Romney in 2003: Coal plant 'kills people'

If you had a problem with RomneyCare, check out Romney’s previous comments on coal.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal tonight:

Just days after his 2002 election, Mr. Romney hired Douglas Foy, one of the state’s most prominent environmental activists, and put him in charge of supervising four state agencies.

Gov. Mitt Romney and Douglas Foy at a March 2006 event.

Mr. Foy had initiated a lawsuit that led to the cleanup of Boston Harbor and had worked to protect fishing grounds and seashores. Once in the Romney administration, he served as the governor’s negotiator on a regional climate-change initiative and put emissions caps in place for coal-fired power plants.

With Mr. Foy by his side, Mr. Romney joined activists outside an aging, coal-fired plant in 2003 to show his commitment to the emissions caps. “I will not create jobs or hold jobs that kill people, and that plant, that plant kills people,” he said.

Mr. Romney, while implementing the emissions caps, ultimately backed away from the regional climate-change agreement in 2005, a decision announced on the same day he said he would not seek re-election as governor, stoking speculation that he would run for president.[Emphasis added]

U.S. coal plants don’t kill or harm anybody now and didn’t in 2003.

We wonder what his explanation will be. Oh yeah… we’d like to hear about the rationale for hiring Doug Foy, too.