Manchin Condemns EPA Announcement To End Use of Coal As We Know It
Manufacturers and average families will pay the price for EPA’s wrong-headed proposal
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) issued the following statement about the Environment Protection Agency’s announcement today that a new rule will effectively prevent any new coal-fired power plants from being built.
“As today’s announcement shows, this EPA is fully engaging in a war on coal, even though this country will continue to rely on coal as an affordable, stable and abundant energy source for decades to come,” Senator Manchin said. “This approach relies totally on cheap natural gas and we’ve seen that bubble burst before. It might sound good now, but what happens if those prices go up? Your average hardworking families and manufacturers will be left holding the bag of uncertainty – either in the prices they pay or in the reliability of our electrical system. Either way, they’ll face enormous disruptions in their ability to do business and go about their everyday lives.
“This is what happens when this country doesn’t have a true all-of-the-above energy approach. Instead of trying to completely eliminate coal in the long-term, the EPA should be trying to work with industry. The EPA should have learned from the federal court decision last week on Spruce Mine that they’re overreaching their authority. But this ill-advised proposal to prevent new coal-fueled generation will move this country away from using all our domestic resources, and I will fight it every step of the way.”
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