LOGAN, W.Va. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee’s Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee, chaired a field hearing in Southern West Virginia focused on the local impacts of EPA’s climate regulations. Senator Capito released this statement following the hearing at the Chief Logan Conference Center in Logan:
“The litany of anti-coal regulations put forward by this administration doesn’t just impact coal companies. It impacts every vendor in the supply chain, every coal miner and their family, and every community where fewer incomes mean fewer sales and less revenue,” said Senator Capito.
“Coal jobs are good jobs, but these jobs have been under attack, and bankruptcies in the coal industry have jeopardized promised heath care benefits to retired miners. Today’s hearing provided a platform for those most directly affected by the administration’s harmful regulations to have their voices heard. The EPA never came to West Virginia when it crafted these regulations. Today’s hearing accomplishes what the EPA was never willing to.”
Download Senator Capito’s opening statement HERE. Watch video of the hearing HERE.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and U.S. Representative Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.) participated in the hearing, along with West Virginians who have directly felt the impacts of EPA’s regulations. Witnesses included Eugene M. Trisko, Counsel to United Mine Workers of America; coal miner Jimmy Dale “Bo” Copley II; Wayne County Commission President Robert E. Pasley; Karan Ireland, West Virginia Solar United Neighborhoods Program Director; and West Virginia University law professor James M. Van Nostrand.
Senator Capito was joined by Senator Manchin and Congressman Jenkins during today’s EPW field hearing in Logan.
Local officials and West Virginians testified on the impacts of EPA regulations and the president’s Clean Power Plan.
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