Posted on 01/14/2011 6:59:28 AM PST by La Lydia
In what the Wall Street Journal dubbed as an “unusual move,” President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday that is was reversing a Bush-era decision and revoking a critical permit for the largest mountaintop-removal coal mining projects ever proposed in Appalachia. According to the Journal:
The decision to revoke the permit for Arch Coal Inc.’s Spruce Mine No. 1 in West Virginia’s rural Logan County marks the first time the EPA has withdrawn a water permit for a mining project that had previously been issued.
It’s also only the second time in the 39-year history of the federal Clean Water Act that the agency has canceled a water permit for a project of any kind after it was issued, according to the agency.
The decision places valuable coal off limits and cancels a $250 million investment in southern West Virginia that would have created 250 jobs in an economically depressed region. It also calls into question the future of coal in America, especially under the current administration.
This administration favors what appears to be a no-energy approach – placing valuable resources off limits, from coal to oil and natural gas. Fortunately, conservatives are fighting back. According to reports this morning, Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) is planning to introduce legislation that would “broadly block federal climate rules under the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.”
His effort is dubbed as the “strongest” and “most aggressive yet” to rein in a radical environmental agenda.
In the early days of the 112th Congress, Americans are being presented with a clear choice on a very consequential policy matter – how we will power our economy in the coming decades.
How’s that Hope and Change workin’ for ya, West Virginia?
Instead of “Together we Thrive” the truth is becoming “Together we Won't Survive.”
Looks like the only way coal is gonna get mined in America is if Chinese-owned or controlled companies buy the mines and strike deals with the UMW to mine it, the Transportation unions to haul it, and the Teamsters to load it on Chinese ships at our ports
How will any company plan for future investments if these kind of things can be revoked after the fact?!
Who owns the land? Do they not have a right to do what they want with the land?
If they own the land and can do with it as they please, why do they need a permit?
If the federal government owns it, why don’t they sell it to pay down their debt?
If a private party owns it, what right does the government have to require a license to do with it as they choose?
Property rights: a kooky old idea no longer needed in the brave, new USSA.
I might have some sympathy and support for their cause if the Greenies could name a source of energy acceptable to them. But instead they just seem to blindly oppose ANY source of energy in what I perceive as a desire to keep America down.
The life a coal miner and that of a coal mining community is not a great way of life. It's dangerous, it's dirty and of a necessity in this type of mining it's not good for the surrounding areas either.
Were Robert Byrd still Senator I don’t think this would have happened.
The same people who oppose coal mining also oppose nuclear power plants.
The lignite belt of Texas cuts across I-45 Near Centerville, Buffalo and Fairfield. I drive the road with more frequency than I care to and have watched the coal mining draglines there for years. Frankly, the land looks better and more productive after mining than it did before. The contours are more regular and erosion resistant than before. Inside of 50 years or so nobody that doesn’t know about the mining will know the difference.
We have enough rules already.. no more needed. Paring back of rules is what we do need.
“Cancels $250 million investment”.
Clarify, please...
How much money had already been spent?
How much money was waiting for operations to begin?
What happens to the money that is still sitting there from stockholders & does it get back to them- even if on a partial basis?
Another thought:
$250 million didn’t come from just one buyer of stock. ALL those stockholders are sitting on a huge loss & have to file their income taxes for 2011—or maybe even usable in 2010. How many dollars of income tax to the Feds will be wiped out by such an arbitrary action???
Another blow to the income needed to even try to start paying down the debt this Administration & Congress has compiled.
The dumbest part to me is that a great majority of the energy used east of the Mississippi is supplied by coal.
That area certainly includes WASHINGTON D.C.
How will Congress & the White House like things when THEY have no power—literally!!??
All you Mountaineers pulling the Dem lever, lotsa luck! You need to find out what PA knows - get a Republican governor who reverses the anti drilling ban set forth by Dems and the environmental weenies.
Obama DID promise to destroy the coal industry...
Nuke power makes good sense. Our kenyan president made the announcement a while back that they were going to clear the way to build several new nuke plants. Then they closed Yucca mountain effectively stopping any new nuke plant being built.
They have put a choke hold on the oil drilling industry using the permit process. Yeah they lifted the moratorium, but made the permit process impossible and let that industry know that they would be operating in a dynamic regulatory environment. That’s 10 dollar words for “we will change the rules at any time”. Effectivly shutting down drilling.
Now the EPA is not allowing a coal facility when we have lots of coal fired power plants still operating. Shrink the supply of coal and watch the prices skyrocket. Hmmm who said that? Electricity prices necessarily skyrocketing?
Name that kenyan.
Somebody explain to me why West Virginia keeps voting for Democrats.
Obama publicly announced that he intended to bankrupt the coal industry, although the media quickly put a lid on it.
Also, the oil industry. And the natural gas industry. And the nuclear industry—which was closed down years ago by Jimmy Carter and Jane Fonda. But Obama will make sure that it never starts up again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.