WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he is hoping to have an answer soon from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on when she will visit West Virginia.
“We’re going to keep pushing this. She needs to come and give us their plan from the EPA or this administration on what they intend to do,” said Manchin on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Manchin was one of the elected officials who sent a letter to McCarthy on Tuesday, again inviting her to visit West Virginia. It was a follow-up to an invitation extended during an August meeting in Washington, D.C. involving McCarthy and more than a dozen Democrats from West Virginia.
“We respectfully request that you come to the Mountain State, speak with our people, and see, first hand, the real life impact of EPA regulations on the everyday lives of West Virginians,” the letter read.
The letter also expressed “disappointment” with the recent series of listening sessions the EPA scheduled across the United States, focused on input on the EPA’s planned regulations, that did not include stops in coal country.
A few weeks ago, Manchin said he told McCarthy she “had to come to West Virginia” when he ran into her and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on a Capitol Hill elevator. He said opposing views are important.
“I still like to think, if you’re in public service, you want to hear what’s going on, good, bad or indifferent,” he said.
In addition to Manchin, those who signed the letter to McCarthy were Third Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV), Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, Senate President Jeff Kessler (D-Marshall), House Speaker Tim Miley (D-Harrison), Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, state Auditor Glen Gainer, state Democratic Party Chair Larry Puccio and state Democratic Party Vice-Chair Belinda Biafore.
Also included were Delegate Meshea Poore (D-Kanawha, 37) and former state Democratic Party Chair Nick Casey, both candidates for Congress, along with UMWA President Cecil Roberts, West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue and West Virginia Coal Association Vice President Chris Hamilton.