<p align="JUSTIFY"><em>Commentary</em></p> <p align="JUSTIFY">West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey issued the following statement this week about regulations the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to impose on new coal-fired power plants:</p> <p align="JUSTIFY">"Our Office is very concerned about the Environmental Protection Agency’s new emission rules that would effectively ban new coal-fired power plants. The agency’s proposal sets new standards of approximately 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour - standards that represent a massive reduction from current practices.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY">"Coal is a critical component of our nation’s electrical grid and our state’s economy. Our state is the second largest producer of coal, and this move by the EPA basically slams the door on coal as a long-term source of electricity and energy. It is a blatant attempt to promote a reckless agenda that picks winners and losers and puts our nation’s goal for energy independence in a tenuous position.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY">"I’ve seen little from the White House or the EPA on what people in Boone, Marshall, Logan, Marion, Mingo, Monongalia and other counties around the state should do when their local coal mines have layoffs. Based on this proposal, I cannot see how anyone could question the EPA’s intention to take coal out of the equation. West Virginia cannot idly sit by and allow politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, DC, to cripple our economy.</p> <p align="JUSTIFY">"The Obama Administration has a history of overstepping its legal authority to the detriment of West Virginia jobs. Our Office will review every word of every paragraph of every page in these regulations so that we can fight for West Virginia jobs. West Virginia will not shy away from this battle against Obama’s EPA."</p>
