George,

The most interesting aspect of the energy debate between Virgil Goode and Tom Perriello to-date is not what is being discussed, but that the issue (or even the word) COAL is not mentioned. Is COAL a four-letter word in more than one sense? With recent debates on licensing the Dominion Power Wise County Coal Plant, and the very troubling issue of mountaintop removal coal mining in Virginia, and the contribution of coal in generation of Green House Gas emissions--generating energy from coal should certainly be part of any statewide or regional energy debate.

I brought this very question to U.S. Senate candidate Mark Warner on Monday morning at Cville Coffee after he outlined an energy plan that also didn't mention the word COAL. When jobs, energy generation, global climate change and other environmental issues are major campaign topics, coal mining, and use for energy generation needs to be a major part of the discussion.

Peter Kleeman (Electronic mail, September 16, 2008)