United States Energy Association Executive Director Barry Worthington had some good news for what is likely a large portion of West Virginia: Coal has a bright future.
"I think we're going to continue to use coal," Worthington told a small crowd in the University of Charleston's Riggleman Hall this past Thursday. "I believe sanity will prevail."
Worthington was the "clean-up batter" for the university's five-part speaker series on energy. He followed Nick Akins, CEO of American Electric Power; Eban Goodstein, director of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy; David Porges, CEO of the EQT Corporation; and Kevin Crutchfield, CEO of Alpha Natural Resources.
Worthington said that one of the biggest challenges the coal industry faces in West Virginia is overly stringent regulations from the U.S. EPA. Recent rules, he said, threaten to dissuade coal companies from building new plants.