By Delegate Terry Kilgore

For more than four years now, President Barack Obama and his administration have waged war on coal. For more than four years now, he and other Democrats have denied that claim at every turn. Today, they finally admitted the truth.

One of President Obama’s Science & Technology Council Advisors told the New York Times that a war on coal is exactly what is needed.

A Harvard University geochemist who serves as a scientific adviser to President Obama is urging the administration to wage a “war on coal.”

“The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants,” Daniel P. Schrag, a member of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, told the New York Times. ”Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”

And while the President’s speech this afternoon will likely be very subtle, the underlying message will be crystal clear.

Instead of spending his second term focused on revitalizing a still-struggling economy, President Obama has set his sights on putting America’s coal industry out of business and thousands of Virginians out of work. People all across Southwest Virginia have seen their friends, neighbors and family members lose their job because of President Obama’s war on coal.

At least he’s finally willing to take credit for it.