Longtime West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, perhaps more allied with the coal industry than any politician living or dead, has penned a remarkable op-ed considering who he is. Saying that “the time has come to have an open and honest dialogue about coal’s future in West Virginia,” Byrd doesn’t exactly call for the end of coal, but he is brutally honest about the heinous practice of mountaintop removal and the reality of climate science.

It is also a reality that the practice of mountaintop removal mining has a diminishing constituency in Washington. It is not a widespread method of mining, with its use confined to only three states. Most members of Congress, like most Americans, oppose the practice, and we may not yet fully understand the effects of mountaintop removal mining on the health of our citizens [...]

Some have even suggested that coal state representatives in Washington should block any advancement of national health care reform legislation until the coal industry’s demands are met by the EPA. I believe that the notion of holding the health care of over 300 million Americans hostage in exchange for a handful of coal permits is beyond foolish; it is morally indefensible. It is a non-starter, and puts the entire state of West Virginia and the coal industry in a terrible light.

To be part of any solution, one must first acknowledge a problem. To deny the mounting science of climate change is to stick our heads in the sand and say “deal me out.” West Virginia would be much smarter to stay at the table.

Byrd says that he has to represent the opinions of all West Virginians and not just mountaintop removal supporters in the coal industry. He says that he’s working on legislation that would transition the nation to a lower-carbon economy. Of course, he still wants funding for clean coal and wants to ease the timelines for emissions standards. But rather than denying climate change for the benefit of his constituency, he acknowledges that “some form of climate legislation will likely become public policy because most American voters want a healthier environment.” He touts innovation in West Virginia and even a few clean energy projects (“the largest wind power facility in the eastern United States; a bio-fuel refinery in Nitro”).

Brad Johnson has more on this seriously incredible turnabout.

Byrd has long been one of the coal industry’s most vociferous defenders in the U.S. Senate. But the reality is that the industry has destroyed West Virginia jobs through mechanization, has destroyed West Virginia health through pollution, and destroyed West Virginia’s natural beauty through wanton mountaintop removal. It is also a reality that West Virginia coal is destroying our climate. Proving again that he is a true leader, Sen. Byrd has stood up and recognized reality. Hopefully, West Virginians will choose Byrd’s prescription for change, and not the path of inaction offered by the state’s corrupt coal oligarchs.

In a related story, some “Brown Dog” Democrats from pollution-industry states sent a letter to the President setting out some conditions for climate and energy policy on the eve of global climate talks in Copenhagen. The letter is not nearly as bad as I expected. The White House has responded to the letter.