of the national mining association talks about the d.c. court of the appeals. coming up at 9:15, we will have part of our online media series. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] host: good morning, you're watching the countdown to the gop. you will meet the senior washington correspondent for the salt lake tribune. later on, harold quinn and the president of the national mining association. we will talk about the epa, the court ruling on state pollution

and mitt romney's energy plan. and we will wrap up our series on online media. that is our program this morning. we will begin today with a discussion about afghanistan. yesterday, there was a major briefing by general allan on the state of the war and, also this week, a benchmark of two thousand deaths in afghanistan. we will ask you whether or not the war in afghanistan has become america's forgotten war. we have some headlines. we will rescue if you agree with that. host: a good friday morning to you. let's begin with a clip from general john allen. he is the senior commander in

afghanistan. he did a video news conference on thursday to update the country for reporters on the war. this is his brief summary. >> it has been highly successful summer. the coalition forces have and maintain an unrelenting pressure on the insurgency. they have largely pushed them out of the population centers. we have limited their freedom of movement and predicted there logistics'. we have taken scores of their leaders and fighters off the ballot -- off the battlefield and have separated the insurgents for more and more of the afghan population. insurgent attacks, while still indiscriminate and deadly, are increasingly localized, affecting an ever shrinking portion of the afghan population. the insurgency we face today, while still active, dangerous and is capable of inflicting harm, is trying hard to predict its strength as its position

continues to slowly erode. host: during their first 45 minutes, we will show you a couple of other clubs in the briefing yesterday and some comments from the campaign trail. for the president and mitt romney, when they're asked questions on afghanistan policy for the next term of president. this week, "the new york times" by its calculation, two thousand u.s. personnel died in the war in afghanistan today -- to date. by other calculations, the number has been reached fast. that is the consensus that the death toll, u.s. military personnel has reached the two thousand mark. this is from a report to congress by the congressional research. there have been 16,781 military personnel wounded in action in

afghanistan as of mid july. let me go to the report itself to show you the death toll for coalition partners. there are 26 nations listed. they have sustained 1831 deaths by their toll. they say in this report to congress in mid july, 11,064 civilians have been killed. let me show you some headlines. that is really the genesis for our conversation this morning. from "the washington times" they say that afghanistan is america's forgotten war. and above " the christian science monitor," the war rarely makes an appearance in the obama-romney race. and americans ignore the war in

afghanistan despite two thousand casualties. that is the question period for you, in your daily life, is afghanistan the forgotten war? we would like to hear from service people and families of surface -- of service people for your perspective on how america is thinking about the war in afghanistan. let's take a call from charlotte, north carolina. caller: first of all, how would like to send my thoughts and present to people who have lost people in this war and other wars that we have fought. and our thoughts and prayers to others who have served the country. unfortunately, this is on the back burnie -- the back burner right now. i am sure the obama administration, with all of their positions in the previous election, they want this to be on the seven people will make the comparison over whether we will get out of it.

another thing i think we should think about is the freedom that these people are fighting for, to protect us. at the same time, we are losing our freedoms in the united states. one of the biggest things i saw the other day that really disturbed me was the notice put out by abc, cbs and nbc, that they will only cover one hour of the republican national convention and that they will dedicate other hours to paid advertising. in the history of the united states, we have given both political parties equal time and they say they will do this for the democrats as well. but i doubt there will take as much time away from the democrats. we have only given an equal amount of time for networks to cover the conventions so that people will get a fair amount of information to make the decision. i think people should know that, not only is the war in

afghanistan being pushed to the back burner, but also the freedom of information for the united states public so they can make an informed decision as to which political party they want to lead them into the next decade, millennium, whatever you would like to call it. host: thank you. charlotte, north carolina will host the democratic convention in the next week following. john, your comments about coverage, while the commercial networks up announced extensive on-line tools. channels like ours, pbs and all the cable networks will be there and there will be a lot of other options as well as cable television. on the fairness question, democrats rearranged their schedules because the networks did not want to interrupt the opening football game of the season. that is one of the reasons why the democrats have a three-day convention this week. networks are cutting back cycle after cycle because of the

commercial interests. this year, with the rise of social media and on line, there are many more options to you to watch the convention. but we're talking about afghanistan. i do not want to get off track. whether or not it is the nation's forgotten war. this is rick, an independent. guest: listen, we want to forget the war. for anyone who knows history and philosophy and psychological makeup of the islamic radicals, there is no way we can forget this war. i was stationed in afghanistan. we will have to go back and kill and kill and kill because they will force us to do it. if we leave it just by itself, it will become a sanctuary like it was before 9/11 and they will come up with a method of suicide bombings or whatever and wreak terror on the rest of civilization. this court cannot be forgotten because the enemy doesn't forget.

we are being very pollyannas about this nonsense. they are out to destroy civilization. we there survive as a civilization or we die and the sort of islamic radicalism. -- or died under the sword of islamic radicalism. a fundamentalist islamic radical will be the head at the democratic convention. host: on twitter -- next is a call from fairfax, va., a republican. good morning. guest: i guess my question is --

i retired from the marine corps. i have a nephew who is committed right now. i have a good friend retired from the marine corps, to, who has gone back. it is not forgotten about. i don't understand -- i guess "the new york times" did a spread of the day with a the second 1000 names and photos of the people who did not come back. host: we have it on screen. guest: that is pretty jarring when you see the 1000 families and extended families that have been affected by that. that includes the people that they serve with, their children,

their moms, their dads. i think, in this country, politics aside, for get republicans and forget democrats. the whole idea of going out to serve, you take that risk that you might not come back, but i don't think that we are -- i listened to with the general said. he is an active marine duty marine and i am retired. but i feel like his heart is not in it either. i do not think anybody's heart is in this insanity that we are involved in over there. i get so tired of the world -- of those carrying the world on our back, too. where is everybody else? where is the rest of the world? the rest of the western world, like the independent guy said? where are they? if we cannot have everybody involved and the republicans -- the president and governor

romney, both of them, this is a minor bump in their process of getting elected or reelected. you know, i guess you can hear it in my voice. i am just so frustrated with us sending of these young kids -- and family people, too. they are not just kids out there. why do we have them there? and why are we getting them killed? host: a fairfax, va., thank you for your call. next up is a call from brooklyn, steven, a democrat. guest: hello, my name is steven and i am from brooklyn. i think the war in afghanistan should have been over and long time ago because been laid in has been killed.

we have problems -- because of some of the layton has been killed. we have problems here in the united states. we need to bring our soldiers back, come back here and build up our construction and provide jobs to the american people here. we're getting our money away, are taxpayer money away to afghanistan, to rebuild their country while our country's infrastructure is falling. and to top it off, when the soldiers get back here, they don't -- they cannot even get a job. you know, this is really ridiculous. this is why this war should have been forgotten and is supposed to be forgotten because it doesn't make no sense. we need to protect our borders here. host: thank you. brooklyn new york. this is another headline. both candidates were asked about the war at different events over the past week.

here is the president at a press conference at the white house on monday. [video clip]journa >> we are in much closer contact. our troops are in much closer contact with afghan troops on an ongoing basis. part of what we have to do is to make sure that this model works and does not make guard as more vulnerable. in the long term, we will see fewer u.s. casualties and fewer collision casualty's by sticking to our transition plan in making sure that we have our most effective afghan security force as possible. but we have to do it in a way that does not leave our guys all marble. leave our guys -- vulnerable. so we are deeply concerned about this. in several weeks, we will start to see better progress on this front. host: by the way, mark miller is

a great statistician about all things presidential, not just this president, but all those he has covered. he keeps all the records, their trips, press conferences, and we asked him how many the president has met with the press. here's the response we got. since the start of 2012, president obama has had 10 press avails. he knows that president obama interviews.rs doing we're talking with you about the war in afghanistan and whether or not it is the forgotten war for americans. we have our call from john, an independent.

guest: good morning. i don't think this or should be forgotten. remember, the korean war, that we had almost forgotten and the veterans we had almost forgotten. the if you forget these words, you're forgetting the veterans. again, this country has a bad habit of having short-lived memories. they become too complacent and then something else happens. we cannot forget this war. we cannot forget why we get into this were the first place. ok? thank you very much. host: we are talking a lot as a nation at budget priorities. thecostofwar.com has a budget calculation. they take soldiers regular salaries out and the word

differential in as they calculate the cost of the war. that is their calculation available on the internet with explanations on how they have got into those numbers. talking about whether or not afghanistan has become a forgotten war, we have a republican on the air. guest: yes, i am a vietnam veteran. the only reason it is considered a forgotten war is because we have now won it by killing and massive amounts of taliban to be able to establish a lasting peace. i would like to tell the people that "will street journal" has had several interesting articles. -- "wall street journal" has had several interesting articles. there are tons of heroin coming out of afghanistan this year and it goes out for distribution to the world.

to me, that is a total defeat for one of the key reasons we should be in their, which is to limit the heroin threat, which fuels the money that keeps the taliban operation. in vietnam, we had a very successful program at night with hunter killer teams in helicopters using infrared lights. they would light up insurgents and kill them one by one. that is a lot better and safer way to do it with the drones today and get the body count. to be a forgotten war, you have to kill millions of the enemy to stop it. that is all i have to say. dinkey. with --t's check in thank you. host: let's check in with our facebook community.

net host: is a libertarian from neptune beach, fla. the go ahead. host: good morning. it is forgotten. we're propping up the most corrupt regime that has ever run afghanistan. as far as the bentsen -- as far as presidential candidates, romney stated that he and his son have lived in peace over their lifetime.

he does not even recognize that we are at war. thank you. host: mitt romney was also asked by a veteran and a gentleman who identified himself as having a son currently fighting in the middle east had a chance in the event in new hampshire this week about his policy on the war in afghanistan. let's listen to his answer. [video clip] i can tell you this, if i am so lucky to be president, with regards to afghanistan, i will do everything in my car to transition from our military to their military as soon as possible, bring our men and women home and do so in a way consistent with our mission, which is to keep afghanistan from being overrun by a new entity that will allow afghanistan to be a launching point for terror again like it was in 9/11. host: mitt romney on the campaign trail in new hampshire

all. -- in new hampshire. guest: 2 thoughts. one is that we were all told to forget about the war's when the bourse for started. forget about the war. go about your day, go out and buy things you don't need is what we were all told when the war for started. second thought, we cannot forget about the war. in the 1980's, when the russian- afghanistan, flood -- when the russian-afghanistan conflict, we provided whatever a they needed. then the war with russia ended and we left and we didn't give any more aid. we did not build any schools. because we left, we allowed them to foster the anchor against americans. we left them with broken promises and that is how we left

it. host: back to facebook. host: next is a call from maryland. eric, an independent. guest: how you doing, c-span? host: we are great. what are your thoughts on afghanistan and people's perceptions on it? war.: it isn't a forgotten we cannot afford to forget it because of the fact that we have veterans returning and struggling.

from a long-term perspective, we cannot afford to forget it because we still have to make sure that we are maintaining that the long-term view with respect to security and also keeping those veterans in mind. because it is so easy to say, hey, when somebody is returning, there go some free football tickets to ravens games, but it does not matter if he is 45 and 50 years old. you have to remember the sacrifices. i don't think that it is forgotten. we have to keep in perspective the long term. host: when you are mixing with friends and civilians inside in the washington area, where you live and work, do people ask questions about the war? are they interested? guest: i will say not really.

my civilian counterparts that i work with and interact with and my neighbors, we don't really talk about it. it is kind of unfortunate. i don't really like to bring it up because of the interest level. any time i bring it up in social circles as to warn people of what is going on for veterans and things of that nature. i always try to keep it in perspective with respect to the fact that this is a controversial conflict. we still need to have that solidarity as americans. host: people in the vietnam generation will remember that people talk about the war lot in their everyday lives. what is the difference now? guest: i hate to say it this way, but i think a lot of the young people nowadays they just don't really get it. they really do not understand what it means to sacrifice something. to do -- everyone wants something so quickly.

they don't understand. what it means, the reality about going out to war. i don't think they really have an understanding of it. in the vietnam era, when you talk about the levels of casualties and what people were going through and the fact that there was not support their at all for those veterans returning vs now where there is far better support for guys coming back and there is that level of awareness at least from the perspective, i don't think that people talk about it because they are aware of those things going on at least. host: give for your contribution. next, a call from waco, texas. guest: i am a vietnam veteran. i don't think any veterans have forgotten this war. none that i have talked to. but we have to remember that there are other forces that are

driving this war. in addition to media, which i will address in a minute, we have embedded in our war a war on drugs that our country is trying to fight and has a lot of money tied up in. we have free rescues and security to ngo's and partners on the backs of our soldiers and the lives of our soldiers. we really need to come home now. on the media point, i think that the media and the government both don't want the public to see any real news. it just bothers me from the beginning that we have not seen the soldiers pulled from the gift to us -- the soldiers ultimate to us, coming home in

their casket. it is to keep the public from getting too upset about it, like they did in vietnam. host: you are talking on the van of photography and for those coming home at dover air force base. i am explaining your reference. there's no photography allowed of the caskets coming home at dover air force base. guest: right. that is from the bush era. if you watch or link tv, you will see mosaic, which is a good scope of all the middle east and what is going on over there. they give extra information that you can balance with the bbc. here.'t get news all we get our these republican primaries and secondaries and everything else crammed down our throats all year long. host: thank you. to the question why the discussion with different among civilians during vietnam reminds us that back then there was a

draft and everyone was involved . it is not the same now. back to facebook -- host: next up is george from georgia. guest: thank you c-span. i think that the media and the obama administration is trying to make afghanistan a forgotten war because the political and it is an election year. it is difficult to answer questions. i have 33 years in the military, airforce. it seems to me that we are involved in some many countries right now. libya, we are actually helping and arming the muslim brotherhood or al qaeda fighting

against the regime. also named syria. we are still in afghanistan. we are still in iraq. and we are getting possibly to go to work in iran. the objectives are getting very murky and unclear. who are we fighting over there? the price we're paying, we have to really reevaluate our position in the middle east. do we have an objective other than political? it is getting almost totally beyond -- i think it is out of control. there are 190 different nations in the world with military bases and installations. i think it is time to bring a lot of these forces home and secure our borders and take care of our country. thank you.

host: thank you. britain and france joined the u.s. in warning syria on military action. host: are talking with you about afghanistan and whether or not americans have forgotten this work could next is another richard, a republican. guest: good morning. to begin with, miami combat that. vet. am a combat tha

we should never have been there. they have been killing each other for 6000 years. you give them a gun in the will shoot you with it. with the political the way it is, you shoot someone over there and you go to court. it is not a war. it has never been declared a war. if it was a war that was declared, we would go there and clean them up. but we cannot do that because it is not a war. we are you losing -- we are losing all these young folks. got to quit. host: armonk city, pa. -- fairmont city, pa. there is an account on the rate of the osama bin laden compound. there is a reported navy seal who was in the operation. it took about 24 hours for that person's name to be uncovered.

here is the story.

next host: is a phone call from a democrat in new york. guest: good morning. good morning, america. you know, i am a veteran and i am proud to be an american. i look at this question and i am scratching my head thinking, you know, you asked that same question to the same people who have lost family members over in afghanistan, you know? they haven't forgotten.

you have friends and relatives, you know, that have lost people over in afghanistan. they have not forgotten. you know? these are people who lost their family members and, you know, to turn around and to think that someone has forgotten about their loss -- i haven't forgotten. i don't have any family members that have gone over there, but i haven't forgotten the people around me that have lost people in afghanistan and that is my comment. thank you. net host: is alexandria, va., good morning to jim. you're on the air. guest: thank you for taking my call. a four-time veteran. i just got back from

afghanistan. i am in it -- i am on the marine and the wounded warrior. i think the reason that people don't know and nobody is talking about it is that it is incredibly how uninformed people are about what is going on in afghanistan. that is scary to me. we have been there over a decade and listening to people's comments on how misconstrued they have certain facts and details about what is going on over there i think is ridiculous of our greater problems. i wanted to throw long while there appeared -- i wanted to throw one thing out there. the marines that were down in helmand word awarded a president citation. he could bring this issue back into the mainstream. he could bring it into the national dialogue.

but he will live and be there to present the award to the marines could although it is a presidential award, which is very uncommon to give this award to a unit. i wanted to throw that point out there. if the president really wanted to be part of the dialogue along with his campaign, he could do that, but i believe he is choosing not to. i third point is that we have a shared sacrifice with this war. i think the statistics say that 1% of the population is serving in this war. few americans are really touched by this war. there has been no war tax implemented or anything that would show that there is a sacrifice, collective sacrifice among the millions of americans that are so-called supporting the troops. that is my comment. host: what do you want people to know about the progress of the war? guest: i think we are many very

transitional stage. although the recent headlines, the green-on-blue afghanistan, the afghan police and army uniforms are shooting coalition forces. it is a horrible tragedy. this transition is occurring. we're bringing troops back and it is interesting to read obama [inaudible] this is the tail end of that plan where he is withdrawing forces. additionally, he said the security threat in afghanistan is not reluctant to 100,000 troops and two billion dollars a week. that is absolutely true. if we put a big tax on the

afghanistan border, we would have subservient challenges in the united states. interest to world's have special forces that [inaudible] i do think the president is trying to make the best of a bad situation. but, again, i would say that the president could bring it into the dialogue. there has been so little sacrifice among the american people. no one is paying extra taxes. there's a whole other slew of issues. but i don't think that enough people are touched by the war. host: bank for your call this morning. on twitter -- let's listen to a little more of john allan's briefing about the status of the war. [video clip] >> our callow -- are casualties

are not the same as last year. george can get you the number could they are about 25% lower this time than they were last year. but the difference is that the afghan casualties are higher this year. they are higher because the afghan forces, the larger force , they are higher because they are leading and partnering in for more of the operations than last year. they are higher friendly because the afghans are in the attack. in that regard, there is a significant change from this year, this year from last year. host: general john allen yesterday from the changing casualties. i want to get a couple of political news items as we round out our first 45 minutes. we know that troubles from isaac is approaching united states and may speed up romney's nomination.

host: also in the paper this morning, "the washington times" -- the president is going on the road, but king protocol. that is from the -- bucking protocol. that is from the morning papers.

here is the pullout. that is mitt romney in his own words in this morning's "wall street journal." we will have a few minutes to continue the discussion on afghanistan and how much americans are focused on it. next is jack from tampa, fla., a democrat. guest: good morning, my theory is that the reason of the cares about this war is that there is no draft. if there were a draft, all those little rich boys and rich girls would be in the minds of their moms and dads and trying to hide them so they wouldn't have to go -- and then a war would be out there and people would be thinking about it because they don't want their kids to go. thank you. host: next is gregory on twitter --

pontiac, ill. up next, republican. you are on the air. guest: i am kind of horrified that the question is even asked. it makes me wonder if maybe there are some people forgetting about it. to the extent that it is forgotten, i would think that it revolves around three basic tendencies of the media. one, the media centers in this country are based in washington, new york and hollywood, which means that you have washington oversimplifying, washington reporters reporting on politics, new york reporters reporting on finance, and hollywood with what ever the latest liberal thing is. secondly, in the recession of 1990-1991, these major companies bought the three major networks.

one of the first things they did was cut down the foreign bureaus so that there was a major loss of jobs, primarily overseas, in the various news divisions in this country. thirdly, it is my experience that i never knew, going to college or living in a major university town, that you're a journalist types being interested in military history and you see that in reporting when they cannot understand the difference between a battalion and a brigade. if the hiring would happen in the media so that they actually hired more conservative can thinkers -- conservative thinkers, that might remedy it to a certain extent.

but without reporters on the scene, it will be hard to get the story out. host: thank you. landover, md., an independent. welcome, richard. guest: it is something that should never have happened. the united states invaded a poor country that had nothing to do with 9/11. the taliban has nothing to do with 9/11. we invaded a poor country without a military. afghanistan is not even have a military. it is really said. the host: effort has been on train the military and the police force. guest: it does not have a military. how can you train them for something they have never had. host: you think they are taking on an impossible task, the allies? guest: people that did this are

in saudi arabia. afghans did not have anything to do with 9/11. that is the confusion to the people in this country. host: thank you, richard. next and final call is from wisconsin. a democrat. guest: i would like to say that the war is not forgotten, but it is behind closed doors. both sides really don't want to reduce their defense spending because it feels jobs for civilians, constituents in their state, in the military bases and the places that manufacture war

materials. so they quietly keep on pushing for extending the defense budget and also the war is not forgotten on public tv because every once in awhile, when they show the numbers and the pictures, at the end of the program, they show the people that have died in afghanistan, you know, and before when it was in iraq. it is quietly not forgotten because of the senators want to keep the jobs in their particular area. host: calling, you will be the last voice on this. we will take a break. next up, you will meet thomas urr from "the salt lake

tribune." he will talk about mormons and their indoctrination and the influence on mitt romney, the man running for president. we will be right back. featured speakers include anne

romney and chris christie with the keynote address, congressman paul ryan and thursday presidential nominee mitt romney. use our online convention have to watch exclusive video speeches. include your comments and connect with other viewers. jeff >> i think their job is not to ask got to questions. >> julianna of goldman became members correspondence -- when house correspondent in 2009. >> that is how i approach my job and not looking to catch, you know, when jay carney did the press briefing, i am not looking to capture, oh, that is not what you said the other day. it is really turned to get

information to inform people with. >> more with julienne of goldman sunday at 8:00 p.m. on "q&a." >> "washington journal" continues. host: meet thomas burr. he is a correspondent for "the salt lake tribune." thank you for being here this morning. you did a special and the mormon religion. more americans are learning more about it as this campaign progresses with the first major party representative being a mormon. caller: i think people want to know mitt romney. and part of mitt romney is being mormon. the majority of americans don't know very much about the oldest church. when you look to more romney, you're saying, -- about the lds church.

when you look to miss rummy, you're saying, what do i know about him? they want to understand a little bit about the mormon church. host: in 2008, there's a great deal of discussion about the connection in his church, whether obama would have a church in washington. halloween tune do -- how in tune do americans seem to be it? caller: there was a lot of questions about his background in the mormon church. not so much this time. the same thing with president obama. people want to know the same thing about romney. where did he come from? what kind of values does he have? where did he go to church? there are obviously those interests. both candidates have been vetted.

that has not been an issue this time around to some degree. we did see last sunday, for example, both candidates went to church. i am not sure that was planned. they both figured out that we will go to church on the same day. we saw obama walking across lafayette park. and romney was in new hampshire. i guess both candidates are probably trying to show to some degree that they are regular people. not sure that they will talk about their beliefs on the campaign trail every single day. but like many americans, they go to church. >> we will open up the phone lines and involve you in the conversation could it have questions about the mormon religion and its involvement, it has any, and the political life of the church, how mormons are reacting to been increased spotlight on their faith -- we welcome your participation in this discussion. we put the phone numbers on the screen and you can send as a tweet or you can send us an e-

mail and you can do that with the graphics on the screen. thomas will be with us for 40 more minutes and we would like to take part in the conversation. the recently reported on polling data. eight in 10 voters ok with romney's mormon faith. caller: i found that interesting, especially looking back at previous polls. there were polls that were done in 45 years when george romney for started running for president. what you saw back then was that the% of americans were weary that he was mormon. now we see with romney as a republican candidate that most people are saying, you know, we're not really concerned about that. it is almost fascinating. they are lockstep behind the republican candidate. maybe politics thompson -- maybe politics trump's religion. they are happy and excited about

him and they want to beat president obama and they want to go for governor romney. host: an article of faith and the candidates. now want to share use something a treated to mitt romney about this. he set up a " people are certainly free to learn more about my religious beliefs and the practices of my faith. i was very involved in been pastor of a competition where i attended church and have pretty extensive and direction with a large number of individuals and families that were the potential beneficiaries of my counseling advice." are there any misconceptions about any religion. i feel it is the responsibility of the faith itself to clarify those misconceptions. my office is responsible to the needs of the nation and not of my church. let's parts that a little bit more. can you talk about his reference about being involved as a pastor of a congregation.

caller: that is a term that most americans deny use. i think that is a term that mitt romney uses because most americans can understand what a pastor of a congregation is. his title was having been a bishop of the war in massachusetts. he says pastor because there were 400 people in his congregation. he was also stake president which is more like an archbishop. he was in charge of a new wide variety of wards in the boston area. yes, the bishops job is difficult. he is the guy that regular mormons see when have problems. he got to see that. he spoke in a magazine coming out sunday on how we can equate to people who are not as well- off as him. people who need help, me to go to the bishop to get milk or things to survive or helping the utility bill, but for nothing.

you will see ronnie talk about that possibly in his convention speech this coming week. host: is this a fine line for the campaign and the canada on how much of his involvement with the church to it -- and the candidates on how much of is involved with the church to real? it does bring up more of a connection to the church. caller: there is a fine line that he is trying to draw. he does not want to be the defender of the ;ds church -- of the lds church. he says that i am running for commander-in-chief, not the -chief.in these are the values i was brought up in and these are the things that i worked on with other people in my fate. host: i wanted to put on the

table that mitt romney is by far not the only mormon in public life. this is a publication from "church news." there are 15 mormons currently serving in the u.s. congress, including harry reid, the majority leader, and also other senators, like mark crapo from idaho and mike udall in new mexico. they're both democrats and republicans. it sounds like you can generalize that mormons would tend to be more one party. guest: you will see that there are more republicans than there are democrats. harry reid is the highest- ranking mormon in government right now. there are democrats who are good mormons. i know several who believe that,

actually, if you are a good mormon you should be a good democrat. republicans obviously disagree with that. you do not have to be a republican if you are mormon. the first platform that the republican party had was anti- bigamy, which is the polygamy of church.ulds the relics of barbarism and slavery -- they come around and now we have a mormon nominee. host: we will begin with south carolina. mary, a democrat. caller: good morning. i have a question. a couple months back, i received a "book of mormon." and did some stay with the young

gentleman that came by. they work with both, but i am not sure because they did not stay long because i got kind of confused on what they were trying to tell me. do they believe in both the regular bible that we study or do they actually believe that the "the book of mormon." because there are some weird stuff in here as you really read it that don't make sense to me, especially being african- american. host: mary, a question for you. does the candidates faith shake your vote? caller: yes, because more men and other religions are considered cult religions which are not the standard christian belief that most americans have. i feel that what you believe in religiously is how you perceive yourself towards your fellow

man, you know? so i do think that your religion has a lot to do with your outlook on everybody, with everything that you personally. host: thank you so much for your call. there's a lot to do with in the questioned her first of all, do they believe in the bible? guest: yes. i do not want to get in the position of explaining the lds church. there is no question that mormons believe in "the book of mormon" and the bible. you will see mormons carry around a huge book that they have. these are all books that they believe are part of the canon of the religion. as you mentioned, -- as she mentioned, the weird stuff, i hear this all the time. every religion has some odd stuff. it is not just the mormon church that has something that sounds a little bit different. you have to think about it in different ways.

but everything has something that is a little bit odd. the one thing that the mormon religion has is that it is a new faith. it is 150 years old. host: despite its youth, the mormon religion is one of the fastest-growing in the world. it currently has 14 million plus members. right now, the members of the church comprise about 1.7% of the u.s. population. mary used a couple of words that i wanted you to respond to because there touch points for potential voters, describing -- wondering whether or not it was a standard christian religion. those kinds of perceptions you read a lot about people on the campaign trail trying to address. guest: it is hard to understand exactly what they are trying to

infer that this is a cult. yes there are mormons to do six things in temples. but it does not mean that they are doing them because -- if they do it because they believe in god and that is the way they do things. mormons have fought against videos describing them as a cult. it is something that the church is very concerned about being labeled like that. that is one of the reasons they are trying to have an education campaign. you may have seen the i am a mormon campaign. new york was covered with those ads. they are just normal people out there who are mormons. they are not some odd cult in

salt lake city with multiple wives. host: on twitter -- one organization in washington that has us thinking about candidates and their faith is the national cathedral. let's show you the cover story of their summer edition of "cathedral age." on the line with us is the rev. wade.rancis weighe how was it that you got the attention of the two presidential candidates and got them to fill out a survey on their religions? caller: part of our mission as the national cathedral is a house to pray for all people. we have been doing that for over a century.

we work closely with the government in a lot of ways and with the office of the president. so the trust level is very high in terms of that. we think, because our job is to facilitate the great conversations, we think, as you all were talking this morning, that these are really important things. that is why we asked the questions. because the trust level is there, that is the reason they responded to the questions that we asked. as part of our mission in raising those questions. they trust us and they responded to us. they were very gracious and very open to our suggestion that they answer these questions. host: did they respond in writing or verbally? caller: in writing. host: you knew that your time would be limited. there must have been discussions on what were the most important things to last. caller: yes, there was. we tried to give an opportunity for this to be revealing because

faith tells a lot about a person. and we think that is important. the two candidates think it is important, too. so the questions were fastened to give them an opportunity to reveal what faith reveals about these two gentlemen. i think they came through with that in a good way. host: would you give us just a sense of your take away from each man's response? illegal time for both. caller: let me say that there is a great deal of agreement between them. that has not been greatly featured in the recent campaigns. but they do agree. they come off as orthodox christians. governor romney's experience in his fate is that he has really functioned as a focal point of leadership in the mormon church.

that has been a very important part of his background, of his life and what he is about. president obama has drawn great strength from a variety of christian mentors and pastors and writers and that's what a thing. so he has been far more individual and private in his faith formation. when you shake it out, they both are orthodox christians. they -- their understanding of the christian faith and the impact it has on the airlines, in both cases, are well within the green zone of orthodox christianity. they are clearly motivated, both of them, to service to other people. that is a strong part of the christian message. that is a strong part that both of them have picked up. it is important greatly.

clearly, they both have different ideas on how to do that. that is with the election is about. but their faith motivates them well beyond the private spiritual devotional life. i think those things are characteristic. your point about giving them their differences. their differences are not that of howin terms i their fate has drawn them to do. host: those who are interested can find your publication on line. this is a milestone wait for the cathedral. it is the one-year anniversary of the earthquake we had in washington and the national cathedral was damaged. the repairs are very expensive. how was the restoration coming along? caller: it is coming along well. the damage totals $20 million.

so it is a substantial enterprise. one reason it costs that much is that the cathedral was built entirely by hand. you cannot just go and get spare parts for a cathedral and put them back up there. it is also the damage 300 feet in the year. so it is a complicated process. -- in the air. so it is a complicated process. there was a $5 million gift from the lilly endowment, which is a marvelous thing that allows us to take the first steps in restoration. what we have done so far is raise money and use money to stabilize the damage. now we -- yesterday we made the first positive step of positive restoration. if we had $20 million, which we don't. we have $8 million. but if we had $20 million and started on it this afternoon, it would take five years to 10

years to restore the damage. so it is a significant project and a significant issue. but i think we have made great progress and the lilly endowment has been marvelous in doing that, in helping us and helping the historical trust for preservation. host: stories in the paper this month, a geologist have determined that it was a one in 2000-year event. so you have plenty of time to make repairs. caller: that is comforting to know, when you come to the top and you know that you're up there because of an earthquake, it is very scary. so it is good to know that it is well in hand. two thousand years is a good framework as far as i'm concerned. host: thank you for joining us. there survey with president obama and mitt romney on their faith and how their faith and form their and their approach to policies in their new the issue

of "cathedral age." their historic connection with woodrow wilson at the cathedral. back to thomas burr and our discussion on the mormon religion. let me ask you -- mitt romney's response, he was asked about the role of faith. he writes -- what is your reaction to that? guest: he talked a lot about that. in 2007, he gave a speech, which was quite a gamble, where he talked about how his faith does inform him and what he has done

with his faith and try to explain that, yes, he does believe in jesus christ and his church may have different theology than some other faiths, but he does believe in the same way as everyone else. that is something different than many other candidates had to do. you do not see president obama having to do that on the campaign trail or senator kerrey or other candidates go out and explain that. again, mitt romney could have years ago said, you know, this mormon church thing may be a bit of concern while i am running for president and maybe i should disassociate myself with that or not talk about it as much. governor romney knew that that was, in many ways, who keep -- in many ways, hooky-ish. it really does say who he is. for him, it is something that he

has to talk about. host: on twitter -- how does the rough-and-tumble work of a campaign deal with this? guest: i would never say that mr. romney is lying to anyone in any form. you don't want to do anything that brooches the pact you have with god. it is not easy running for president. there are a lot of things thrown at you. there are a lot of things that happen in the campaign world. mitt romney tries to stay above it to some degree. but he has advisers and consultants and ways that they have to do it. if we were to run the campaign as a nice guy, he probably would not get very far today. host: man killed, texas, a

republican, edward, you are on. caller: i designed three questions. i want to present them to thomas. is that appropriate? host: sure. caller: what is the definition ?f sain the second question is, what do you represent? and the third question is what is the essence of a -- host: are you concerned about thomas's views on this for mitt romney possible. caller: religion is very popular and everyone is claiming all of these different titles. but i think these are the face it -- the basic fundamentals. let's just go with what is a definition of sin. guest: i am not here to defend the lds. i am not a church official. i will not give a talk about the

fate. mormons are very much in the mainstream of christianity. ly who do some obvious wa not believe what the lds church believes in. he could go to their website to find out what the church commissions. host: 1 symbol is that people have to serve on a mission. what do we know about mitt romney's mission service? guest: meant to romney served in france for about two and half years at the start of the vietnam war. mitt romney spent his time as a mormon missionary, over there

knocking on doors. he obviously learned french. he was actually in a car wreck where someone died and they were hit by a drunk driver in france. there was obviously nothing wrong with mitt romney at the time. they did write that they thought he was dead for a little while. but he spent his time knocking on doors and traveling and got a lot of doors slammed in his face. it is probably difficult to be in france for two and a half years and not take a sip of wine. as far as we know, mitt romney did not. host: rockville, md.. caller: i would like to know the differences and similarities of mitt romney with momism and president obama and christianity. ism and mormon n president obama and christianity.

guest: you know -- host: this goes back to the jeremiah wright in the 2008 campaign. guest: mitt romney is very much a part of his faith. i have been to one of these churches in massachusetts. what you see there is a very much family values -- we believe in jesus christ, in the afterlife, in being good people. those are things that are open to anyone in america to go see. you can obviously read a lot about mormons on line. i don't know that there is a similarity for the church has had some positions in the past, for example, they did fight against proposition 8 -- they did fight for proposition 8 in california. the church was built for it

later on. i don't know that there is necessarily -- the church was pillared for it later on. i don't know that there is necessarily anyone crazy about the church going after something like that. host: the gay marriage issue, was that something unusual for the mormon church or do they often get involved in public policy issues? guest: that was a big step for them. they ask people to donate and set up call centers in utah. they have in the past with the equal rights amendment. they say, look, this is what believe. this is what we would hope would happen. but they will not tell people exactly what they have to do. in fact, mitt romney did talk about it in his 2007 speech. he said that no authority in his church would tell them what to do. host: a democrat, good morning. caller: my question is

basically, well, it is a statement and a question. up until the late 1970's and the early 1980's, the mormon church did not even allow black people in their faith. my question to romney is, you know, black people, just like many other nationalities in this country, was a great part of the founding of this country. how will you be a part of an organization that just 25 years ago start letting black people

even be a part of your organization? and number two, real quick, from that stance of black people not being very important, is there heaven? well, black people -- we would serve them like slaves in the hereafter. and this man is running for the president of the united states. host: thank-you very much. let me ask you, first of all, is this the time line? yes, up until then, a

black man could not hold higher levels of priesthood and cannot do things like the sacrament and those kinds of things. host: you were careful to say black men. to heso african-americans coulde members of the church, but they could not be in leadership. guest: yes. women are not allowed to hold the priesthood in the of this church. they do not hold the priesthood rights that males do in the church. host: has romney ever spoken about this aspect of his religion and how that has shaped his views? guest: he has to a degree. he went to byu, brigham young university, before by people were allowed priest to right. he said he was sad about it. in 1978, when the church came out and said that anyone -- an e-mail could have the full rights of the oldest church priesthood, mitt romney said he pulled over his car and actually

cried. he also mention one other thing about that. i believe that mormons say that all people are equal when it comes to heaven. there are three tiers of heaven and hell people are equal when it comes to that and no one will be discriminated against. guest: the church itself or mitt romney? host: at this point, the church. do they provide money to campaigns in any way? guest: yes, the mormon church is one of the wealthiest of churches in the world. they have a lot of corporations all over the united states.

in fact, they own a huge cattle ranch in florida. they have a few -- have a huge media corporation in utah. the mormon church has amassed a great amount of wealth than they just call their members to give 10% of their income. i think you saw the nbc special last night. the founder of jetblue, the marriott family of the hotel chain worldwide, they are mormons. they created these businesses and worked very hard to build them from the ground up. you can see from utah's finances, the largest amount of money has ever been pulled out of the state in public financing. it is not just mormons. but it is getting a lot of funds. mormons are very excited and

come out and work for him and, if they can come to donate to him. host: of the other half of the discussion is on his finances and his tax returns. romney says is mormon tithing should not be public. his family donation to the lds churches between them and their god. what is the story about? guest: this is about the interview he gave that is coming out on sunday. romney has refused to release more than two years of taxes. some of the reasons he has given is that it complies with the law and more than what the law asks. he says he is not about to get water for farmers say to the democrats and other opponents -- about to give fodder for fodder's stake to the democrats and other opponents. this is a private donation. this is something he does because the church asks him to.

this is not something he wanted people to know about. who did not want the faithful who have benefited from him to know about. we know that he took in $40 million in income. he paid about $4.1 million to the lds church. host: you also have a second sentence in that report. that is in addition to the corporate $8 million is a charitable foundation donated to the mormon faith. guest: that is the family foundation he has set up for more than a decade. he has given money to brigham young university, to lds mormon colleges and to non-mormon colleges. if you have been given much, you must give back in some way, this is the effort by his family to

spread the wealth to some degree. host: virginia, stewart, a republican. caller: good morning. and you know, i believe all denominations of all religions have a long history. i am an episcopalian. i can tell you, just recently, women were allowed to be a priest. you can serve on a best free. it is always changing. but i believe the american people, by and large, have always set this aside and vote on other issues. but i do believe that all of us -- i know i do, i would vote for someone who truly believes and what he believes. the evidence of that is john f. kennedy. back in the 1960's.

i believe this is an issue that is media driven. back when obama was running for president, the first time, there was an interview with him on "this week with george stephanopoulos." there was something that came up about religion. and president obama said, in my muslim religion -- and george stephanopoulos corrected him and said you mean christianity. he said, yes, i mean christianity. this is media-driven. the american people will vote for a man or woman of faith, no matter what the fate is. we are a nation that is built on freedom of religion. thank you. host: thank you. guest: he has a point. i have travelled the country and talk with a lot of voters.

i remember going to a baptist church in columbia, south carolina. this is a faith that does not necessarily believe that mormons are christians. but they didn't seem to have a problem voting for mitt romney or another mormon can did it because they believe that he believes in christ. his beliefs may be a little different than what we believe in, but he has manifest faith. as far as being needed-driven, polls have shown that there is a good section of americans who are concerned about the fate of the candidate -- the fiftaith of the candidate. jfk was the first elected catholic president. he was concerned about the view of his faith. host: made a reference about drinking wine. what was that about? guest: mormons are not allowed

to drink of alcohol or caffeine nor to swear. there are a lot of people who draw strength in having these values of not drinking alcohol, not going to parties to get drunk, and not having premarital sex. that is very core through the lds believe that the body is a temple and he should not damage the temple. host: they lot of people survive on caffeine. it may not be something people can do being a candidate. guest: harry reid, who is also mormon, he had his coffee cup turned upside down so that they did not have coffee in front of him so people could see that he was not drinking coffee. host: michael is an independent. caller: i would like to say that i would think that, given that

one of the believes in mormonism is that they have the capacity to achieve god would -- godhood. i would think that being president would be a step down. it was a fictional religion grafted onto a true religion. the judeo-christian history of the bible in the new testament is backed up by a mountain of archaeological and historical evidence that is true. the "book of mormon" is backed up by nothing, absolutely not one shred of archaeological or historical evidence that showed any of it is true. the christian part of it is true. the mormon aspect is truly a cult-like system.

host: you are an independent bid how much does a candidate's religion affect your decision? caller: it does affect in the long run to the nature of the man. but he has only four years, it at the most. i do not think that it will be a factor if he can keep its separate and just do his job. the mormons have good basic morals and ethics, which is the main point for the presidency. host: thank you very much. guest: i think you -- i think he is referring to the part of the mormon religion that says that, if you're a good person and live your life as a mormon, you can be godlike in the afterlife. i'm not here to defend the church on its positions. but it does not necessarily that they will become gods to the same degree that god is. there is a different history in

the mormon church. it is an american-based church. it was founded here in the 1830's. this is not thousands of years old. mormons believe that it is a restored gospel. this is part of -- the actual church left the earth for some time and was brought back in the 1830's by joseph smith threw angels who came to him with golden plates. there are people who disagree about that. one thing he has said was about morals and ethics. they have incredible family values. it is the highest per capita for children. host: california, denise, a democrat. caller: good morning. i would like to make a statement on the man who said that people will vote on a

person of faith. the coax clan is very faithful and we will not vote for them, okay? -- the ku klux klan is very faithful and we will not vote for them, okay? mormons cannot know god because they don't know the lord jesus. the bible says that the only way you can know god is through the lord jesus. that is my comment. host: i wanted to ask her about her politics. guest: when you get down to the intricate details of the faith, that is where people start turning off. romney talking about his faith, i want to talk from about being a faithful person and not getting into every little detail. host: the values of the mormon church as you see reflected in

mitt romney, where d.c. the symmetry? guest: it -- where do you see the symmetry? guest: if you wanted to pick a mormon out of a lineup and say this is who he represents, it would be romney. he served his church in his mission and leadership assistants in the church. that is what they think that mormons should be like, like mitt romney. host: as we close off here, want to tell you that there is a lot in our video library about the 2008 campaign including mitt romney talking about his faith then. and president obama when he introduced himself to the nation and spoke about his own fate. on president --

on mitt romney's religion. an interesting story in "the guardian" to point out to you. it is a rather long speech written by paul harris a couple of days back. thank you for being here this morning. we have two more guests segments coming up. we have the head of the national mining association. we will talk to carol quinn about the important challenge and the ruling on epa and clean air standards. and yesterday, mitt romney introduced his energy policy. there is lots to talk about how the two candidates would approach energy policy in the united states. we will be with you -- with us.

>> what do we see when we look at the dead at antietam? they describe those bodies in great detail. often stopping in the very detailed description and then saying it is too horrible. i cannot action put this into words. words cannot convey this. >> this weekend, on american history tv, and he instead, harvard professor felt about the impact of the dead soldiers on the american public during the civil war. saturday at 10:00 a.m. -- at

10:00 p.m. eastern. >> america will stand up with the ideals that we believe in when we are operating at our best and who want to see this country perhaps above all else return to the path of peace. >> more from "the contenders for a " hard look at key political figures who ran for president -- but with the contenders." a hard look at key political figures to run for president and lost. sunday at 7:03 p.m., george mcgovern. american history tv this weekend on c-span 3. host: on the screen is harold quinn. he is the president and ceo of the national mining association. which means you represent who? who are your members? guest: our members are the coal producers in the united states and those who produce most of the minerals and metals in this country. host: will you give us a

snapshot? from a people are unemployed today? -- how many people are employed today? guest: they have about 150 contractors and that translates into a support network and that includes over half a million people. they represent $37 billion to $40 billion a year. host: how has that revenue number been turning over the last couple of decades. guest: it has gone up as well as pricing increases over the last several years. host: when you see the change in the marketplace and with the increased production in national -- in natural gas in this country, what does that mean in competition for your member companies? guest: frankly, the only fuels that are competing on an economic basis our gas and coal.

wind and nuclear are really being dispatched on an availability basis. there are mandates in various states to get some much of their power, whether it is competitive pricing or not has been pushed into the system. the prolific plays in terms of production, the direct price to gases in competition. there was a lot of gas put into the electricity sector and the gas price was affected. host: one of the concerns about cold has been for a number of tickets has been pollutants. there has been an effort made to close and modify older coal plants and replace them with better technology. give us a quick primer on the whole concept of clean coal and what you can do to make cold-

fired electric plants more people -- cola--- coal-fired electric plants more people from lee. guest: new technology, in terms of taking a certain emissions before they get into the atmosphere, as well as the growing efficiency of new coal combustion technologies. you increase the efficiency of a coal plant and you use less fuel and get more power out of it and get less emissions. that is a critical piece going forward in terms of cleaner coal and new technologies that are under research right now. the norplant, and we are allowed to build them, would be the platforms -- these newer plants, if we are allowed to build them, would be the platform on which to build them. regulations are setting

standards for new work plants that are beyond the reach of the best technology that can be deployed today. that is very unfortunate because the consistent marched toward a cleaner electricity fleet was built upon the basis of cutting standards that reflected the most recent and best technology. it is not something that is well beyond that technology. host: in the news this morning, a court decision would have blocked an epa ruling on a cross-state solution. what was the ruling set out to do and what does the court decision blocking it mean for all producers? guest: the regulation before the court was about the question what are certain states' responsibility . the epa is supposed to set a target for those states to reduce emissions by the amount that they substantially

contribute to another state's problems. the court said that it appears that bounce in certain ways. you did the first step correctly by calculated with the contribution was for another state. and then you took another state that, we think you can do more based on cost factor that we have come up with. and the court said no. the second step the court said, wants to do that step and do it properly, you have to let the states implement -- once you do that step and do it properly, you have to let the states implement it properly. host: what does the court decision mean? guest: on one hand, it provides a little bit more certainty -- uncertainty and certainty. plants will not have to comply as quickly on the newer timetables. but there will still be

emission reductions in any event. host: "the baltimore sun" was not happy about the ruling. t would your industry's reaction to that? guest: our reaction is to have the editorial writers to actually look at the data. in maryland, you have a

particular problem in achieving your quality standards. this ruling says that those were contributing to that problem. they are still required to help you fix it but do not rely on them to do more than what they contribute more to do what you're supposed to do yourself. host: yesterday, mitt romney announced his energy plan. here is the story in "the wall street journal." the two campaigns are dueling over their vision on the energy future for the united states. is the energy in your perspective an area where the public would have a clear choice in direction? the obama administration views energy policy very differently from the focus of the romney campaign. guest: i think so. voters have a clear terms. i have taken a look at governor

romney's energy plan yesterday. that is a plan that is all inclusive. it is basically saying that we are an energy rich country. so let's perform like an energy rich country rather than acting like we are energy poor. let's include everybody in here without fear or favor. those are the energy sources we will use. we will provide a clear path for those energy sources to be used efficiently and responsibly. on the other hand, at least from the spectrum of coal producers, the policy we have seen in terms of regulations toward coal is not an all-inclusive policy. it is squandering the opportunity to leverage our greatest energy sources. we have more coal than any other energy source in this country and the united states has produced more coal than the

entire world. host: our phone lines are open. you can also send us an e-mail or you can send us a tweet. you're talking about the energy policy in the united states, particularly in the coal resources. and what policy direction that should be. it is all tied up in the administration's epa regulations which were challenged by the court. this week, the court ruled on them. we would like to have your questions or comments for mr. quinn from the coal producers perspective. he will be here to answer them. the first call is from allen in new jersey. you're on the air. caller: good morning. [inaudible] there were supposedly non-union workers there. more non-union mines have more

casualties unfortunately and injuries than union mines. republicans want to do away with the unions. do you think there will be more injuries in mining? the unions have gone down to 7%. if the unions have gone down, why has not the economy gone up? we were actually doing better when there were more unions. thank you. host: thank you, alan. kohl's safety and union membership. guest: i do not know of any data that shows that the unions or organized mines have a differential on mortality rates.

the occurrence tragedy was terrible in 2010 and it was a non-union operation. the fact of the matter is that, while union membership at coal mines has dropped substantially over the last 20 years, at the same time, the injury rates and the fatality rates at coal mines have also dropped. since 1990, our injury rates are down by some type%. we operate about -- down by 75%. we need to focus on 12% to figure out how to get to zero. host: does the increase in safety reports happen because initiatives by the industry, federal regulation or a combination of both? guest: it is a combination of both. it is having a sound regulatory floor. believes it will achieve 0%.

there are proactive solutions for accidents. host: after the massey incident, there were conversations on capitol hill. how did that very high-profile event change your business? did you bring in members to talk about safety efforts? guest: when something like that happens, many operators to have a safety stand down and remind the miners about the training and so forth. but for us, as a collective industry and organization, we have already begun the march toward finding another solution toward prevention. a safety management system that can be deductible by different companies with different sized minds. -- mines.

host: the next question is on the p regulations. this comes from someone on twitter. guest: i think the premise of the question is incorrect. and i hope nobody describes my earlier comment that the industry is opposed to regulation that will promote better performance in the utility sector. our concern is that the standards themselves are beyond with the technology is available is capable of. there are consequences of that. if gas prices rise and electricity demand increases. host: next, a call from new orleans. hey, michael. caller: good morning, mr. quinn.

as they understand it, the coal industry has made great strides in emissions. all that you get out of it now is water vapor. here is something, if you could shed some light on -- if you were to go to your computer and search "free energy suppression," you would get over two million pages on suppression of free energy of the past 100 years, going back to where magnetic energy, drying energy from the eye on this atmosphere, suppression comes from many forms. when companies buy up the

patents or buy up -- or even inventors have been killed -- there are free energy machines out there. but the big energy governments own the media and have suppressed this technology. i don't know if you can shed any light on that. kohl is in there also trying to suppress this. you would be out of a job. if you could go ahead and shed any light on this, it seems impossible for me to believe that, over a hundred years, our technology and science has not come up with something better than fossil fuels. and they have. host: ok, michael, good question. thank you. guest: i can assure you that the coal industry has its attention on reliable: j for the --

reliable coal energy for households and businesses. on your first question about -- i think you were talking about the coal last problems, which are the areas where we dispose of coal ash after using coal to produce electricity, it was really a structural engineering issue. it does not lie in the context of most disposal areas. most disposal areas are not pawns anymore, but dry placement -- are not ponds anymore, but dry placement structures. host: related to that, how would you replied to this --

guest: if you mean a 0% emissions technology has not been deployed yet, no current that is our goal to get to a new 0% emissions technology. we have a project that we're trying to get it, financing in conjunction with some of the utilities, which is called future gen, which is designed to capture carbon dioxide as well as decrease the other conventional emissions as well. that is our objective. like everything else, we will strive to get there. in the meantime, we need to build on what we have, which is higher efficiency technologies that will lower emissions today. host: this is jane, a republican. caller: thank you for explaining how the epa overstep the law again. maybe i need a little bit more understanding on clean -- i remember when president

clinton went out to you talk and -- to utah and put all the whole producers underground off balance. there are a lot of plates under the united states that are deemed untouchable. can you explain how this can happen and held -- and how we can and do this? guest: declaring grand escalante and national monument that put it off limits, in that case, the government. the owners for not mine in the colal. it was by far the largest single bloc of high-quality coal in this country. that is very unfortunate. we believe that area could have been developed in a very responsible manner without upsetting a lot of other values there, which we have in other places.

another president can and do a prior president's executive order that way. yes, there is quite a bit of high-quality coal that would provide energy for steelmaking and cement. we have to under 50 years of that that is economically recoverable -- we have 250 years of that that is economically recoverable. guest: mountaintop mining is large-scale surface mining, particularly in apalachee. it is a technique that has been used for decades -- it is used to maximize the coal resources there. and using the land in a very useful form.

there is very little flat land available for development in the area and these mines work with the local development the 30's -- development authorities. further development can be used for industrial and wildlife purposes as well. host: joe as a democrat. caller: first of all, i have called c-span several times. i am a retired union coal miner. i am not opposed to cold, but i am opposed to the laws and not being enforced on the extraction process of coal. clinton is david -- mr. quinn is a very slick guy. hicke family has a great education. west virginia is one of the richest states in the united

states, but we are on the bottom of every list in the united states. 92% of men go county is owned by corporations outside of the state of was virginia or outset of the united states. they are in the process of applying for permits in mining in a historical site where the biggest insurrection in the united states occurred since the civil war occurred in order to establish unions. there are at least 22 different sentences that say mountaintop removal mining is causing and faxed to the health and ecosystems to the people of west virginia. we would just like a fair shake on mountaintop removal. he said that mountaintop removal, the company's work with the redevelopment authorities to leave the land improve and useful. less than 3% of two million

acres that are basically mountaintop removal have any development on them. i could go on and on. i just don't know -- mr. quinn, carbon sequestration. they knew from the get go that it would not work because it could not be funded. he said utility country -- utility companies are stepping the cost on this. ratepayers of west virginia were having to pay that themselves and that will stop because the public service commission would not give them the financing to put the burden on west virginia people because cap and trade was shot down by the congress. this man sitting here in front of you filed to length and the cap and trade. the united mine workers try to move forward with cap and trade so that clean coal technology,

carbon sequestration, could be applied through research and all the repairs in the u.s. pay it. natural gas is the problem for the coal industry. the coal industry cannot compete with natural gas because of the extraction process and the damage that has been left and the environmental damage. host: 54 your call. a lot to respond to their. guest: i can tell you on the studies that they try to allude to the fact that coal mining in appalachia were done -- a team of epidemiologists look at the those studies and concluded that they were incorrect in terms of both fatal flaws in the methodology they use, by using

ecological methods for something that was really measure to a biological response to something as well as data error. i think there are some issues there. there is a robust discussion going on on what impact for air quality coming from mining in that area. and providing solutions to those things rather than just pointing fingers at that. host: we talk about reclaiming land. can you give as percentages on what land has gone back to reforestation projects? guest: a lot has gone back to reforestation could i can give you a number. reforestation wildlife and other recreational uses and so forth. many of our companies on reestablishing the american chestnut on reclaimed land. host: how about