""Carbon dioxide emissions have been the target of the current administration, attempting to curtail rising global temperatures. One of the solutions from both sides of the aisle has been encouraging development of shale gas, the burning of which produces less carbon dioxide.""
As we've documented for you, in an issue that goes entirely unacknowledged by the press, Shale Gas, even though it emits "only" about two-thirds the CO2 of Coal per unit of energy generated when it's burned, is in many place already contaminated with a large burden of CO2 at it comes out of the ground. In some cases, 30% or more of as-produced Shale Gas consists of CO2, which is simply stripped out and vented to the atmosphere before the product gas is put into a pipeline.
""Obama has one specifically pro-coal policy bullet, but it's only pro-coal in the sense that it is helping the industry comply with a rule his administration is implementing. Romney wants to help coal by lifting carbon limits, while the Obama administration wants to help coal emit less carbon.""
Totally unacknowledged publicly by anyone in Coal Country, an egregious act of omission, we think, is the fact that Carbon Dioxide can be reclaimed and recycled into hydrocarbons. And, that can be done using environmental energy to drive the processes. Although the Navy has done the most work in that area, your likely most accessible source of info on the topic would be Penn State University, in the person, most specifically, of one Craig Grimes.
Further, also totally unacknowledged, is the fact that Obama, with Senator Byrd and others in the Senate, in 2006, co-sponsored the Coal To Liquid Fuel Promotion Act.