LOGAN, W.Va. — Congress came to southern West Virginia for a discussion of how federal environmental policy could affect its economy and people.
Officially, it was a hearing of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee.
Less officially, it was West Virginia Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin, along with Congressman Evan Jenkins, having a conversation with coalfield residents and state leaders at the Chief Logan Conference Center in Logan.
Their focus was the Clean Power Plan, announced by the Obama Administration in 2015, stayed by the Supreme Court and then argued over in federal court last week.
The plan sets a national limit on carbon pollution from power plants. States are free to reduce emissions by various means and are expected to submit plans by, at the outside, September 2018.
Wednesday’s hearing featured five official witnesses — an out-of-work coal miner, a commissioner of a struggling county, a lawyer from the United Mine Workers, a program director for a solar energy support coalition and the director of the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at West Virginia University College of Law.
The coal miner, 39-year-old Bo Copley of Delbarton, testified that he lost his job last year.
In response to a question from Manchin, Copley said people in his community perceive job losses like his to be more a result of federal regulatory policy than because of market competition from natural gas.
“Coal can compete when it’s not regulated as much as it is,” Copley told the panel.
Sometimes pausing to keep his composure, Copley said his family has needed to rely on income from his wife’s photography business.
“For every coal miner job loss there are countless more that are also affected,” Copley said.
He said he has not received any job offers since his layoff. Copley said he and his family have relied on faith.
“Our God is able to bring his people through any circumstances,” Copley said.
Wayne County Commission President Robert Pasley said his county’s tax base has diminished along with the area’s coal industry.
“Wayne County’s coal severance revenue has all but disappeared,” he said.
Eugene Trisko, counsel to the United Mine Workers, said the union has been among those fighting the Clean Power Plan. He said the UMW supports reasonable measures to fight climate change, but believes the EPA has gone too far.
“We believe the Power Plan oversteps the agency’s legal authority,” he said.
Trisko contended the Clean Power Plan would suppress coal production and employment in West Virginia.
“The consequences of these production losses would be devastating to the state economy,” Trisko said, adding that one remedy would be a major infusion of research and development capital aimed at lowering the cost of carbon capture technologies.
Federal regulation is affecting the coal market, but not nearly as much as other factors, said James M. Van Nostrand, director of the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at the West Virginia University College of Law.
He said bigger factors include competition from natural gas, geology that makes it harder to reach rich coal seams and global rejection of coal in favor of cleaner fuels.
Nostrand talked about the factors affecting coal markets in terms of various levels of weaponry.
“In terms of its impact, it’s something like a shoulder-fired rocket launcher,” Nostrand said of federal regulation.
“The real heavy fire is coming from economics and geology and international concern about climate change.”
Nostrand advised West Virginia’s policymakers to get in position to compete, evolve and embrace the development of new technology.
“There is truly a revolution underway in the energy revolution,” he said.
Nostrand added, “We can succeed n this new game, this new energy economy.”
It’s clear that West Virginia’s economy is in transition, said Karan Ireland, director of the West Virginia Solar United Neighborhoods Program.
Ireland, who is also a member of Charleston City Council, said she appreciates the coal miners who have contributed to the state’s economy for many years.
“We all owe a debt of gratitude for every modern convenience we have to the people who have mined coal in the state,” she said. “I do appreciate that.”
Ireland recommended taking advantage of opportunities presented by other emerging energy markets, including solar.
“Compliance under the Clean Power Plan does not mean, right now at least, no coal,” she said. “We truly can have an all-of-the-above energy portfolio… while also investing in emerging energy sectors.”
Capito described EPA administrators as reluctant to hear the views of common West Virginians affected by the Clean Power Plan.
“We’re here. We’re here listening,” she told those gathered in Logan.
She added, “You’re putting a face on this for many people across the country.
Sen. Joe Manchin said the state’s economy has been devastated already because of federal policies affecting coal. He said Congress has had very little say in the matter.
“You can’t regulate what’s not been legislated,” he said. “All of us who represent should have input and we have none.”
Manchin said he has supported efforts to fight the Clean Power Plan through the appeals court system.
“I think we’re going to end up in the Supreme Court. I really do,” he said.
Congressman Evan Jenkins, whose district covers southern West Virginia, said he appreciates the committee’s hearing in Logan.
“These are important voices,” he said of those who appeared before the committee.