Highmark Stadium
July 30, 2014
Thank you for the opportunity to address this distinguished gathering of coal, energy and industrial workers...Workers who have collectively built this region, and for that matter, our country, into the greatest place on earth to call home.
I speak today as Chairman of the West Virginia Business & Industry Council which is comprised of more than 60 West Virginia trade associations and businesses.
In addition to our bedrock industries of coal, oil/gas, chemical & manufacturing, BIC also represents retailers, auto dealers, truckers, contractors and construction workers.
BIC’s purpose here today is twofold. First, to show our unconditional support for you and your families and secondly, to demonstrate to EPA and this president that the detrimental effects of their actions extend way beyond the thousands of front line workers.
Their actions also affect all our communities and ancillary businesses that rely on coal production to sustain their presence in our economy or have remained viable due to their strategic location to uninterrupted, low cost, reliable power.
As it relates to the latter point, you and your colleagues have been dependable and predictable. Something we believe will be missing within the energy and industrial sector going forward if the rules before us are allowed to stand.
Our members share your concern and they share your anger. The more they learn about this issue of climate change and EPA's proposed rule, the more perplexed and anger they feel.
To think that all this pain and economic loss is over a mere 1% of all world greenhouse gas emissions is truly mind boggling. It all but obviates a cost-benefit analysis and the last time I checked, the US is not a planet! It does so little good to ratchet down our economy while world emissions increase.
So, until other countries around the globe, catch up and follow the lead already being demonstrated here with respect to environmental stewardship and accomplishment...I simply say -- No, Hell No!
As I look out and across the City of Pittsburgh, I see a city that exemplifies our industry and environmental record today -- a city that’s been transformed by the same technological forces that have transformed our daily lives over the past 25 years.
Transformation, not only fueled by your blood, sweat and tears, but has been driven by coal-fired power and the electrification of our society.
The skies here are blue, the waters clear. Wasn’t always like that but we have made tremendous progress, and, we get better at it by the hour and by the day. We have demonstrated "industrial leadership" and environmental excellence to the world many times over. This is what the President should be touting around the world (our demonstrated industrial leadership), not climate leadership -- He has it all backwards.
Your industry has cut all airborne emissions in this country by over 90% and the Mercury MACT Rule, which is responsible for the closure of hundreds of coal fired generators at a tremendous cost to all of us, has yet to be implemented.
Ironically, you’re being punished. Punished for a job well-done. Punished by your president who is using every single resource and federal agency under his control to restrict, inhibit or otherwise affect your employment...And with your job, goes your livelihood, your quality of life and ability to support your family. 2016 is now only 2 yrs away and we will all have the opportunity to bid this guy farewell...
We are going to win this thing! Don’t let them bully you. You have rightness of issue on your side...They're attempting to change the entire vernacular to make their point and a large segment of the media is buying-in. Terms, like global warming/climate change, attempting to pin all storms and bad weather events on us, changing the name of February to "Arctic Vortex".
I’m sure, as sure as we're sitting here, that August will be launched in a couple days as the "Serengeti days of summer". They know better, you know better, the public knows better!
Again, the facts are with you on this one. The politics might not be, but the facts are… Fight back! Tell them how much progress has been made and will be made. Tell them how much pollution is being generated by other countries and tell them you're not racist, a bigot nor an ostrich. In fact, it’s not your head in the sand – it’s someone else's head stuck somewhere else.
We must all do more and we must all do it together. And if you believe climate change is occurring and that man's contributions warrant immediate action, and that’s ok. Just be sure to tell them that it is only logical and sensible to embrace a "Global" solution and not to ratchet down our economy for such little benefit.
In closing, you have a lot of good people standing up for you and many are with us here today. It’s becoming real easy to distinguish those with us and those who are not. Keep the faith & keep fighting.
Thank you & God Bless.