Dem in West Virginia governor race won’t support Clinton

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate in West Virginia said he cannot support fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton’s bid for president.

Jim Justice, a billionaire who owns multiple coal mines in the state, told a talk radio host Monday that Clinton’s environmental policies, and their effects on the coal industry, prevent him from supporting her.

{mosads}“I cannot be a supporter of Hillary Clinton,” Justice said Monday on West Virginia MetroNews’s radio show “Talkline.”

“The reason I can’t be is her position on coal is diametrically, completely wrong in many, many different ways.”

Clinton attracted anger across West Virginia and other coal-dependent regions when she said in May that, under her presidency, “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

She later said she made a “misstatement” when highlighting her proposals to help economically devastated coal communities.

But she has pledged to double down on President Obama’s environmental policies, including regulations harmful to the coal industry like the Clean Power Plan.

Justice, meanwhile, sees a good future ahead for coal and criticizes people who say the industry’s decline cannot be stopped.

“Everybody had their heads stuck in the sand and said, ‘It’s over.’ I’m the one that said, ‘Wait a minute. Full stop. I’m not willing to give up on our miners. Full stop,’ ” Justice said on the radio show. “I’m the one that said, ‘Really and truly, I believe there’s good days in front of us as far as the metallurgical market.’ “

Justice is running against state Sen. Bill Cole (R) in the gubernatorial race.

Polls have consistently predicted that Clinton will lose West Virginia by a significant margin to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Clinton lost the state’s primary to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).