With presidential nominees named in both major parties, voters are closely watching how Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are going to perform in the battleground states. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity has a little advice for the nominees: don’t disregard coal. “Coal-fired electricity is important to 13 of these 17 states,” the group said in a paper Monday.
The paper names 17 states as battlegrounds, states where the contest is too close to call: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The states where ACCCE says coal is important in power production are Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wisconsin. “Collectively, they represent 149 electoral votes, more than half the 270 votes necessary to be elected president,” the paper says.
According to the paper the 13 states have 353 coal-fired electric generating units, and six of them are significant coal producers, producing 142 million tons of coal in 2015.