An editorial from the Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is correct in asking the federal Environmental Protection Agency to delay its plans to establish new carbon dioxide emission regulations for existing power plants.
Morrisey forwarded a letter to the EPA last week arguing that the decision should be postponed because it is being based on flawed rules targeting new power plants. And once again, Morrisey is correctly calling upon EPA officials, including administrator Gina McCarthy, to travel to West Virginia to hear firsthand from those families and business leaders who will be directly impacted by the proposed regulations.
McCarthy has ignored repeated invitations to date to visit the region from lawmakers representing both southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia. Morrisey, the Republican attorney general serving West Virginia, also has repeatedly asked McCarthy to visit the Mountain State.
“If permitted to become law, these regulations will have serious consequences for anyone who pays an electric bill and will have a negative impact on the economies of West Virginia and other coal-producing states,” Morrisey correctly notes.
The EPA’s first attempt at creating new source performance standards — or NSPS — had to be withdrawn after the comment process revealed numerous defects. Morrisey says the current version also suffers from multiple, well-documented problems, and has been heavily criticized by job-creators and bipartisan leaders across the nation…
