Top GOP Contenders Receive 2011 Lump of Coal from AEA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON D.C. — Late into the night on Wednesday, December 14, the American Energy Alliance award committee poured over the policy ideas of the top contenders for the 2012 Republican nomination, desperately searching for the most deserving recipient for this year’s “Lump of Coal” Award.

After at least a dozen painstaking, caffeine-induced hours the committee determined that no single candidate stood out as more deserving than the others.  Hence, today’s “Lump of Coal” is awarded to Governors Jon Huntsman (UT), Rick Perry (TX) and Mitt Romney (MA), Reps. Michelle Bachmann (MN) and Ron Paul (TX), Speaker Newt Gingrich (Tiffany & Co.), and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (PA).

“There comes the time in every award committee’s life that they must choose,” noted AEA President Tom Pyle in the award announcement.  “But this year, the Republican electorate seems to be having a difficult time arriving at a frontrunner, and our awards committee feels their pain.

“So the decision was made to give each GOP candidate a “Lump of Coal” for their past energy failures and present energy follies, though the committee has determined to revoke the award should any candidate repent at tonight’s Fox News debate, hosted in Sioux City.

“Jon Huntsman has been all over the map on climate change and brags about moving Utah toward solar energy.  Newt Gingrich loves ethanol and Nancy Pelosi. Mitt Romney thinks we are “using too much oil.”  Rick Perry is in Pickens’ pockets and refused to walk back his Texas predecessor’s renewable standards mandate. Michelle Bachmann can’t decide whether she likes subsidies or not. Ron Paul goes around signing windmills to make Iowans happy, and Rick Santorum has backed flex-fuel mandates and wants to subsidize flex-fuel stations.

“In the past, the temptation to intervene in the energy markets has proven too great for the entire field of GOP candidates, proving that this is not an exclusively Democratic problem.  Going forward, the American people deserve a leader who recognizes the full measure of coal, oil, and natural gas resources under our feet, enacts policies that open our energy resources to create jobs and promote energy security, and refuses to feed the crony capitalists in the energy sector who crave taxpayer subsidies.” Pyle added.

“The American Energy Alliance will be watching tonight’s debate, and will gladly revoke a ‘Lump of Coal’ from any candidate who announces a clear agenda for affordable energy.”

The American Energy Alliance previewed last week the inaugural 2011 “Lump of Coal Awards” for energy stupidity, which will be announced December 8-23, 2011.  To learn more about coal’s important place in America’s energy future, click here.  To learn the facts about coal production in the United States, click here.

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