Though he initially opposed strip mining, he has become a strong supporter of the steel and coal mining industries. He is the co-chair of the Senate Steel Caucus and is an advocate of "clean coal" as an energy source.

Health -Care Reform

Rockefeller has long been a vocal advocate of health-care reform. He has backed many efforts to expand health-care benefits, especially for those in the poor mining communities in his home state. He was a vocal champion of the public option, which eventually died as part of 2010 health-care reform.

He has called his efforts to pass the 1992 "Coal Act," which protected health benefits for retired miners, one of his proudest legislative accomplishments.He also authored a plan that allowed Medicare to contribute to the United Mine Workers of America Combined Benefit Funds to help cover the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs.

Rockefeller was instrumental in passing a 1996 law that prevents insurance companies from turning away clients based on preexisting conditions and in 1997 co-authored legislation that created the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Rockefeller played a crucial role in the 2009 health-reform debate when he rebelled against Finance Chairman Max Baucus' (D-Mont.), one of the his best friend's on the committee, and his health-care compromise, which relied on non-profit cooperatives to decrease health-care costs. Instead, Rockefeller introduced a September 2009 amendment reinstating the public option. About the Baucus compromise, Rockefeller then stated: "There is no way in present form I could vote for it."

National Security and Iraq War

Rockefeller voted for the 2002 Iraq war resolution, but has since been a fierce critic of the war, saying his vote was cast on the basis of false intelligence.

"If I had known then what I know now, I would have voted against it. I have admitted that my vote was wrong ...The decision got made before there was a whole bunch of intelligence. I think the intelligence was shaped. And I think the interpretation of the intelligence was shaped," he said.

As vice chair of the Intelligence committee, Rockefeller drew fire from Democratic colleagues for not opposing more strongly then-chair Sen. Pat Roberts' (R-Kan.) refusal to investigate how prewar intelligence was used to justify the Iraq invasion.

In 2003, however, a memo surfaced that detailed a proposal to circulate previously undisclosed information about the lead up to the war in order to damage Republicans' chances in the 2004 elections. Roberts launched an attack against Rockefeller, writing in The Washington Post that the Democrats were planning a partisan attack that undermined the credibility of the committee. Rockefeller said he did not approve the memo, which was written by one of his staff members, or plan to share it with any colleagues. He also shot back with allegations that the prewar intelligence was misused and manipulated by the White House.

"One has to confront the very real possibility that this whole war was predetermined, so that the intelligence had to fit with the policymaking plans. So the Republicans just pounce on this little, pathetic stolen memo as the perfect opportunity to cover up whether there was White House manipulation of intelligence or whether there was [a] predetermined plan for war," he said.

Rockefeller was also critical of the Bush administration's stance towards Iran. He likened the White House's characterization of the nation as a growing threat to the language used in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion. "To be quite honest, I'm a little concerned that it's Iraq again. ... This whole concept of moving against Iran is bizarre," he told The New York Times in 2007.

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