Politics & Power Quote by Jerry Costello

“Absolutely critical” is doing the heavy lifting here, a phrase politicians use when they want to turn a policy preference into a non-negotiable national interest. Jerry Costello’s line isn’t just pro-coal; it’s an attempt to pre-empt debate by framing coal as infrastructure for prosperity itself. Once you accept that premise, questions about pollution, worker safety, or long-term climate risk start to sound like luxuries the country can’t afford.

The intent is coalition-building. Coal is positioned as the backbone of “economic health” (jobs, cheap power, industrial stability) and “global competitiveness” (a subtle nod to China, manufacturing, and trade anxiety). That pairing matters: “economic health” speaks to local constituencies and labor; “competitiveness” flatters the national-security mindset and business interests. It’s a rhetorical bridge between populist employment politics and corporate energy priorities.

The subtext is also defensive. Coal advocates rarely talk this way when coal is winning on its own terms; they talk this way when the industry feels politically exposed - by regulation, by market shifts toward natural gas and renewables, or by the moral pressure of climate science. Calling coal “critical” reframes the industry from a polluter into a patriotic asset, and turns environmental policy into a threat to the nation’s standing.

Contextually, this sits in the familiar American energy script: an elected official from a coal-reliant region translating a local economic dependence into a national necessity. It’s less an energy argument than a narrative about who gets protected when the economy changes, and who pays when it doesn’t.