Opinion

Air pollution proposal animates the usual critics

An editorial from The Charleston Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Predictably, West Virginia conservatives went ballistic over the Obama administration’s modest, reasonable attempt to reduce air pollution and curtail global warming caused by coal-burning power plants.

The state Republican headquarters issued a statement titled “When Obama Attacks.” It said West Virginia Democrats are lying and “they will lie again about how they helped Obama destroy coal and power plant jobs.” It added:

“Incumbent Democrats here were either fooled by Obama, or worse, are traitors who joined him on a course to destroy what remains of West Virginia’s economy.”

Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey declared that “President Obama has a callous disregard for the poverty plaguing West Virginia and our country.” He vowed to wage court battles against the proposed federal rules that “impose nationwide limitations on carbon dioxide emitted from existing coal-fired plants, requiring a staggering 30 percent reduction from these plants in a mere 15 years.”

A West Virginia front group for the oil billionaire Koch brothers likewise attacked, attempting to blame the new pollution controls on Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., whom the Kochs are attempting to defeat through intensive political spending.

Democrats also reacted, but less hysterically…

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