BLUEFIELD — Former Supreme Court Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard is speaking out against Washington’s war on coal miners and their families across southern West Virginia.

“The working people in the coalfields of southern West Virginia are the casualties of this war,” Maynard, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., in the 3rd Congressional District race, told members of the Daily Telegraph’s editorial board last week. “It is stunningly cruel for the government to do what it is doing to our people. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) just revoked the Spruce permit earlier this week. That’s 250 jobs. It will effect Bluefield. Even though that Spruce mine is in Logan County, there are people here in Bluefield that are repairing equipment that is used in those mines. We are almost in a depression, and they are going to take 250 jobs from us. And Rahall isn’t doing anything about it. He hasn’t done anything about it other than just saying the EPA is just doing their job. That’s what he told the Beckley Register-Herald. That’s what he said. We’ve got the clip. Call it what you want, but it’s tyranny.”

Maynard, a former Democrat who converted to the Republican Party, said he has a specific plan to stop the EPA, and Democrats in Washington, from destroying coal.

“As a freshman congressman, it’s always hard to achieve a lot of the first few issues when you are there,” Maynard said. “But these issues are so critical to the country, not just the region, because this country needs coal. The first thing we need to do is defund the EPA. That means taking on all of the other people who think coal is a bad thing. We’ve got to fight people who say mountaintop mining is bad and surfacing mining is bad. Because they are wrong. That’s a fight we’ve got to make. In a war we need allies. We’ve got to make a grand alliance. The first thing we will do in Congress is we’ve got to make a grand alliance with any congressman of any state that produces oil, gas and coal. They need to understand the war is not just against coal and coal mines. It is a war against carbon energy.”

Maynard said the climate change threat Democrats and President Obama talk of is a “hoax.”

“The public really needs to know what cap and trade is,” Maynard said. “Cap and trade is cap and tax. It’s taxation in the trillions. And it’s a huge job killer. A real big job killer. Don’t take my word for it. Take Barack Obama’s word for it. There is a clip all  over the Internet where he says electric bills will skyrocket. That’s his words. Your utility bills at your home will at least double if the House version becomes law. It’s a horrible, horrible scheme that is a really bad plan to increase everyone’s taxes.”

While some have warned that Obama will veto any effort by lawmakers to defund the EPA,   Maynard believes that won’t be a problem.

He is predicting an epic defeat for Democrats across the country on Nov. 2. In fact, he’s predicting there will be enough new Republican lawmakers elected for the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto.

“Here is what I think is really going to happen,” Maynard said. “This election is going to be such a stunner for the people in Washington, D.C. The vote totals, and the number of seats that change is going to be so huge that it is going to be a shock to those long time incumbents. I believe it will be possible to override President Obama’s veto of this bill. Some Democrats will join. After this election, there will be a repeal of the bill. If the totals are big enough, I think you can override this bill. If not, you defund it until the next presidential election.”

Maynard said the EPA has “no business” regulating carbon emissions and water quality.

“We need to change the legislation that gave them the power,” Maynard said. “Take it away from them. We need new leadership from the  EPA.”

Maynard said the EPA, and the Obama administration, are wrong in trying to eliminate mountaintop mining.

“The country has been sold  such a bad bill of goods about mountaintop mining,” Maynard said. “Mountaintop mining is a good thing for West Virginia. I can give you 10 reasons why we need it. I can take you to a hundred sites today — at least 50 — where great things have been constructed on mountain mining sites. We’ve got a brand new consolidated high school that is almost finished on a mountain removal site. We need flat land, and a lot of the coal that is produced from mountain removal, we couldn’t mine that any  other way. The country needs that coal. It’s a win-win situation. We’ve disturbed more land in West Virginia building highways than ever through mountain mining. No one ever fusses about building highways.”

Maynard said residents of southern West Virginia also should be appalled over the fact that no funding was included for the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway in the $787 billion federal stimulus bill.

“We didn’t get a single penny of stimulus money for the King Coal Highway or the Coalfields Expressway,” Maynard said. “That’s a disgrace.”

Maynard said Rahall’s argument that his re-election is necessary in order to secure additional federal funds for the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway is wrong.

“In fact, he is not going to be the chairman of the roads or transportation and natural resources,” Maynard said. “Because the House of Representatives is going to change hands on Nov. 2. You can’t find a Democrat today who will tell you they will keep the House. The people of this country are convinced they made a mistake two years ago. The Republicans are going to control the House. When they control the House, Rahall is not going to chair either committee, and may not even be a member of the committee. With his seniority and power in those committees. He won’t have the power. That is just the truth of it.”

Maynard said the controversial health care reform legislation passed by Congress earlier this year will be repealed.

“After it is repealed, we need to cherry pick the few good things about it,” Maynard said. ‘And the things that are good about it is making sure the people who have pre-existing conditions. It should be the law if you have a pre-existing condition you can’t be denied. Then the lawsuits and frivolous litigation’s have to stop if you really want to redesign the cost of health care. Here is what I say about Obamacare. It’s the single worse piece of legislation passed by any legislative body in the English speaking world. That’s how bad it is. It’s going to cost a couple of trillion dollars over the next 10 years we don’t have. It cuts $500 billion out the Medicare program. West Virginia has the second oldest median population in the country. Florida is number one. The elderly get their medical care from Medicare. To take a half trillion dollars out of  Medicare and say it won’t hurt seniors is absolute nonsense. It will result in rationing. You will see signs in doctor’s offices in Bluefield saying — not seeing Medicare patients. Doctors won’t be able to afford to.”

Maynard said the health care reform bill does — despite claims to the contrary by Rahall — fund federal abortions.

“Obamacare positively allows for tax paying dollars to be used to pay for abortions,” Maynard said. “These abortions are being done today on women who reside in Pennsylvania for federal tax dollars.  So Obamacare does allow for payment of abortions. It also allows for Viagra for people in prisons. Worse of all it will increase Medicare premiums for the employees who pay for care.”

Maynard said the $787 billion federal stimulus bill passed by Congress was a failure.

“That is money that has been totally squandered and wasted and misspent,” Maynard said. “What has been done with it is shameful. It’s really a trillion dollar package now because we’ve been paying interest on some of it. A lot of that money — even though my opponent denies it — created 6,000 jobs in China.”

Maynard said there were no appropriate checks and balances on the stimulus dollars.

“There was almost no controls on how the money was spent,” Maynard said. “They kept saying it was brick and mortar. If it was, we would have gotten money for the King Coal Highway. We didn’t get a penny for the King Coal Highway. If they had, we would have gotten money for the Coalfields Expressway. We didn’t get a penny for the Coalfields Expressway.”

Maynard said the turnpike tolls on I-77 also are job killers. When asked to clarify whether turnpike tolls were a state or federal  issue, Maynard said it was both.

“We paid for these roads — why are we paying for tolls,” Maynard said. “It’s not just the little expenditures that I’m really fussing about. The tolls on those highways are real job killers. For West Virginia. It’s a real job killer and the tolls  need to be off that road. It’s not just a state issue. The federal highway trust fund built that highway.”

Maynard said moving from the judicial to the legislative branch is a natural progression.

“I spent over 30 years as a trial judge and appellate judge,” Maynard said. “All of this had to do with the law. So having worked inside the framework of the law for 30 years, the law other people make. I would love to have a chance to craft the law, and do the right things with it. I would love to be in the branch of government that makes the law, and interprets it. I would love to have a chance to make some laws, and fix some things in the law that need to be fixed.”

Maynard also was asked to address his longtime friendship with Massey Chief Executive Don Blankenship. The Associated Press reported last week that Massey Energy Company and its business associates helped Maynard outraise Rahall in the 3rd District fundraising race.

“Mr. Blankenship is a guy that a lot  people may not like,” Blankenship said. “But the truth is he runs a coal company in my district that employs between 7,000 and 8,000 people. That’s Massey Coal. He also runs a company that pays full medical benefits for the 8,000 people and their families that work there.”

In comparison, Maynard said Rahall has accepted campaign contributions from a convicted terrorist.

“This guy gave campaign contributions to my opponent, and I think the voters need to know it,” Maynard said. “There is no terrorist that is going to give me money. I’ll take a guy who mines coal and employs 7,000 people everyday over a guy who takes money from a terrorist.”

Maynard said he left the  Democratic Party about a year ago because he got sick of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.

“I’m strongly conservative,” Maynard said. “I’m very pro-life. All of my life I’ve been pro-life. I’m a fiscal conservative. I don’t think we can spend money we don’t’ have. And the Democrats don’t’ see the world as I do. They see a world of difference.”

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com