The WV Congressional delegate wrote Governor Tomblin concerning the EPA’s proposed rule to reduce greenhouse emissions fromexistingfossil fuel power plants on Wednesday, June 3rd. The letter urged the Governor to consider not submitting a state implementation plan (SIP) due to concerns over EPA’s legal justification and the impact Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) will have on jobs, electricity prices and grid reliability.
The complete letter is attached.
The following High School seniors have been awarded $1000.00 scholarships from the Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary for the 2016 school year:
From Logan County: Hannah Hunter, Logan High School, attending Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College majoring in Nursing; and, Samantha Short, Man High School, attending University of Charleston, majoring in Nursing
From Raleigh County: Luke Carpenter, Liberty High School, attending Glenville State, majoring in Accounting; Dalton Radford, Woodrow Wilson High School, attending Concord University, majoring in Business/Accounting; and,Brandon Hampton, Independence High School, attending Marshall University, majoring in Nursing. We congratulate each of these recipients and wish them the best of luck as they embark on their college careers.
West Virginia Coal Senior Vice President Chris Hamilton was the guest Thursday, June 4, on the Mike Queen Radio Show, which is broadcast across the northern part of the state on the AJR News Network - a network covering 14 counties in Central West Virginia.
Hamilton gave an update on the current status of the coal industry as well as the issues facing it today, and he discussed what he sees as the future of the industry in the region as well as his take on the recently completed 2015 legislative session and the political changes that swept through West Virginia in the 2014 election cycle.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Monday began reviewing EPA's rule that will govern carbon emissions from existing power plants, according to a notice on the agency's website.
The regulation is the centerpiece of the Obama administration's climate agenda, and is meant to prove to the world that the U.S. is serious about taking action on climate change ahead of international talks this December in Paris, despite the absence of resolved science!
OMB's review begins as the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals considers a lawsuit seeking to stop the rulemaking in its tracks. That court is expected to rule in the coming weeks, and the judges appear to be leaning toward making EPA's critics wait until the rule is finalized to bring their complaint. OMB has been reviewing EPA's separate carbon rules for future and modified plants since early May. All of those rules are expected to be finalized sometime this summer, possibly in August.
Congressman David McKinley (R-1st District) announced his intentions Monday to run for re-election. McKinley had considered a run for governor.
McKinley maintains the state Republican Party was not involved in his decision to stay in Washington. Instead, the Congressman said he and his wife decided to put aside “personal aspirations” and fight for West Virginians who have lost their jobs in the mining industry. He explained his reasoning in an open letter to the Wheeling Post-Intelligencer this week: “There comes a time to put aside our personal aspirations, to double down a resistance to the policies in Washington that are ill-conceived and destructive to our nation's economy,” McKinley wrote. “The war on coal that led to this recent loss of 2,268 coal mining jobs didn't originate in Charleston; no, it came from the White House. That's where the fight is and that's where I could serve best.
“The tragic loss of 2,268 coal mining jobs made that clear to me. The struggle to save our nation takes place every day in Washington. President Obama's term is for another year and a half. He can still do irreparable harm to our struggling economy and especially our fossil fuel industries. What havoc he has wrought on coal is merely a prelude to his next target: Natural gas.
“President William McKinley once said, ‘Duty determines destiny.’ My duty is to protect West Virginia families from being further victimized by the Obama Administration and the EPA.
“It is time for me to focus on the work ahead of us in Congress. These 2,268 coal mining families need an experienced, tested voice in Washington. Someone not afraid to step away from party affiliation, to stand up to the bullying tactics of an administration which can't grasp the harm its regulations are having on families and businesses.
“Our country must never be allowed to turn its back on our coal industry.
“These 2,268 families deserve better. America deserves better.
“These are casualties of a war on coal and that war on coal didn’t originate in Charleston,” McKinley said. “It came from the White House and that’s why I think I can serve best is back here in Washington as a member of Congress.”