Was Reid’s slur on coal an impolitic truth?

Senator’s sound bite has right wing buzzing, others shrugging

Sam Morris

Nevada Power’s Reid Gardner coal-fired plant is shown in April 2007. Many conservatives argue that coal power has been partly responsible for the nation’s prosperity and that now is not the time to abandon it, particularly with continually rising demand for energy.

By Lisa Mascaro (contact), Phoebe Sweet (contact)

Thu, Jul 10, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Washington — Sen. Harry Reid has a knack for blurting out the one thing nagging in the back of some people’s minds — the thing few people of his stature dare to say, for fear of looking off kilter.

Last week the majority leader did it again when he told Fox Business News that “coal makes us sick.”

Reader poll

The comment ricocheted across the political landscape, drawing mostly scoffs and ridicule. After the video was posted on the Drudge Report, it shot up to No. 1 on YouTube.

But it does make us wonder: Does coal make us sick?

The American Lung Association says coal-fired power plants are among the nation’s biggest industrial polluters. The plants are responsible for 24,000 deaths a year, plus 500,000 asthma attacks and nearly 40,000 heart attacks.

Coal companies say plants of the new era are much cleaner. One representative said blowing up a hotel in Las Vegas is probably responsible for more particle dust.

Dr. Christian Hyde, a radiation oncologist from St. George, Utah, who has spoken out against a coal-fired power plant proposed for nearby Mesquite, Nev., said the chemicals and fine dust particles coming from power plants are the ingredients that lead to health problems.

“Air pollution does make people sick, and you don’t have to look too far for evidence,” Hyde said.

Still, the comments by Reid, who has opposed new coal plants for Nevada, led to gasps, particularly across the Republican side of the political spectrum.

This is what he said:

“The one thing we fail to talk about is those costs that you don’t see on the bottom line. That is, coal makes us sick. Oil makes us sick. It’s global warming. It’s ruining our country. It’s ruining our world. We’ve got to stop using fossil fuel.”

Pundits and bloggers lighted up. Newt Gingrich said Reid would bankrupt Las Vegas.

Tim Pearson, a spokesman for Freedom’s Watch, which disseminated the video as a news release, didn’t know Wednesday whether Reid was factually correct, but said the senator’s stance “indicates the liberal mind-set about fossil fuels.”

Others said this country’s wealth and high living standard were made possible with the industrialization fueled by coal and oil. With rising energy demand, they say, we need coal to keep the lights on. Criticizing that seemed narrow.

As one senior Republican Senate aide put it, Reid “speaks the truth to the crazy few.”

But showing just how wide the political and cultural divide in this country has become, Democrats — when they were even aware of the comment, and some were not — didn’t understand the ruckus.

“Harry Reid is right,” wrote Susan Estrich, a University of Southern California law professor who has run Democratic political campaigns, on FoxNews.com last week.

“Coal does make us sick,” Estrich wrote. “It’s not even debatable. It’s just the truth.

“The fact that Republicans think they can use this fact against Democrats tells me just how out of touch they are with the new realities of American politics.”

Bill Wicker, the Democratic spokesman for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, deadpanned, “That coal has been known to cause health problems isn’t breaking news.”

Whether history decides Reid was prescient or short-sighted, we’ll have to wait a bit. In the meantime, coal-making-us-sick will go on the list of Reidisms from the plain-spoken senator from Searchlight — along with calling President Bush a “loser” and a “liar,” and suggesting last year, when troop deaths in Iraq were at high levels, that this “war is lost.”

Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes the Senate for the Cook Political Report, wonders whether Reid was trying to insert health concerns into the global warming debate or just talking off-script.

But she’s not surprised.

“Here’s the thing: He’s not wrong,” Duffy said. Where he tripped up — and often does — was in the delivery. “There were, oh, I don’t know, 20 to 30 different ways to say that.”

She doubts it will cause Reid much political trouble.

“Singularly I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Duffy said, “but boy, you could do a montage.”

Discussion: 12 comments so far…

By texexnv

7/10/08 at 7:57 a.m.

Suggest removal

Per usual, Boss Reid's uncontrollable mouth kicks in before his pea-sized, aged, out of touch brain.

Yes, on an infanatile level analysis "coal makes us sick". As does hydrocarbons and nuclear. DUH!!!

Had the Boss wanted to state things more accurately (heaven forbid!), he could have said: 1) Present coal TECHNOLOGY makes us sick, and 2) Lack of enforcement of pollution laws makes us sick.

Right now Boss Reid's indolence is making me sicker than coal generated energy.
By m2monet

7/10/08 at 8:35 a.m.

Suggest removal

The TRUTH in many cases is a hard pill to swallow. Keep doing your job and telling the truth. Lets hope more people hear it before too many more have to die to prove it. Keep up the good work!
By cignetti

7/10/08 at 8:46 a.m.

Suggest removal

Born in the coal mine country, lived in the coal mine country for years, worked a summer in the coal mines. Now I am in the process of beating the life expectancy actuarials and in excellent health. Reid has taken far too many punches to the head and stayed too long in the noon day sun as the mad dogs do. Try talking to smokers, junk eaters and drug addicts now that crap really shortens your life and really makes you sick both physicaly and mentally
By LasVegan

7/10/08 at 9:01 a.m.

Suggest removal

Harry Reid is an old wrinkled prune that has an overall negative world view toward everything. There is nothing that comes out of his mouth that's not attacking someone or dissing something. Ask yourself, do we want this guy for our state and our nation? Isn't the Reid dynasty getting out of control in Nevada? Is Tessa Hafen riding too much on his coattail? She got a cushy DIRECTOR job at UNLV with a measly Bachelor's degree, barely equal to the students there, but is in charge of well educated faculty and staff. Harry Reid should have and could have negotiated for Nevada to receive a nice compensation for Yucca, yet his negativity caused his endless attacks to the National Security that got us no where. We receive no help with the rising gas price or collapsing housing market. Right now, CCSD has a hold on issuing contracts to new teachers, and is Harry Reid working on it? No. Should he be? You betya. If Harry Reid doesn't start speaking for us and our hardship in Nevada, he should not be representing us in Nevada.
By OldEnvironmentalLawyer

7/10/08 at 9:12 a.m.

Suggest removal

Harry Reid hit the nail on the head, in terms of coal's effects on human health. Good for him.

The reality is that Big Coal is not hurt by what he said, because they have their lobbyists in place to protect the industry's interest.

Let's just hope old Pinkie never gets caught taking any campaign donations from Big Coal.
By thebs

7/10/08 at 9:22 a.m.

Suggest removal

"LasVegan," if you knew Tessa, you'd know how much of an asset she is to higher education in the state of Nevada. You'd also understand how her experience as Reid's press secretary left her imminently qualified for her current position.

Instead, you argue we should give up and allow tons of toxic waste to be stored in Nevada in exchange for a few measly bucks? You'd sell out to Bush?

Please, go back to wherever you came from. Nevada doesn't need you.
By rusty57

7/10/08 at 9:41 a.m.

Suggest removal

So the new plants don't get built and the old dirty ones don't get retired. The boutique fuels (solar,wind) can't keep up with increased demand let alone replacing aging infrastructure. The power lines to the new wind/solar farms can't get built either due to enviros&nimbys . The old dirty plants have to be kept in service and everyone is the worse for it. Energy gets so expensive that the only solution is a windfall energy tax on Big Coal. Marvelous.
By HandymanSC

7/10/08 at 1:17 p.m.

Suggest removal

WHY ????????????? Do the people of NEVADA keep electing this bum.
By williamtomany1

7/10/08 at 1:24 p.m.

Suggest removal

Poor Senator Reid is off base again as usual.
Build cleaner coal generating plants
By UNLVStud

7/10/08 at 6:29 p.m.

Suggest removal

Coal is making us and the environment sick. We should be protecting our water, air, and forests from the effects of dirty coal technologies. It is our responsibility to make sure we leave the earth in at least the same state, if not better, than when we inherited it. The ones that follow after us deserve as much.
By jfnance32

7/10/08 at 7:16 p.m.

Suggest removal

Reid:

1) No to coal
2) No to new offshore oil or natural gas drilling
3) No to drilling in ANWR
4) No to nuclear power

Yes to solar power which can not be used to feed our power systems 24/7.

Yes to higher utility bills.

Yes to higher gas prices.

No to help the worker. Nevadans would will lose their jobs because of higher gas prices and higher utility bills.

Our hero, Senator Reid.