Apparently cap-and-trade does not make for good material. In the spirit of comedy, and since we were outside of a Bill Engvall show in Charleston, we tried to tell some cap-and-trade related jokes. We asked West Virginians whether a tax on 98% of their state’s energy was humorous; for some reason their funny bones weren’t tickled. I don’t know if it was my poor delivery or the prospect of spending more money for everything, but I couldn’t buy a laugh.

If you have a better cap-and-trade joke, leave it in the comments!

I try to visit West Virginia once or twice a year to white water raft, camp and enjoy the outdoors. These semi-annual trips began a few years back when a group of friends wanted to run the upper Gauley River.

Over the years, I’ve met the folks who run the camps, fellow rafters, and river guides. And to no one’s surprise, most, if not all, of the natives either have a family member, neighbor or friend who works in the coal industry.

West Virginia is coal country. It’s what they do. It’s their way of life. After Wyoming, West Virginia is the largest coal producing state in the Union. Some 98 percent of their power generation comes from coal, and the state mines roughly 13 percent of all the coal that powers the United States.

These folks are proud of their heritage. Most are second, third and, in some cases, fourth generation miners. For West Virginians, coal jobs provide good wages, a stable lifestyle and often require break-neck hours underground. (more…)

The American Energy Alliance stopped at a Columbus Clippers game to look for answers to a simple question: “What do baseball salary caps have in common with cap and trade?”