By Liz Beavers, August 7, 2015

A long-time defender of West Virginia’s coal industry, Congressman David McKinley took time during his visit to Mineral County Tuesday to speak against the Clean Power Plan.

Finalized on Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the plan is designed to greatly reduce the permitted amount of carbon emitted from power plants.

McKinley said not only did President Barack Obama and the EPA act without any input from Congress, but the plan will result in devastation to the coal industry which is already feeling the squeeze from environmental regulations.

The Congressman says he does not understand the rationale behind the decision to target coal-fired power plants.

“If we would shut down every coal-fired power plant in America, according to the United Nations, we would only reduce global CO2 by two-tenths of one percent,” he said.

“Why?”

According to a chart McKinley provided to the News Tribune, the Clean Power Plan calls for West Virginia to reduce its carbon emissions by 36.8 percent.

The original target was 19.8 percent.

McKinley calls the EPA ruling the latest in the federal “war on coal” which has been raging for at least the past seven years.

That war, he says, has “brought destruction to communities across the state.”

McKinley says members of Congress have questioned whether the President had the authority to take such action, and noted that 20 regulations that Obama had approved “have been overturned by the Supreme Court by a 9-0 vote.

“I’m suggesting that this (EPA plan) too will be proven to be unconstitutional.”

Noting that there are 12 states earmarked for bigger reductions that West Virginia, McKinley said, “I bet those 12 states have either leaned toward saying ‘no’ to this or they’ve already said they’re not going to comply.”

McKinley was right on the mark. On Wednesday, attorney general Patrick Morrisey announced that West Virginia has joined 15 other states in asking the EPA for an immediate stay of its Clean Power Plan, pending the outcome of a legal challenge to the rule.

McKinley said if something is not done, not only will additional coal mines and power plants shut their doors, but “once you shot down a power plant, it’s too late. They’ll never start up again.”

“We are a nation of laws, not regulations,” he said. “The President must stop this executive overreach and start to work with the American people’s elected representatives in Congress.”

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