," Obama said.