Job creation has been all over President Obama’s lips in the past few weeks, but GOP opponents say his Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory war on fossil fuels is costing the economy far more than the estimated $447 billion price tag of his jobs proposal.

“The President of the United States wants to destroy American energy,” said Oklahoma GOP Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee. “His intention is to kill fossil fuels, which we rely on for 99% of the energy in America.

Cliffs Logan County Coal LLC employees, along with members of the Buffalo Creek Watershed and 34 Man High School Student Government students, held a cleanup day Saturday, September 24 in the Buffalo Creek area. The event was part of West Virginia’s REAP Keep WV Shining project. Pictured are participants with their bagged trash collection. Photo/Jerry Fekete

By The Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Gov. Steve Beshear is appealing to President Barack Obama to change federal policies that he says are costing jobs in Kentucky's coal mining industry.

In a letter to Obama earlier this week, Beshear said the EPA is knocking Kentuckians out of high-paying jobs by obstructing the opening of new mines and the expansion of existing ones.

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, was a follow-up to a meeting last week between Beshear and Obama.

Beshear said the EPA has unduly delayed 75 mining permits in eastern Kentucky that would have created crucial jobs at a time when the nation is struggling to pull out of a national recession.

The governor urged the president to help find a reasonable way to protect the environment while supporting the mining industry.

(WASHINGTON) — An internal government watchdog says that the Environmental Protection Agency cut corners when it produced a key scientific document underpinning its decision to regulate climate-changing pollution.

The Inspector General report, obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Wednesday, says the agency circumvented a more robust review process that was warranted for a technical paper supporting a costly and controversial decision to control greenhouse gases for the first time.

The EPA and White House disagreed with the report's conclusions. They said the agency "reasonably interpreted" peer-review guidelines.

Nothing in the report challenges the overwhelming scientific consensus around the causes of global warming. But that's unlikely to stop Republicans and industry lawyers from using it to say the Obama administration should not regulate greenhouse gases without Congressional action.

Logan native and winner of America’s Got Talent, Landau Murphy, Jr. was the honored guest and performer of the Star Spangled Banner at the opening of the WVU vs. LSU football game this past Saturday night.  Landau became only the second person to ever sing the National Anthem in the history of Mountaineer Field and Mylan Puskar Stadium.

Landau and his wife were one of our guests at the Annual Meeting at The Greenbrier this past August, before winner the AGT contest.  As you can see he is very proud of his roots to the coal industry and Friends of Coal.

Landau won $1 million and a year’s contract at a Vegas venue and his opening show will be October 28^th.