Retaining a coal job over the past few years has not been easy, but I’ve been blessed to keep my job at Mepco. Still, like so many others in my community, I’ve been worried about the of future of my career over the past eight years as the “War on Coal” has seemed to have no end in sight. However, we now have the opportunity to really embrace clean coal moving forward in this country.
Mepco supplies most of the coal used at the Longview Power plant. Longview proves every single day that you can use coal efficiently and in a clean, environmentally sound way. To continue benefiting from clean coal in the future, we need to have an EPA that is balanced and without political agenda. I was encouraged to see President-elect Trump’s choice of Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA for this reason. I’m also very proud of Senator Capito for her bold leadership to quickly call for his confirmation to help fight for our coal jobs. Senator Manchin has also been encouraging in his statements supporting Mr. Pruitt, and for that I am very grateful.
Let’s hope that our West Virginia senators can lead their colleagues in the U.S. Senate and bring this EPA back to the real world. We need our coal jobs, and we can and should use clean coal.
Sincerely,
Steven Golden
Morgantown