At a press conference Tuesday morning, Virginia lawmakers voiced opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed controls on coal power plants in a letter to President Barack Obama.
The letter was signed by 85 members of the Virginia General Assembly contesting the EPA’s new source performance standards designed to reduce carbon emissions through the regulation of coal plants.
Sen. Phil Puckett, D-Tazewell, and Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, were among those who attended the press conference. Barry DuVal, president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Robert Litton, chairman of Virginia Coal and Energy Alliance, and members of the VCEA Board of Directors were also present.
In their letter to the President, delegates voiced concern about the EPA’s plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal power plants. They deemed it a direct attack on coal production.
“They think [the regulations] are reckless and will hurt the Southwestern Virginia economy,” said Matthew Moran, spokesperson for Virginia House of Delegates Speaker William Howell.
The delegates argue coal is necessary to the economic livelihood of many Virginians, especially those living in the coal mining region of southwest Virginia. Coal severance taxes make up 25 percent of the region’s annual budgets and approximately 45,000 Virginians work in the mining industry.
Thirty percent of Virginia’s electricity comes from coal, and its cost efficiency has allowed Virginia to become one of the nation’s largest manufacturing states. The EPA’s proposals are a “de facto ban on coal-fired power plants,” and the “unrealistic” regulations will put the power grid of the United States in jeopardy, according to the letter.
“We believe these new regulations would have a devastating impact on southwest Virginia’s economy, killing jobs and economic growth,” Moran said.
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