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UMW, other unions protest at EPA headquarters

Times West Virginian photo by Emily Gallagher United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil Roberts speaks at a labor rally outside the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., Tuesday.
Times West Virginian photo by Emily Gallagher
United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil Roberts speaks at a labor rally outside the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — The United Mine Workers of America (UMW) and other labor unions have taken their message to the steps of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) building in Washington, D.C.

UMW officials led hundreds of members in a labor rally Tuesday at the nation’s capital in protest of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The EPA’s proposed plan would cut carbon pollution from power plants and coal-fired plants.

UMW International President Cecil Roberts said he believes the EPA’s plan will only cut 1 percent of carbon emissions by 2030. He said this plan could shut down coal mines across the country, putting thousands of miners out of jobs.

On Tuesday, UMW leaders led members on a half-mile march from Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue to the EPA headquarters. A labor rally was then held on the steps of the EPA building.

Roberts said the biggest message they wanted to send to the EPA with Tuesday’s rally was that the EPA’s plan is going to hurt people and families in Appalachia, and that fighting carbon emissions has to be a global effort.

“In China there are thousands of coal-fired power plants burning with no regulations,” Roberts said.

During the rally, Roberts said China burns more coal than the U.S. and Europe combined. He said China is expanding its seaports in order to bring in more coal to burn…

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