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Testimony of Chris R. Hamilton, Senior Vice President, West Virginia Coal Association and Chairman, West Virginia Business and Industry Council before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources of the Natural Resources Committee oversight hearing: “EPA v. American Mining Jobs: The Obama Administration’s Regulatory Assault on the Economy”.
US House of Representatives -- Washington D.C. -- October 10, 2013
Good afternoon! I’m Chris Hamilton, Senior Vice-President of the West Virginia Coal Association. I appreciate the opportunity to participate in your meeting and discuss the actions or inactions of this Administration on West Virginia’s economy.
More information on my background and experience in coal is included in my prepared remarks before you.
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Good afternoon! I’m Chris Hamilton, Senior Vice-President of the West Virginia Coal Association and Chairman of the West Virginia Business & Industry Council. I appreciate the opportunity to participate in your meeting and discuss the actions or inactions of this Administration on West Virginia’s economy.
West Virginia just celebrated its 150th birthday and we've been mining for all of those 150 years. We are without question one of the state's leading industries, if not the leading industry. We have always provided good paying jobs, infused millions of dollars into local and state wide economies and have provided the region, state, country and world with low-cost, reliable power on a 24/7 basis. That's what we do.
As a state, we manufacture and export energy and power throughout the eastern part of our country and throughout the world. It enables millions of Americans to enjoy the freedom and the world’s greatest quality of life.
West Virginia is the second leading coal producing state, the country’s leading underground coal producing state and the US leader in coal exports, accounting for 50% of the US total. We have consistently averaged between 150 – 160 million tons of annual coal production over the past several decades – until this Administration took office.
We ship coal to practically every state east of the Mississippi river and some 38-39 foreign destinations.
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These new rules are expected to stymie the construction of new, and the expansion of existing, coal-fired generating plants – the most dependable, reliable and lowest cost method of making electricity in America today.
If you can’t build new coal-fired power plants or expand the ones we have, EPA’s directly taking West Virginia coal jobs. What makes it worse is that the federal government has refused to determine the economic impact of these rules before they are promulgated! This negative attack is further magnified by efforts to reduce the fossil fuel and carbon control and sequestration budgets in the Department of Energy, which if anything, need to be maintained and increased!
When you look at these rules as a package and their arrogant behavior, there is no other conclusion to be drawn than this EPA and Administration are making good on its promise to put the industry out of business and take our peoples’ livelihoods. Millions of American jobs, as well as the economies of communities across this country, hang in the balance.
The West Virginia Coal Association is calling upon all congressional leaders who recognize that coal is a critical piece of this country’s energy plan and the provider of low cost, affordable electricity to put the brakes on this out-of-control EPA before the economic damage becomes irreversible. There is much more to be said on this issue, but Congress needs to act now.”
For additional information, contact the West Virginia Coal Association at (304) 342-4153.
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Former football coaches Don Nehlen (WVU) and Bob Pruett (Marshall) headline a new radio show that begins Monday on MetroNews affiliates.
The show will air from 7:06 to 8 p.m. each Monday through Nov. 25 on MetroNews affiliates across the state, including WCHS-AM (580) in Charleston and WRVC-AM (930) in Huntington.
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The annual Rocket Boys Festival will be held Oct. 4-6 in Beckley. The event celebrates the lives of the four original “Rocket Boys” whose story was told in the award-winning movie, “October Sky.” This year’s event will begin October 4 with a screening of the film at 9 am in the Governor Hulett C. Smith Theatre at Tamarack. Later that day Rocket Boy Homer Hickam, whose book was turned into the movie, will host a writer’s workshop at the facility. At 7:30 a concert featuring Johnny Staats and the Delivery Boys will be held at the Woodrow Wilson Auditorium in Beckley. Friends of Coal Spokesmen, Coach Don Nehlen and Coach Bobby Pruett will also participate in this year’s event.
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