Congressional Hearings Focus on Illegal EPA Regulations that Harm Appalachian Economies and Cost Jobs

FACES of Coal hopes hearing pushes EPA to act on mining permit applications

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment conducted a second day of hearings on the EPA's regulatory guidance on surface mining and the economic impacts of EPA's regulatory approach in Appalachia, where coal mining jobs are critically important. During the first day of hearings, Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-OH) and other Members of the Committee, on a bipartisan basis, urged a common sense, balanced approach to federal regulation of coal mining activities rather than the heavy-handed federal regulatory overreach that stifles economic growth, threatens jobs, and ignores the proper rulemaking process.

"EPA's punitive regulation of Appalachian coal has reached a level where Congress feels the need to act and hold these hearings," said Phil Osborne, Executive Director of Kentucky FACES of Coal. "Appalachia needs jobs, coal provides tens of thousands of these jobs, and to have an agency that hurts these jobs and causes economic uncertainty is very frustrating. FACES of Coal is grateful to the Committee for holding these hearings."

Today's hearing continued to examine EPA's recent actions and their impacts on jobs and the economy in Appalachia and the nation. The Subcommittee received testimony from EPA, state regulators, the mining industry, impacted businesses, and economists. Osborne led a delegation of 25 members of FACES of Coal attending the meeting to show support for the subcommittee's inquiry into EPA's policies.

Osborne continued, "The numbers don't lie, inside of two months after EPA's first notice that it was reviewing a number of permit applications, the backlog had grown to 235 permit applications, about 190 of them had been previously approved for final processing by the Corps of Engineers. The EPA's intent to punish Appalachian coal is clear and we need our leaders in Congress to defend these coal jobs."

The Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security (FACES of Coal) is an alliance of more than 75,000 people from all walks of life who are joining forces to educate lawmakers and the general public about the importance of coal and coal mining to our local and national economies and to our nation's energy security.  In addition to keeping tens of thousands of people employed in good-paying jobs, coal is the lifeblood of our domestic energy supply, generating nearly half the electricity consumed in the United States today. Find out more at www.facesofcoal.org.

SOURCE FACES of Coal