Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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September 27, 2012

New coal rules started under Bush

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Here’s a few facts about the so-called war on coal and coal-fired power plants. Some regulations in the works were mandated by an amendment to the Clean Air Act in 1990, which was approved by Congress and signed off on by George W. Bush, a Republican. Other regulations were mandated through the years by court order. Most if not all of the coal-fired plants going off-line were already on the list to be retired due to being too small or outdated to economically update. Forward thinking power companies elsewhere such as PG&E and others have already worked to clean up emissions at older plants and ensure new plants being brought online burn cleaner.

The Obama administration has invested nearly $4 billion in clean coal technology research. Cheap natural gas prices makes it a more attractive solution than coal for the power companies. And even with the recent layoffs, the West Virginia coal industry still employs the most people it has since 1995. It’s not the administration’s fault that companies who knew for years these changes were coming chose to keep looking the other way. Do your own research — don’t rely on what politicians tell you. And don’t go by local news reports and editorials that are biased and poorly researched.

Don Zeigler

Bluefield

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