Charleston, W.Va. – Chris Hamilton, President and CEO of the West Virginia Coal Association offered the following statement regarding the Protect Our Power Plants (POPP) Act recently introduced by Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Congresswoman Carol Miller in the U.S. Senate and House, respectively:
“Thank you, Senator Capito and Congresswoman Miller, for your unwavering support of West Virginia’s coal and fossil fuel industries. The POPP Act, if passed into law, will prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing its recently announced proposal that would force the closure of coal- and gas-fired power plants.”
“EPA’s actions are nothing more than a continuation and escalation of the national Democratic Party’s decades-long War on Coal and threatens the livelihood of tens of thousands of West Virginians.”
“We stand ready to support Senator Capito and Congresswoman Miller as they work to pass this critical legislation into law and encourage all 50,000 West Virginians who show up at a mine every day to voice their support.”
The Protect Our Power Plants (POPP) Act outlines the illegalities of the EPA’s latest proposal, which attempts to severely restrict power generation at new and existing facilities, and states, “the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may not finalize, implement, or enforce” the proposed rule.
For additional information, contact Chris Hamilton at (304) 342-4153.