--- title: Hillary Clinton Apologizes For Coal 'Out of Business' Remark description: Hillary Clinton apologized on Monday for saying in March that she would put coal miners and coal companies "out of business" canonical: https://time.com/4316021/hillary-clinton-coal-out-of-business-apology/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-03T11:57:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:12.410Z article:section: Politics og:title: Clinton Apologizes for 'Out of Business' Comment About Coal og:description: Clinton made the comment in March while talking about plans for renewable energy og:url: https://time.com/4316021/hillary-clinton-coal-out-of-business-apology/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0068110f522da5f2/698891aa8e0601585f465b4a/hillary-clinton-coal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5000 og:image:height: 2813 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton speaks at Hillary Town Hall with og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Clinton Apologizes for 'Out of Business' Comment About Coal twitter:description: Clinton made the comment in March while talking about plans for renewable energy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0068110f522da5f2/698891aa8e0601585f465b4a/hillary-clinton-coal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Clinton Apologizes for Saying She'd Put Coal 'Out of Business' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 3, 2016 11:57 AM UTC  Hillary Clinton speaks at Hillary Town Hall with Congresswomen Yvette Clarke and First lady of New York City Chirlane McCray. Hillary Clinton speaks at Hillary Town Hall with Congresswomen Yvette Clarke and First lady of New York City Chirlane McCray.Louise Wateridge—Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 3, 2016 11:57 AM UTC Hillary Clinton [apologized on Monday](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-apologizes-for-saying-shed-put-coal-out-of-business/) for saying in March that she would put coal miners and coal companies “out of business” as part of a transition to alternative energy sources. The Democratic front-runner and former secretary of state called the prior remark a “misstatement” as she campaigned in Kentucky, ahead of the state’s Democratic primary on May 17, [CBS News reported](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-apologizes-for-saying-shed-put-coal-out-of-business/). The small group discussion took place in what was once one of the country’s top coal producing counties, as protesters gathered outside. “What I said was totally out of context from what I meant,” Clinton said. “It was a misstatement, because what I was saying is that the way things are going now, we will continue to lose jobs.” Clinton had made the comment during a [town hall hosted by CNN](http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/03/13/full-rush-transcript-hillary-clinton-partcnn-tv-one-democratic-presidential-town-hall/) in March, saying she would move away from coal and other fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy sources. “I’m the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,” she said during the town hall. “And we’re going to make it clear that we don’t want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories.” **Read more:** [Hillary Clinton Announces Plan to Protect Coal Communities](http://time.com/4109592/hillary-clinton-coal-communities/) Clinton’s apology on Monday came in response to a man who said he had lost his job in the coal industry. “I do feel a little bit sad and sorry that I gave folks the reason, or the excuse, to be so upset with me, because that is not what I intended at all,” Clinton said, CBS News reported. “I’m here because I want you to know whether people vote for me or not, whether they yell at me or not, is not going to affect what I’m gonna try to do to help.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4316021/hillary-clinton-coal-out-of-business-apology/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4316021/hillary-clinton-coal-out-of-business-apology/"},"headline":"Clinton Apologizes for Saying She'd Put Coal 'Out of Business'","datePublished":"2016-05-03T11:57:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:12.410Z","description":"Clinton made the comment in March while talking about plans for renewable energy","url":"https://time.com/4316021/hillary-clinton-coal-out-of-business-apology/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0068110f522da5f2/698891aa8e0601585f465b4a/hillary-clinton-coal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0068110f522da5f2/698891aa8e0601585f465b4a/hillary-clinton-coal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton speaks at Hillary Town Hall with","caption":"Hillary Clinton speaks at Hillary Town Hall with","creditText":"Louise Wateridge—Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4316021/hillary-clinton-coal-out-of-business-apology/","name":"Clinton Apologizes for Saying She'd Put Coal 'Out of Business'"}}]}] ```