According to one of the most powerfully ignorant politicians in the northeastern U.S., Kentucky's most prized natural resource and the energy sector it supports can be chillingly described as "a dead man walking."

This comes as breaking news to Kentucky's nearly 20,000 coal miners and the three additional industry workers supported by each. But I suppose New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg somehow has more man-on-the-spot knowledge of our energy sector up in New York City than we do here in the commonwealth where coal generates 93% of our electricity.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg had the smug audacity to claim:

"Even though the coal industry doesn't totally know it yet, or is ready to admit it, its day is done. It used to be said that coal is king, and regrettably coal remains king in nations like India and China. Here in the US, I am happy to say, the king is dead. Coal is a dead man walking."

What kind of ignorance does it take for a U.S. politician to state flat out that Kentucky's record exports of coal to developing nations last year is "unfortunate?" If it weren't for citizens of coal states and the black rock found beneath their land, the kind of advances in human welfare we've seen in countries like China and India over the past decade would be only a dream. How "unfortunate" for Bloomberg that states like Kentucky helped turned the dream into reality

Does Bloomberg also find the price of energy in Kentucky - one of the lowest in the nation thanks to our abundant supply of coal - unfortunate? Perhaps we should take Bloomberg's lead and force utility companies to switch to much more expensive alternative energy sources so the most vulnerable among us can't afford to turn the heat on. At least his radical anti-humanist agenda would come to fruition.

I wonder if Bloomberg would have the guts to call that unfortunate in front of a crowd of inquiring Kentucky citizens.

The data also doesn't back Bloomberg's galling statements. According to the International Energy Agency, coal is set to become the world's largest source of energy by 2017.  What part of this sounds like a dead man walking? Oh yes, if Bloomberg had his way, the Environmental Protection Agency would turn a potentially vibrant industry into that  proverbial dead man:

"We are ready for the next round in this struggle, the long, regulatory trench warfare that will determine just how tightly and effectively the EPA clamps down on carbon pollution."

On second thought, let's hope Bloomberg and his bright ideas stay where they are in the Big Apple.