The National Mining Association is running online and radio ads in key states blasting the Obama administration’s rules aimed at curbing carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.
The 60-second radio ad, which will run throughout the rest of May and into June, opens with the sound of someone shouting “ridiculous” as they tear open an envelope.
{mosads}”That’s the sound of people opening their electric bills to discover they’ve nearly doubled,” the narrator states in the ad, which is running in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Michigan.
“An 80 percent cost hike is something we better get used to if extreme new Obama administration power plant regulations take effect,” the ad states.
The rules, which would limit the carbon output of new and existing power plants, are critical pillar of Obama’s climate change legacy.
But the mining association says energy experts and consumers want an all-of-the-above energy portfolio, with coal as a central part.
The online and radio ads urge consumers to tell their elected representatives to “stand up for affordable, reliable electricity.”
The ads are running in states that may prove crucial for Democrats’ chances at maintaining control of the Senate.
The carbon emissions limits are a contentious topic on Capitol Hill as Republicans have made what they are calling a “war on coal” a wedge issue.
The administration says GOP assertions are far overblown, and that the rule is not attempting to cut the U.S. off from coal as a energy source, but make it cleaner.
Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy, who is tasked with carrying the rules to fruition, said on Monday that the agency is working hard to make the regulations as flexible as possible.