More Reaction to McConnell-Paul Coal Bill

Legislation introduced by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul to prevent the EPA from illegally stalling coal permits continues to generate news coverage.

The Hill includes a cautionary tale of an example of EPA over-reach in Logan County West Virginia. The EPA rescinded a permit it had previously granted to a company that had spent millions of dollars and several years on the project.

The EPA’s action defies logic," said McConnell, referring to the Logan County incident. "Not only are they changing the rules in the middle of the game, they are retroactively changing rules to shut down mines they’ve already approved."

That's worrisome for Kentucky, where coal provides one of our only competitive edges. And yet the same story plays out around the country with other agencies that the Obama administration misuses to achieve through regulation what it cannot achieve through legislation -- because it lacks the votes. Take efforts to achieve card-check through regulation. Or the use of IRS agents to police Obamacare.

The McConnell - Paul coal legislation is not just about coal, but rather about an administration that seeks to end-run the 2010 election results with antidemocratic regulations by anonymous bureaucrats.

McConnell and Paul File Legislation to Prevent EPA Overreach Against Coal Industry

It's great to see these two working together to protect an industry that gives Kentucky its competitive edge. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul have filed legislation to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from abusing its power to grant or deny permits for, among other things, coal mines. This is crucial for providing certainty for businesses.

The news release notes that more than 200,000 Kentucky jobs belong to the coal industry, including those of 18,000 miners. The economic significance of the legislation for Kentucky therefore cannot be overstated.

From the release:

The [Mining Jobs Protection Act] legislation would tell the EPA to “use it or lose it” when deciding whether to invoke its veto authority of a 404 permit within a reasonable time frame, giving permit applicants the certainty they need to do business. Mines are required to obtain 404 permits from the EPA to operate.

The bill would ensure that all 404 permits move forward to be either approved or rejected, so applicants aren’t left in limbo unsure how to act. The bill also ensures that the EPA cannot use its veto retroactively.

“The EPA has turned the permitting process, which is already cumbersome, into a back-door means of shutting down coal mines,” Senator McConnell said. “The thousands of Kentuckians who work in coal mining or have jobs that are dependent on it are in jeopardy. Other industries besides coal are at risk, too: I’ve heard from farmers, realtors, the transportation industry and others who also need permits from the EPA to continue their business. Our legislation ensures that what the EPA did in West Virginia will not happen in Kentucky. Attacking an industry so important to Kentucky would put people out of work, impede job growth, and increase energy prices.”

“The out-of-control EPA is already costing the people of Kentucky jobs and their war on coal could cost us even more,” Senator Paul said. “President Obama is on record saying he wants to ‘bankrupt’ the coal industry, that’s why Senator McConnell and I are working to end this abuse by the EPA, and stop the Obama administration from killing jobs in Kentucky and other coal-producing states by trying to regulate away our means to make a living and drive up our electric bills.”

Senate TV Ads

Trey Grayson launched his first TV ad. It emphasizes his support for the coal industry -- and the jobs it brings to Kentuckians. It is playing in eastern Kentucky where those voters who would lose their jobs to cap and trade reside. In the ad, Rand Paul is quoted as saying that coal is "dirty."

Rand Paul is not happy with Grayson's ad. He released the following statement:

"There is no candidate who will stand up for Kentucky’s Coal Industry more than Rand Paul. To twist his words and draw conclusions that are opposite to Dr. Paul's positions is intellectually dishonest and beneath someone asking to be Kentucky's next Senator.

"Dr. Paul has stated repeatedly that he opposes Cap and Trade and opposes a runaway EPA that vows to write its own greenhouse emission rules without Congressional Approval.

"Furthermore, Dr. Paul has called for sun-setting EPA regulations on Coal and forcing the EPA to streamline or eliminate the onerous permit process. Dr. Paul has also defended mountaintop removal of coal. It's hard to imagine a candidate who has taken a more clear and consistent stand against out-of-control government regulation and intrusion into private businesses.

"Trey Grayson clearly takes Paul's comments out of context and attempts to imply that Dr. Paul is anti-coal. This is a political game, and to show how easy it is to do, the same could be done to Grayson's comments:

"And so we feel like going forward, that this is a zero emission, um, process, and as where some of these coal fire plants are being phased out, we need to probably, we need to bring nuclear on. And from a cost effectiveness standpoint, uh, they're much more cost effective just because the cost to make a clean coal plant is so expensive that nuclear becomes a viable option." - Trey Grayson

"Does that make Grayson anti-Coal?

"This attack is no doubt the first in a series of distortions and lies to attempt to tear down Dr. Paul's grassroots campaign. Trey Grayson clearly can't say he's the outsider who will fight against career politicians. He can't say he'd be the strongest advocate for limited government. He can't say he'd fight back against bailouts, out of control spending and earmarks.

He can't say he'd fight for Term Limits or against big government establishment politicians.

So he's instead trying to right his failing campaign by attacking. It won't work. The people of Kentucky can and will see through Grayson's political games."

And then Paul released his own ad, in which he tries to make Grayson look anti-coal because he acknowledges that nuclear energy is the way of the future. The ad appears to have been thrown together quickly; it's not very effective.

At the end of the day, either Paul or Grayson is better on energy than a Democrat. There does not appear to be that much difference between them on this issue -- just as there is not much difference between them on fiscal issues.

Where they differ is on national security and foreign relations. And the appropriate role for federal drug enforcement. If voters scrutinize the candidates on those issues, they will see, as the Wall Street Journal wrote last week, that Rand Paul is "radical" and "extreme," and has "much in common with those of the far left" including 9/11 truthers and the "obsessed and deranged" who support his father, career politician Rep. Ron Paul. "

Obama On Coal: We'll Bankrupt You

Sen. Barack Obama on an issue that is vital to the economic future of Kentucky and the energy independence of America: coal.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.

That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.

The only thing I’ve said with respect to coal, I haven’t been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.

It’s just that it will bankrupt them.

Obama has never been able to hypnotize Kentuckians. Pennsylvanians, Virginians and West Virginians and Ohioans need to listen up. He wants to bankrupt an entire industry.

The Hawpester Channels Gandhi

Courier-Journal columnist David Hawpe has endorsed Al Gore's call for civil disobedience to the production and use of stop coal -- even clean coal.

In a speech at the recent Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York, the former vice president urges adopting the tactics of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Gore said, "If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration" (technology that may not be perfected for many years, without which coal will continue contributing to global warming).

Actually, protesters already are out there, just across the state line in Virginia in Wise County, where 11, 12 or 14 (the accounts vary) were arrested after chaining themselves to steel drums. They were attempting to disrupt the building of a Dominion Virginia 580-megawatt coal-fired plant, for which ground was broken last month.

How about if Hawpe chains himself to one of Al Gore's mansions. As USA Today noted,

Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.

The technology to use coal without harming the environment is on the brink of helping our nation achieve energy independence -- and bringing good jobs to Kentucky. And yet David Hawpe wants us to chain ourselves to the steel drums. Clearly, Hawpe shares Barack Obama's vaunted "judgment."