An Associated Press article earlier this week detailing a U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM) report on the impact of the Obama Administration’s war against coal clearly shows the fears of so many West Virginia coal miners are well-founded.
The internal report shows the administration’s policies threaten thousands of coal mining jobs – many if not most right here in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky – and that the administration is pursuing these job-killing policies with full understanding of the economic damage it will do to the mining industry and to our coal mining families.
That this assault is occurring even as the President has instituted a review of federal policies that are impeding economic progress is even more troubling.
According to the report, OSM believes the EPA-driven changes to regulatory policy will destroy more than 20,000 coal mining and related jobs and cost Appalachian states more than $650 million. The report further says that production at surface coal mines would see cuts of 20-30 percent and it would eliminate up to 50 percent of the UNDERGROUND production nationwide.
Beyond the immediate impact on coal mining families, these policies will increase electricity prices and in doing so drive up prices across the board.