A Republican lawmaker lashed out at Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on Tuesday for imposing devastating regulations on coal, without ever having visited his home state of West Virginia to see how EPA rules are affecting people.
Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., sat next to McCarthy in a Tuesday hearing and launched into a five-minute soliloquy about the economic troubles his home state is facing. He asked McCarthy if she has been to West Virginia during her three years in charge of the EPA, to which she replied, “I don’t recall.”
“I know you were invited,” Jenkins said. “So, since you refuse to come to West Virginia, you simply do not understand what you have done to my state.”
The discussion came during a hearing on the EPA’s budget in front of a House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee where McCarthy was on the hot seat. While most of the hearing was congenial and polite, some Republicans grew heated when discussing the effect EPA regulations have had on the coal industry.
In recent years, the combination of regulations and more competition from natural gas has driven coal prices down and caused many companies to go into financial tailspins. Arch Coal declared bankruptcy earlier this year, and last week, Peabody Energy announced that it could face a similar fate if the market doesn’t improve.
Jenkins, however, ignored any market-based causes and blamed the failure of coal on the EPA.
“Because of your actions, West Virginia now has one of the highest unemployment rates in the entire country,” he said.
The EPA’s budget proposal includes $50 million for the Clean Power Plan, which would set emissions goals for states to implement on new and existing coal power plants. A Supreme Court ruling currently blocks the Clean Power Plan while a legal challenge from more than half of the states is heard.
Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said that $50 million is just another attempt to kill coal as an energy source. He said 10,000 coal miners in his district have found themselves out of work because of what he views as the administration’s war on coal.
“EPA worked with extreme environmentalists to make sure that under the rule, all existing coal-fired power plants would have to close,” he said. “There’s no question the Clean Power Plan would fundamentally alter the energy economy in this country and put thousands of hard-working coal miners out of work.”
McCarthy defended the Clean Power Plan as workable and said 25 states have continued to work with the EPA on implementing their emissions reductions strategies despite the Supreme Court stay.
“We believe the standards are reasonable, and not just appropriate but cost effective as well, or else we would not have established them,” she said. “We do believe facilities can comply and we believe states will be able to meet the requirements under the Clean Power Plan.”
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said she had another perspective on the EPA’s attempts to limit carbon dioxide emissions because she is from an eastern seaboard state.
She said Maine has some of the worst air in the nation because pollution from other states is carried on the wind to her state. She said many in her state suffer from asthma and other chronic lung diseases from breathing poor air. That makes her appreciate the EPA’s attempts to limit pollution from coal energy.
“While I’m very sympathetic about the loss of jobs … it’s a huge challenge to make sure those of us who suffer from the very end are able to have clean air,” she said.
