To the editor:
The recent Sentinel editorial regarding Peabody Energy loss of profits demonstrates to what level this paper will go to bash Obama by putting the blame on him. They parse the report to provide only the information to support their attack on Obama. The truth is, Peabody is a global company with mining operations in U.S. and Australia.
The report from several news sources actually reports: "Coal miner Peabody Energy Corp. says its third-quarter profit plummeted 84 percent, but the company sees the global coal market stabilizing, after being battered by competition from cheaper natural gas and lower coal pricing." Further research reveals that the use of coal in the U.S. is projected to increase by 40 million tons in 2013. It also reports that there has been a shift from Appalachian coal to Midwestern and western coal mining regions which would account for job losses in the East.
According to an article in U.S. News and World Report dated Sept. 4, 2012, "Perhaps the biggest remaining source of cheap coal lies in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana. While it isn't widely known, the Obama administration has been quite generous with ultra-cheap coal leases in the public parts of the Powder River Basin. In short, big coal companies don't pay much for the right to mine coal at Powder River, thanks to the current White House."
Obama is also attacked for not drilling for oil or allowing the Canadian pipeline, but according to Factcheck.org: "[T]here's nothing to prevent more Canadian oil from coming into the U.S. right now. Existing cross-border pipelines already have much more capacity than they are using. Those pipelines have the capacity to bring in more than 1 million barrels per day of additional Canadian oil, according to a study produced for the U.S. State Department by EnSys Energy & Systems Inc. And the study predicts that surplus capacity will persist at least until the year 2020, even if the Keystone is never built."
A recent news article states that the U.S. may soon become the world's top oil producing nation, yet it doesn't lower our gas prices. Why? Because U.S. oil producers will sell it on the global market at the highest price.
Recent statistics indicate that CEO earnings are now 230 times more than the average worker while they outsource jobs and reduce wages and health care for U.S. workers.
As long as oil prices continue to be manipulated by the greedy rich to increase their wealth, the rest of us will not be spending money to stimulate the economy, we will be spending our money on gas to go to work and fuel to heat our homes. Do you think a wealthy Romney who supports outsourcing jobs and using tax loop holes to pay a lower tax rate than most of us, will promote change for the middle class? Do your research before you vote for Romney.
Rob Kersteter
Lewistown
