He said, “you can burn coal if you want to, but if you do, you’ll go bankrupt”. They voted for him any way.
To be fair, no one but political junkies like those on this forum ever saw or heard that statement. Coal companies earned Unionization as did some other industries, this is the monster they created.
Kennedy on the other hand created public unions with the stroke of a pen, and even bigger monster and only monetary collapse is likely to cure it. On the other hand that would bring coal back on line.