Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate sent a strong message last week to President Barack Obama with two necessary measures aimed at rolling back the administration’s job-killing anti-coal agenda. Among those bills was a bipartisan measure introduced by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., that seeks to void the EPA’s anti-coal regulations for existing power plants.
Capito also voted with a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate in passing a resolution disapproving of the administration’s controversial Clean Power Plan regulations for new power plants. The resolution of disapproval was introduced by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
Both measures are expected to be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bipartisan bills are a stinging rebuke of the president’s crippling anti-coal policies that continue to take a heavy toll on the coalfields of southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia. Also hurting is the coal-producing state of Kentucky that is served by Majority Leader McConnell.
“American jobs and economic growth are being held hostage as the administration proposes regulations that harm energy-producing states,” Capito said. “Today’s passage of a bipartisan resolution of disapproval makes clear that enough is enough — the president can not move forward with policies at expense of our families, communities and economy. The administration needs to understand coal’s role in our energy landscape, and I will continue my efforts to ensure that our state has access to affordable, reliable energy.”
“The president’s energy agenda has had a crushing impact on West Virginia and other energy states,” Manchin added. “With the passage of these resolutions, Congress is saying ‘enough is enough.’ We are showing the rest of the country and the rest of the world that we will continue to fight against these unobtainable and unreasonable regulations with everything that we have. I have vowed to do everything I can to fight to protect the people and the communities of West Virginia, which have been absolutely devastated by this administration’s overreaching rules on the coal industry, and I am pleased that these measures have been passed to disapprove and stop these rules.”
So are we. And we applaud those lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans — who are continuing this necessary fight. Although a presidential veto is all but certain, the fight must continue. Lawmakers must do everything within their power to put an end to this administration’s continued attack on coal-producing regions.