Sen. Robert Byrd and his constituents live in different worlds. He must live with the realities of deal-making in Washington. His constituents must live with the effects of the policies Washington lays down. Byrd’s Thursday communique on coal reveals an unprecedented level of difficulty bridging the gap between these two cultures.

The scientific basis for requiring vast societal changes to combat manmade ‘‘global warming’’ has been seriously compromised, but Byrd made it clear that he buys into what he called ‘‘the mounting science of climate change.’’

He warned that for six months, he has been working with other coal-state Democrats, ‘‘to assist the coal industry in more easily transitioning to a lower-carbon economy.’’

Byrd further warned his constituents, as Sen. Jay Rockefeller has, that there is strong opposition in Congress to mountaintop removal mining.

The state’s senior senator went on to blast respon-sible West Virginia leaders for ‘‘fear mongering, grandstanding and outrage’’ against the actions of a green - in both senses of the word - Environmental Protection Agency in Washington.

The senator seems to be saying that ‘‘coal operators and southern coalfield residents who may be strident supporters of mountaintop removal mining’’ have annoyed EPA officials and made his job in Washington West Virginia more difficult.

He seems insufficiently aware that the anti-coal forces stand poised to do great economic damage to West Virginians.

The cap-and-trade legislation the administration wants to ram through Congress threatens a billion- dollar industry in West Virginian. The state is 98 percent dependent on coal for electric power. The 26 coal-producing counties mined 158 million tons of it in 2008. West Virginia is the national leader in coal exports as well. It shipped out more than 50 million tons to 23 countries.

Mountaintop removal mining accounts for about 45 percent of the state’s coal production. Marshall University’s Center for Business and Economic Research determined in 2004 that banning the practice would cost the state almost 9 percent of its tax revenue.

Byrd said coal isn’t going away as an energy source just yet, but his statement leaves plenty of room for a good deal less production in West Virginia. And a good deal more poverty.

Somehow, there’s been a breakdown in communications between responsible public- and private-sector leaders here at home, and the state’s artful deal-maker in Washington. The stakes are too high for misunderstandings. Perhaps a summit is in order. Byrd is under enormous pressure in his world to provide votes the Obama administration needs.

He should not vote for policies that cause joblessness and economic harm in West Virginia.

No amount of legislative log-rolling would offset the damage cap-and-trade legislation and a ban on mountaintop removal mining would do to West Virginia.