CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The new Administrator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency says federal regulators are not trying to destroy coal.
“We don’t have a war on coal,” Gina McCarthy told The New York Times earlier this week. “We’re doing our business, which is to reduce pollution. We’re following the law.”
It is now up to McCarthy to lead efforts to develop proposed regulations limiting carbon emissions from new power plants by September. President Barack Obama has called for draft standards for existing plants to be proposed by next June.
On Thursday, McCarthy is scheduled to meet with some of West Virginia’s Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Tim Miley, in Washington, D.C.
“What we’re hoping to do is impress upon her the need to have reasonableness in those rules that the EPA will present,” said Miley. He said the coal industry needs the time and the ability to comply with the new regulations.
McCarthy most recently lead the EPA’s Air Quality Division.
In that role, she had a hand in developing new regulations for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, pollution from plants that crosses state lines along with mercury emissions from power plants.
Miley was a guest on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
“I don’t know what the likelihood of success is for this trip. But I’ve lived under the premise that nothing ventured is nothing gained and we will be no worse off if nothing happens,” he said.
“But, if we can do one small thing and impress upon them to be more sensitive to our needs and to live up to the President’s own words, then that will be a success.”
During the trip, meetings are also planned with some of President Obama’s senior advisors.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) was the only Democrat to vote against McCarthy’s confirmation earlier this month. The U.S. Senate approved her nomination with a 59-40 vote on July 18.