[kevin42]

The thing about coal here in Idaho is that there are very few reasons for conservatives to like it. There are no coal jobs here.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying conservatives here are actually conservationists, I just mean that many of them tend to be more interested in the outdoors. I'm just basing that on people I know and encounter, so the sample size isn't huge.

Also, the weird thing about Idaho is that there are at least two, maybe three Idaho's. There is Eastern Idaho, who are largely extremely conservative farmers, then there is the Boise area, which relative to Eastern Idaho is less conservative. Then there is Northern Idaho, which I don't really know how to describe, but they don't fit either category.

[consentfactory]

I completely agree with you here on everything, I just think that conservatives here could easily get riled into supporting coal merely for political reasons. You're right, there's not a huge quantity of reasons to like it, but in our binary political culture, I could see them getting behind it.

I mean, we have Texas oil barons that are blocking access to public land in the McCall area that has really great hunting, but the Idaho legislators here opted not to pass legislation to help regular Idahoans have access. Why? Private property and individual rights were the big reasons I read, which clearly affects most Idahoans, but for some reason they didn't support them.