An editorial from The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — It may end up being a largely symbolic vote, but this week the U.S. Senate voiced the same concerns about new energy rules that industry leaders and officials in our region have been stressing for several years.
The Clean Power Plan, as proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, will not work, and the cost of the idealistic regulations to residents in our region and across the country will be high.
Tuesday the Senate passed a bipartisan resolution introduced by West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito and North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp to block the EPA regulations. The body also passed a resolution introduced by Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin disapproving the regulation.
Both measures will move to the House for consideration, but even with passage there, President Obama would likely veto the resolutions.
The regulations seek to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent by the year 2030. States must submit draft plans by 2016 and a final plan by 2018. Then compliance enforcement begins in 2022.
But if the discussion at an energy symposium in Huntington this week is any indication, the goals of the Clean Power Plan are largely unachievable…
