An editorial from The Exponent Telegram
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — President Obama and the EPA’s Clean Power Plan is costing West Virginia’s economy billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lost jobs since its inception as the law of the land. The impact on the state budget, coal companies and coal-related jobs, as well as the negative impact on the development of the Marcellus and Utica gas fields, has the potential to wreck the economy of West Virginia for generations to come.
The regulation, which aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, is expected to deliver a major blow to the nation’s coal industry, which has prompted major backlash from coal-producing states like West Virginia.
Ironically, 85 percent of the electricity produced in West Virginia is consumed out-of-state. Yet the negative consequences of compliance fall squarely on where those power plants are located — primarily, here in West Virginia…
