CHARLESTON – Today’s announced closure of AK Steel’s Ashland Coke Plant is yet another example of the arrogance of the Obama Administration and the U.S. EPA. The closure of the the coke plant will put some 263 people out of work at a time when the nation’s reported unemployment rate is approaching 10 percent and many estimates place the real rate at nearly 15 percent.
According to the company, the decision to close the plant is the result of significantly higher operational costs related to the EPA’s imposition of increasingly stringent regulations.
“As a result, the total per-ton cost of coke produced by the plant is significantly higher than all other sources of coke for the company,” AK Steel said in its news release.
What this means is that not only will 263 steel workers lose their jobs, so to may dozens of area coal miners who produce the coal that may now come from other sources.
“This is just another in a seemingly endless series of attacks against the people of West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia – against our coal mining families,” said Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association. “This shows an arrogance that is unbelievable. Obama and his EPA don’t care about jobs. They don’t care about people. All they care about is their political agenda, and that agenda threatens the very foundation of our economy.”
Raney said it is imperative that the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives move to end this war against the American people. He said it is vital that the Senate passes the Rockefeller Bill which would impose a two-year moratorium on the EPA’s regulatory authority and that the House of Representative follows suit.
“We have to end the EPA’s reign of terror against American jobs if we are to have any chance of rebuilding our nation’s economy,” Raney said. “We have to have responsible policies that put jobs and people first. Please call or write your Congressional representatives and let them know you want them to support the Rockefeller Bill. Let them know it is time to put an end to the EPA’s war against America’s people.