National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn issued the following statement in support of a bi-partisan bill introduced today by Senator Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), chairman of the Clean Air and Nuclear Subcommittee, and five colleagues that would protect the reliability of the electric grid and strengthen the ability of states to spare their citizens from a costly energy future imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s climate change rules for new and existing power plants:
“Senator Capito and her colleagues have provided a bi-partisan solution to EPA’s costly power plan by empowering governors to spare their citizens from a risky and more expensive energy future. EPA is asking governors to comply with a policy that will lower the living standards of their citizens. This bill will make clear that governors have a better choice than doing EPA’s bidding. They will instead have the freedom to act in the interests of families and businesses in their state without fear of EPA commandeering their energy policies.
“Those interests would be threatened by EPA’s rules. Growing numbers of experts are warning that EPA will inflict lasting damage to the states’ power grids and impose much higher costs on their citizens. This bill will allow states to manage their own electricity supply without coercive conditions imposed by EPA.
“Importantly, the bill also ensures that our nation can maintain a reliable, diverse electricity supply through new high-efficiency and low-emission coal power plants. The diversity of America’s electricity supply anchored by coal saves Americans $93 billion annually and reduces the volatility of their utility bills by half. Sen. Capito’s bill will remove the threat of EPA’s policies that are purposefully designed to make our electric grid less diverse, less reliable and more expensive. “