West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin appeared on CNBC Monday morning in regards to statements made by Barack Obama about coal mining.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Obama says he would put a cap and trade system in place on the coal industry. He says this would bankrupt those building coal-fired power plants because they would be charged huge sums for their greenhouse gas emissions.

An Obama spokesperson says the Senator's comments were taken out of context. The spokesperson says Obama supports using coal for energy, but wants to figure out how to do it without emitting greenhouse gases and carbon.

Monday morning, Governor Machin said Obama understands the United States must become energy independent and cannot rely on foreign oil and that means using coal.

Governor Manchin said cleaning up the coal mining process would help the country and the world clean up the environment. The Mountain State Governor says we have the knowledge and technology to do just that.