Capito Statement on Arch Coal Layoffs

Press Release

Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Co-Founder of the Congressional Coal Caucus, released the following statement in response to news that Arch Coal will lay off 750 workers:

"What is it going to take for the Administration and the EPA to back off? The Administration cannot simultaneously claim they're focused on creating jobs while pushing energy policies that are shuttering plants and destroying jobs. It just doesn't pass the smell test.

"I recognize that the coal industry is subject to the same market forces as anything else; there will be ups and downs, good times and bad. But the Administration is actively trying to cripple the fossil fuel industry through regulation; The EPA is now Enforcing Political Agendas and it has to stop.

"After today, 750 more Appalachian families are going to worry about where their next paycheck is going to come from. And with 8% unemployment and rising prices across the board, that's a tremendous weight on their shoulders. My office stands ready to help these displaced workers in any way we can, and that includes fighting for a balanced, all of the above energy policy that doesn't pit one industry against another."

Yesterday, Capito responded the Senate's failure to adopt a resolution to direct the EPA to reconsider how it regulates emissions from power plants. The Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) rule is the most expensive rule that the EPA has ever imposed on the electric industry.

SITTING IN THE SENATE:Capito is an original cosponsor of the TRAIN Act (The Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts to the Nation) which would require an interagency committee to analyze the cumulative economic impacts of certain environmental regulations in an effort to better understand how these policies affect American manufacturing, global competitiveness, energy prices and jobs. The TRAIN Act would also delay the final date for both the Utility MACT and CSAPR rules until the interagency committee finishes its work. The TRAIN Act passed the House and is awaiting consideration in the U.S. Senate.

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