[Timber Rattler]

EPA's war on coal claimed its first real victims today. Hundreds of miners in Southwest Virginia laid off because of a sudden, sharp decline in the price of coal, due to THIS:

Obama’s EPA Forces 6 More Coal Plant Closures

and THIS:

AP IMPACT: EPA rules threaten older power plants

and THIS:

Obama set to kill off coal industry?

[Brilliant]

Yes, but it’s Bush’s fault...

[The Antiyuppie]

Oh, don’t worry - they can get new, green, safer jobs - like growing pot.

Seriously, this is disastrous for this area, and I feel very badly for those people, who are essentially trapped. Certainly, there is no other industry there that can absorb this.

[Steve Newton]

O promised this in the election. Now people know he meant it.

Wait until we can’t even afford our electric bills.

[Logical me]

That’s OK Virginia. Your savior is coming. All hail your new king, King Romney.

[Timber Rattler]

And before anyone makes a snide comment about how the SWVA miners voted in 2008...

[umgud]

EPA is staffed with anti-captalists and congress and presidents cede power to them. Their mandate as they see it, is not to protect the environment, but to destroy capitalism.

[Brownie63]

They might need to hire more workers to staff the unemployment office to handle the load. These staff positions will count as jobs that Obama “created”.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Barack the Kenyan told everyone that he was going to do this once he was “elected” president. They voted for him anyway. They shouldn’t be surprised by his “hope and change”. It’s all part of Barack the Kenyan’s “history”.

[Doogle]

...THIS IS NOT THE EPA....it is OBAMA, FIRST OIL PRODUCTION CUT IN USA...INVESTED BILLIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA.....SPENT BILLIONS ON USELESS GREEN INDUSTRIES ...NOW FINISHING OFF COAL IN THE USA

[hinckley buzzard]

market driven due to metallurgical coal market fluctuating violently at the present time."

Metallurgical coal is used in steel mills, not power plants. The effect of the closing of the coal fired power plants in nearby Ohio and elsewhere will be body punch number 2 to the coal industry. Hope the Virginians get over their idiot romance with democrats before they all go belly up.

[Outlaw Woman]

“Virginia was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 6.3% margin of victory.”

Does anything else need to be said?

[JackOfVA]

The article says it’s metallurgical coal, not bituminous coal.

Metallurgical coal is used in blast furnaces at steel mills.

Bituminous coal is used to fire electrical generating plants.

Since it’s metallurgical coal, I suspect the layoffs are due to a general drop in US steel production from reduced demand in the current economy and significantly increased steel and finished goods imports.

The EPA’s new rules will hit the bituminous miners, of course, but that’s not the problem in this particular instance.

[G Larry]

First victims?!?!?!

Those are all of US about 30+ years ago!

[OrioleFan]

Congress should defund th EPA.

[OrioleFan]

Congress should defund the EPA.

[FishinTX]

The unemployment checks will stimulate the economy. Thanks Obama. /S

[Cobra64]

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[GR_Jr.]