In a January interview with the SF Chronicle, Obama told us he would make energy prices "skyrocket."

"The problem is not technical, uh, and the problem is not mastery of the legislative intricacies of Washington. The problem is, uh, can you get the American people to say, “This is really important,” and force their representatives to do the right thing? That requires mobilizing a citizenry. That requires them understanding what is at stake. Uh, and climate change is a great example.

You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.

They — you — you can already see what the arguments will be during the general election. People will say, “Ah, Obama and Al Gore, these folks, they’re going to destroy the economy, this is going to cost us eight trillion dollars,” or whatever their number is. Um, if you can’t persuade the American people that yes, there is going to be some increase in electricity rates on the front end, but that over the long term, because of combinations of more efficient energy usage, changing lightbulbs and more efficient appliance, but also technology improving how we can produce clean energy, the economy would benefit.

If we can’t make that argument persuasively enough, you — you, uh, can be Lyndon Johnson, you can be the master of Washington. You’re not going to get that done."

Ok, fair enough, change isn't going to be cheap. So much so that Obama must have forgotten in all his talk on clean coal lately, when he said "if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can — it’s just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted."

Yep, he's going to fix that economy. Anyone here think their home energy costs aren't high enough? Ready for Obama to bankrupt your business?

The big question is why did the SF Chronicle suppress this information ? I don't think this news is timely enough to influence the outcome. But... there are a few key swing states that are heavily invested in coal.

If it wasn't for the late Sept. financial "crisis" this campaign would still center on the national security aspects of energy independence and McCain would be in a much better position.

It gets worse, not only did Obama promise energy prices would "necessarily skyrocket," he told Iowa public television last year he wants to send "price signals" to get people to changer their behavior.

"I think it is important to send some price signals to change behavior. It's not going to be painless. Power plants are going to have to adjust how they generate power. They will pass on those costs to consumers.... A lot of us who can afford it are going to pay more for a unit of electricity; over time the electricity bill goes back down as technology catches back up."

James Pethokoukis who wrote this article, tells us how this would wipe out Obama's middle class tax cuts:

See, Obama's little-discussed cap-and-trade plan would raise costs on businesses for using energy, like the entire coal industry—and they would then pass on those costs to you and me. Those "price signals" effectively are $100 billion a year in energy taxes, which would wipe out Obama's middle-class tax cut/credit.

Ohio Coal Association on Obama's Plan to Wipe Them Out:

The message from the Democratic candidate for President could not be clearer: the Obama-Biden ticket spells disaster for America’s coal industry and the tens of thousands of Americans who work in it.

It’s evident that this campaign has been pandering in states like Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, and Pennsylvania to attempt to generate votes from coal supporters, while keeping his true agenda hidden from the state’s voters.