Obama Administration vs. American Energy Production

 

If finalized, the rule will throw the nation into an energy crisis,"

said Roger Horton, founder of Citizens for Coal.

 

I scanned this yesterday, but couldn't bear to read it in full. Might as well get it over with now, as last night's challah-baking was a disaster and I have to start all over again this morning. That, at least, is not irreparable.

From a source called "Greenwire," by way of the New York Times - and edited for clarity by Yours Truly:

 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Here in the heart of coal country, just miles from numerous mining operations, a series of politicians, industry leaders and state regulators yesterday voiced strong opposition to the Obama administration's rewriting of rules to protect waterways from mountaintop removal mining.

Critics spoke in near-apocalyptic terms about the Office of Surface Mining [OSM]'s effort to develop a new stream protection rule to replace George W. Bush-era regulations, saying it would kill thousands of jobs and jeopardize communities that depend on coal mining.

[OSM] has been under fire from all sides. Coal industry boosters want OSM to enforce the Bush-era rule, which the administration tried to scrap, only to be rebuked by a federal judge. Meanwhile, environmentalists .... want a strict buffer between mining operations and waterways, something they say would help stamp out the practice of mountaintop removal mining.

But in a statement, OSM leaders say they are "developing a more thorough rule to better protect streams from the adverse effects of coal mining...

.... "If finalized, the rule will throw the nation into an energy crisis," said Roger Horton, founder of Citizens for Coal....

... Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) said coal communities in his district "would be devastated by the proposed rule change." Earlier this year, he pushed for an amendment to a House spending bill to block OSM from proceeding with the rulemaking.... 

Johnson also accused OSM of "collusion" with environmentalists. A settlement with environmental groups is a main reason for the agency moving forward with a new rule....

While the administration's effort is meant to address problems caused by surface mining, industry insiders worry it will also have a dramatic negative effect on underground coal mining, especially longwall mining. That is an old but increasingly mechanized coal extraction method whereby companies can remove more material from underground. Even though the industry touts the method as efficient and safer for workers down below, critics point at extensive property and stream damage on the surface.

"These standards could make longwall mines impossible to permit and operate," said Katherine Frederiksen, an environment and regulatory affairs executive at CONSOL Energy Inc....

Administration critics at the hearing also noted that earlier this year the agency severed ties with the company hired to help perform the draft EIS after a leaked document suggested the proposal would cost 7,000 coal jobs and a reduction in Appalachian production, among other impacts.

Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), who led the hearing, and Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), are conducting an investigation. "I am deeply concerned that the Obama administration may be guilty of suppressing inconvenient facts," Lamborn said....

 

This may be the money quote:

Coal producing states have been openly hostile to

the administration's overall efforts at increased oversight...

 

From my own perspective, the reverse would be more accurate:

"The Obama administration has been openly hostile to coal producing states."

 

In West Virginia, coal is our primary industry, generating more than 60 percent of the state's business taxes. It provides 63,000 jobs, $3.2 billion in wages (at an average of $68,500 a year, double the state average) and more than $26 billion in total economic impact each year. 

This "war" affects not only coal states, but has wider implications as well.  I'll give you just one example, one company. Take a look at JOY MINING MACHINERY. For 90 years, they have been manufacturing, distributing and servicing underground mining machinery. 

 

Photo from Wikipedia shows a longwall mining equipment system - hydraulic chocks, conveyor and shearer. (We're not talking 19th or even 20th century coal mining here.)

 

JOY employs over 6,100 people. And they're hiring -- in the U.S. -- in Accounting/Finance, Administrative/Clerical, Engineering, Field Operations, Human Resources, Information Technology, Legal, marketing/Sales, Manufacturing Operations, Quality Control and Supply Chain.

 

Comments

[Rick Richman]

Mario Loyola at NRO today in "Let Them Eat Windmills": “The administration’s effort to constrict domestic oil production has been across-the-board. Obama has cancelled leases and made new ones more expensive; slowed permit approvals for exploration plans down by 85 percent; proposed to impose new taxes and take away deductions; and now sicced the EPA on the industry with a number of inordinately expensive new rules. More than 80 percent of the nation’s recoverable oil reserves are off limits. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that some 351 energy projects that are stalled for one regulatory reason or another would, if resumed, create 2 million jobs and add $1.1 trillion to GDP.” Call it "stimulus" and maybe Obama would reconsider. http://tinyurl.com/6euzfos

[Rick Richman]

Someone should run a comparison of (1) the number of jobs that were temporarily "saved or created" by shoveling money to the states under the Obama "stimulus" to keep public employees on the payroll, and (2) the number of jobs that have been "lost or prevented" by the Obama energy policies.