Opponents of cap and trade will deliver petitions with 12,000 signatures supporting their efforts to U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller's Charleston office on Thursday morning.

Mike Stuart with the West Virginia Conservative Foundation says they're trying to send a message.

"Our coal miners do great work in Southern West Virginia and what's happening in the coalfields today is a far cry from what happened 25 and 30 years ago when there was some environmental damage and there was some polluting going on," Stuart says.

He says that's why Senator Rockefeller needs to take a stronger stand against the provision in the massive climate change bill now being considered in the U.S. Senate that Stuart says would put the United States at a disadvantage in the world.

"If China's not going to play and India's not going to play and the developing world's not going to play, this sort of unilateral surrender by the United States in a time where the economy's in crisis and is really struggling along is just a terrible idea," he said on Wednesday's MetroNews Talkline.

Republicans are sitting out of this week's work on the climate bill which is being considered in the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  They want a full analysis of the impact of the bill before a vote.

Committee Chair Barbara Boxer, though, a Democrat from California, is pushing for a vote ahead of next month's International Climate Summit in Copenhagen.

Stuart says the current version of the climate change bill is not the right one.

"We ought to be encouraging renewables.  We ought to be encouraging all forms of energy.  The problem is, this bill is simply going to take jobs away and increase taxes for all Americans."

Thursday's petition delivery will happen at 10:30 a.m.