Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., is one of the most outspoken lawmakers in the state when it comes to the Environmental Protection Agency and what he sees as President Obama’s war on coal and affordable electricity.

McKinley has been selected as the 2015 Exponent Telegram Statesman of the Year.

A seventh-generation West Virginian and a native of Wheeling, McKinley previously worked in the construction industry as a certified professional engineer. He is the founder of McKinley and Associates, an architectural and engineering firm.

As one of two professional engineers in Congress, McKinley has a seat on the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

In that role, he has been active on issues related to the coal industry, environmental regulations, energy efficiency and health care. He serves as vice chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

McKinley knows the coal industry is the backbone of West Virginia’s economy.

Three times, the House has passed his legislation to protect the 316,000 Americans reliant on the coal ash recycling industry.

McKinley has worked to protect the pensions and health care benefits that coal miners worked hard to earn.

And he has fought the onslaught of burdensome regulations coming out of the White House that have crippled the coal industry and threaten the state’s long-term energy security.

“This is the fifth year I’ve seen an erosion of our fossil fuel industry, both coal and natural gas.” McKinley said. “It seems to be getting worse. The newest regulations are called the Clean Power Plan. You have to get behind the title to find out what it’s about.”

McKinley has vowed not to take a passive role and recently became chairman of the Coal Caucus. The goal is for the 80 members of the House in that caucus to have one voice.

“What we have is southern and central Appalachian coal and western coal. All three have different issues and are fighting the administration on different fronts,” McKinley said.

“We want to energize the Coal Caucus to work together, and we’ve seen progress on that. We got the EPA to roll back one of its regulations. It wasn’t a law, but we got the EPA to back off. It helped by having all members of the Coal Caucus focusing on one voice.”

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