The story features a memo from the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce pressing the two senators to oppose health care reform legislation until a cap-and-trade bill is taken off the table and the EPA is barred from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

Next to the piece sits an ad from CSX extolling the environmental superiority of rail that reads "A Single CSX train carries the load of 280 trucks" and offers a link to CSX's website. What the ad doesn't say, but many environmentalists do, is that those CSX and other rail company trains are hauling an awful lot of coal. The companies have also teamed up with the coal industry to help underwrite several industry groups that oppose cap-and-trade legislation. In fact, environmentalists note, the trade publication Greenwire (subscription only) reported just a few days ago that coal companies and the nation's biggest railroad association accounted for fifty percent of the $47 million budget last year of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a leading cap-and-trade opponent.

The story features a memo from the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce pressing the two senators to oppose health care reform legislation until a cap-and-trade bill is taken off the table and the EPA is barred from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.