BLUEFIELD — U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., is quick to admit that coal is under attack from Washington.

“Oh yes, it’s real,” Rahall told members of the Daily Telegraph’s editorial board last week. “But it’s not new. The war on coal has been going on for 700 years since the king of England tried to ban the burning of coal when it was first discovered. Coal has always been under attack, is under attack and always will be under attack.”

Rahall said coal was under attack during his first year in the U.S. House of Representatives under Jimmy Carter’s administration. At the time, Rahall said there was a move underway to abandon strip mining.

Rahall said he was able to save the practice in 1977 at the time while working with both Republicans and Democrats, along with Carter. Today, coal is once again under attack by the Obama administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Rahall said.

“The Al Gore EPA was also after us, and we survived that,” Rahall said. “And so now we are in another battle  over coal especially with the practice known as mountaintop removal.”

When mountaintop mining is mentioned, many across the country see an inaccurate image of West Virginia blowing up mountaintops and the overburden being dumped in the streams, Rahall said.

“So coal is not popular in Washington,” Rahall said. “My acts have been defensive in nature. I’ve had to hold off many threats. It’s kind of like fighting terrorism. When you are successful in fighting off the threat, but the threat is never published it isn’t known.”

When asked to elaborate, Rahall said bills have recently been introduced in both houses of Congress to make valley fills illegal. Rahall said such valley fills are essential not only to mountaintop mining, but also highway construction. Both of the bills in question have been co-sponsored by Republicans who want to abolish the practice, Rahall said.

However, in order for valley fills to be abolished, legislation would have to come through one of two committees currently chaired and vice chaired by Rahall — the Committee on Natural Resources and  the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

“I’m the chair,” Rahall said. “I set the agenda. It’s not going to make it on my agenda. It’s not coming through my committees. It’s dead. It has been for years.”

If such legislation were to make it out of committee, it would pass the full House in overwhelming numbers with both Republican and Democratic support, Rahall said.

“You’ve got Republicans across the country who don’t have mountaintop mining in their district,” Rahall said. “It’s a freebie for them to throw to environmentalists. I’ve been holding this off the floor for years.”

If Republicans were to take control of the House on Nov. 2, Rahall said his seniority and influence in both the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will not be diminished.

“Should my party not be able to maintain control this fall as much of the pundits are predicting, I will still be the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, and the second top Democrat on the Infrastructure committee. The last time the Republicans were in control, I was still able to maintain funds for the King Coal Highway, the Coalfields Expressway, the Shawnee Parkway and many infrastructure projects for southern West Virginia. I do that again by partnering with and using my seniority to partner with government at all levels. And what is becoming more important nowadays is we partner with the private sector. We need to form more of these public-private partnerships in order to further our economic base. So I want the opportunity to continue to use that seniority and experience based upon West Virginia values working for West Virginia.”

With the passing of Robert C. Byrd and the defeat of U.S. Rep. Mike Mollohan in the 1st District, Rahall said it is more important now than ever for West Virginia to have a lawmaker with seniority in Washington.

“I believe for the state of West Virginia, this year’s election is probably more important than any other state in the nation,” Rahall said. “I say that because we lost 58 years of seniority in Sen. Robert Byrd, plus a top Democratic position on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The state of West Virginia also has lost 28 years of service in Representative Mollohan’s defeat this year. Seniority is important in the House of Representatives. If we were to lose another 34 years of seniority as in my case, I believe it would be an immense setback to the state of West Virginia. Seniority is important in the House.”

Rahall said he has tried hard to work with the EPA and administrator Lisa Jackson. However, he said he is angered by the agency’s decision two weeks ago to revoke a previously approved permit for West Virginia’s largest mountain removal mine. The EPA argued that Arch Coal’s Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County would have caused irreversible damage to the environment and wildlife.

“I’ve tried to work with them,” Rahall said. “Our coal industries have tried to work with them. But now I’ve had it. Here on the Spruce permit, Arch Coal, and the industry, has done what I had been advocating for the past year — negotiating with the EPA. Arch has negotiated with the EPA for the past 10 years ago. The EPA agreed and granted them the permit three years. Now they have revoked a permit that had been negotiated in good faith. It’s not a final decision yet, but it has become clear that they are going to revoke that Spruce permit.”

Rahall said he met personally with Jackson to express his extreme dissatisfaction with this decision.

“I’ve told Lisa Jackson herself when I presented her the volume of negotiations over the past 10 years,” Rahall said. “I told her you are wrong. You are now reneging on this permit.”

Rahall said he has now gone to the Office of Regulatory Permits in Washington in hopes of stopping the EPA.

“I said please look at what it means to our community and way of life, and coal communities that depend upon it to keep the lights on,” Rahall said.

Rahall said if enough support can be garnered from fellow lawmakers, the EPA may have to be defunded by Congress.

In the meantime, Boucher said he and U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., have issued their own bill that would defund the guidance procedures whereas the EPA is making decisions without public input.

“We would defund that part of the process, and not the entire EPA,” Rahall said. “That’s one effort we’ve made to try to reign in the EPA. Another effort is we are trying to put a two-year moratorium on  EPA efforts to control Co2 emissions. I know my opponent hits me on this. He says we don’t need a two-year moratorium. He says we need a permanent moratorium. But a permanent moratorium isn’t going to pass. So what I’m trying to do is what is realistic, and what has a better chance of passing. We still have to get it through the president, and he can veto it. We still have to get enough votes to pass a presidential veto. Realistically, it isn’t going to happen. But at least we send a message.”

Rahall said he will work in the he meantime with other members of Congress to build a coalition of lawmakers who are willing to defund the EPA.

“The ways (to control the EPA) are through the purse,” Rahall said. “That is when we do our normal appropriations bill. Many of my colleagues in Washington, when they hear Nick Rahall is being attacked back home for being anti-coal — they are scratching their heads. They consider me to be the most pro-coal member of Congress. I have always believed coal is will always be our foundation.”

However, diversification will remain critical for West Virginia, Rahall said.

“I won’t turn my back for one second on the coal industry,” Rahall said. “But I’ve said this once, and I’ll say it again. We just can’t put all of our eggs in the coal basket. So diversification is key to our future.”

Rahall said he will continue his fight for the King Coal Highway, the Coalfields Expressway and the Colonial Intermodal Center in Bluefield, among other  local projects. He says the reauthorization of a new six-year transportation bill by Congress will be critical toward securing new federal funds for the King Coal Highway, the Coalfields Expressway and the Colonial Intermodal Center.

Rahall said federal earmarks — a word many consider to be dirty — also will be important for the highway projects.

“The $900,000 just announced recently for the intersection of the King Coal Highway and Coalfields Expressway (in McDowell County) — that was an earmark request of mine,” Rahall said.

Rahall said a new six-year highway bill will do much more good in terms of job creation and stimulating the economy than a new stimulus bill.

“For every dollar we invest in infrastructure, it means good-paying jobs,” Rahall said. “So I think that is the first step we ought to take is the reauthorization of the federal highway bill.”

Rahall said the controversial $787 billion stimulus bill didn’t create as many new jobs as it was supposed, but did keep unemployment numbers from climbing.

“I firmly believe it keeps unemployment from being higher,” Rahall said. “The other charge is they are only short-term jobs. That’s right. But they are still jobs.”

Rahall said he supports a continuation of the Bush tax cuts for the 98 percent of middle class Americans that make $250,000 or less for singles and couples.

“But that’s not to say I wouldn’t vote to give the upper class an extension of their tax benefits as a compromise,” Rahall said. “If that’s necessary in order to get the permanent tax cut for the other 98 percent Americans — I would.”

Rahall said his campaign isn’t being financed by terrorists — despite a controversial television ad by his opponent claiming otherwise.

“This is not the first time I’ve been subjected to this,” Rahall said. “But this particular ad, you refer to I will respond to it. Fourteen years ago in 1996, I received a $500 contribution from the individual. So did George Bush, Hillary Clinton and the National Republican Committee. That was 1996. In 2003, I believe is when the first suspicion or media reports cropped up about this individual. I immediately gave the money to a charity in Raleigh County.”

However, the Republican National Committee didn’t return the campaign donation it had received, according to Rahall.

Rahall, who voted in support of the controversial health care reform bill, said the new legislation isn’t perfect, and can be “tweaked” as needed.

“But the cost of doing nothing to our economy and our deficit is much higher,” Rahall said. “The status quo is not acceptable. Is it the perfect bill? No. But I haven’t seen a perfect bill in Congress. If we do need to tweak it, and go back and make some changes, let’s do it.”

Rahall said Congress had to do something as it relates to health care.

“We had health insurance  companies rationing health care,” Rahall said. “We had them raising their deductibles. We had them raining co-pays and cutting back on their coverage. They were cutting off children with pre-existing conditions.”

Rahall said Republicans continue to promote falsehoods regarding the health reform bill, including allegations of death panels, Medicare cuts to seniors and claims that the legislation will finance abortions.

Rahall said the new legislation allows parents to keep children on their health care coverage until age 26; closes the so-called donut-hole on prescription drug coverage for seniors; provides for additional doctor training; and prevents insurance companies from denying coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com