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WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

West Virginia is just the first battlefield

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Will the third time be a charm? Let's hope so, because this is the third time Rep. David McKinley has introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in an increasingly desperate effort to prevent the regulatory ruin of West Virginia's coal industry.


“When the EPA retroactively revoked the Spruce Mine permit in Logan County, they destroyed good-paying jobs in West Virginia and made businesses of all types lose trust in the federal permitting process,” Rep. McKinley lamented on his third attempt to rein in this rogue federal agency.


“This action creates uncertainty for any business that needs a permit for its operations – not just coal but manufacturing, construction, agriculture and many others,” McKinley said. “I will continue to fight this gross abuse of power and return certainty to permitting so businesses can create jobs.”


Reps. Evan Jenkins and Alex Mooney joined McKinley as cosponsors of the bill, which would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from retroactively vetoing valid permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.


“Make no mistake: The Obama administration and his EPA have declared a war on West Virginia coal and West Virginia coal jobs, and Logan County’s Spruce No. 1 mine is just one target,” said Jenkins.


“The EPA is stretching its authority by canceling legally issued permits,” he added. “West Virginia businesses and workers need and deserve certainty from the federal government, but the EPA’s actions put construction projects and jobs in jeopardy.”


The Obama Administration has “declared war” on West Virginia and it is putting our economy “in jeopardy.”


Representatives and Senators from other states would be well advised to support this bill, whether they have coal interests or not. West Virginia may be in the cross hairs now, but the war being waged on West Virginia by the Obama Administration will come their way eventually.


As Patrick Henry said at the signing of the Declaration, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

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