Marathon Pundit: Obama's next "death star" laser focus on jobs: coal mining

Barack Obama's "death star" laser focus on jobs continues. Next victim: coal miners.

During the presidential campaign, then-Senator Obama promised to bankrupt the coal industry. Of course many Americans, particularly in the Midwest, depend on coal for their electricity. Since becoming president, Obama and his Environmental Protection Agency have declared war on coal. But don't worry, says Lisa Jackson, who heads the EPA, the government does not want to shut down the coal industry. Don't believe her. When running for the Senate in 2004, Obama made "promise after promise" to revive southern Illinois' near-dormant coal mining operations.

And he didn't honor those promises.

And the assault on coal continues. So-called "mountain-top" mining is under attack.

"... The new pollution restrictions announced by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will substantially reduce the practice of filling valleys with rubble from cutting off mountaintops -- a practice followed almost exclusively in Appalachia to get access to coal seams, The Washington Post reported.

"'Minimizing the number of valley fills is a very, very key factor,' Jackson said. 'You're talking about no, or very few, valley fills that are going to meet this standard.'

“National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich said the new rules 'could mean the end of an era,' the Post said. Popovich said such limits are 'tantamount to saying the intent is to strictly limit coal mining in Appalachia.'"

Spike Maynard, a Republican who is challenging West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall, condemned the EPA's action, labeling it "a war on coal miners."

And it's an attack on jobs--not just coal mining jobs, but also railroad workers. (How does that coal get to power plants?) Then there are those residual jobs that will be affected in coal mining communities: retail, food service, real estate...

Yesterday the Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security issued this press release:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today set a totally new water quality standard for coal mining permits across Appalachia in a move that threatens thousands of jobs and the economic future of mining communities. The announcement comes days after the EPA began the veto process for an already approved permit for the Spruce No.1 mine in Logan County, WV. The EPA has only used this veto authority 12 times since 1972, and has never used its authority to veto an existing permit.

"Today's EPA policy and guidelines announcement is as dangerous and threatening an action as this region has ever seen. Imposing sweeping restrictions without any opportunity for comment or review prior to implementation is an alarming example of bureaucratic discrimination and abuse," said Bryan Brown, state coordinator for the FACES of Coal campaign. "The EPA offers no transparency as to how these new guidelines were developed, gives no consideration to the tens of thousands of mining families this will hurt and bases conclusions on science that has been shown to be flawed and misleading. I guess the President's jobs initiative only applies to families and workers living outside of Appalachia."

The FACES of Coal is an organization that will be imploring its 60,000 members to make sure their representatives and leaders throughout the country don’t let this misguided and dangerous action stand.

The Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security (FACES of Coal) is an alliance of more than 60,000 people from all walks of life who are joining forces to educate lawmakers and the general public about the importance of coal and coal mining to our local and national economies and to our nation’s energy security. In addition to keeping tens of thousands of people employed in good-paying jobs, coal is the lifeblood of our domestic energy supply, generating nearly half the electricity consumed in the United States today.