Posted on 07/23/2012 6:17:40 PM PDT by markomalley
Two coal companies in Pennsylvania blamed President Obama and his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the layoffs announced last week.
“[T]he escalating costs and uncertainty generated by recently advanced EPA regulations and interpretations have created a challenging business climate for the entire coal industry,” said PBS Coals Inc. President and CEO D. Lynn Shanks in a statement on Friday, as noted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The company also cited weaker-than-normal demand for coal.
Shanks’ comment on the EPA came as he announced a 28 percent work force reduction. “PBS Coals Inc. and its affiliate company, RoxCoal Inc., laid off about 225 workers as part of an immediate idling of some deep and surface mines in Somerset County,” Post-Gazette added. “The company now employs 795 workers.”
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee staff issued a report last week faulting the EPA for over-regulating the industries under its control. “Over 40 EPA regulations cited by job creators as barriers to growth and expansion in the Committee’s February 2011 staff report remain a problem,” the staff report said. “EPA’s proposal to regulate coal combustion residuals (“coal ash”) usurps states’ previous role and exerts unprecedented federal control over the utility industry . . . Compliance costs range from $78-110 billion over the next 20 years while job loss estimates range from 39,000, under a low estimate, to 316,000, under a high estimate.”
General Manager Ronald Koontz, a mine manager, hit the president for waging a “war on coal seeking to destroy the coal industry and the jobs of our own employees and the livelihoods of their families.”
Koontz’ remark dovetails with those of EPA’s New England Regional Administrator Curt Spaulding, who said the EPA had adopted a policy towards the coal industry that amounted to saying “we just think those communities should just go away,” as he put it earlier this year.
“You can’t imagine how tough that was, because — you got to remember — if you go to West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and all those places, you have coal communities who depend on coal,” Spaulding said. “It is painful every step of the way.”
What we're seeing here is coal getting pushed aside by a less expensive form of energy.
Not many coal mines in SF. LOL!
Because the Unions were behind him.
I hope the coal miners remember this when they vote.
You are right my FRiend
OK. Pennsylvania voters...do try to remember this on Election Day.
OK. Pennsylvania voters...do try to remember this on Election Day.
As Al Jolson once said,"You ain't seen nothing yet."
“General Manager Ronald Koontz, a mine manager, hit the president for waging a “war on coal seeking to destroy the coal industry and the jobs of our own employees and the livelihoods of their families.”
Karma is a bit** there Ronnie. How did that vote for Obama in 2008 go for you?
Didn’t the Obamanator say (and I paraphrase) he would like to run the coal industry out of business?
Couldn’t see that one coming, now could we?
This could be a really interesting election after all.
I hope every one of the miners who had the nerve to vote for our anti-American president have been laid off...and not put on disability for the rest of their lives.
Thanks markomalley.
...the Messiah...? Please tell me that quote was made sarcastically.
Will these unions ever learn?
Will women ever learn? Obama would be history but for their idiotic support.
Fracking and the resulting low prices for natural gas aren’t helping the coal industry much either.
bttt
Some of it is that but most comes from this communist that was elected by the sheep and educated idiots that wanted a leftist idiolog. Now this is what we got. A dictator that is shredding the Constitution.
Everyone who has been put out of work since the rats took over in 2006, and everyone who does not want to lose his job, should remember this when they vote.
Good and more businesses should do the same. A friend of mine is the CEO of a business. He posted election signs on company property. The candidate is a solid conservative and pro-business against a hard-left radical incumbent who never ever bothered to visit or accept a visit from one of the largest employers in the district.
After about a week the HR manager comes in and complains about the vile politicization of work and how offensive it is. She said that others felt the same way. Their major issue was that the fiscally conservative candidate was anti-abortion.
He asked her if she knew about the incumbents attitude toward business. She didn’t and hadn’t bothered. All she knew about was being pro-choice. So he forwarded her some info on the incumbent along with info on the challenger that clearly showed the one would harm their business while the latter would help. Pro-choice won’t save your job.
That silenced her. Of course, she’s not so offended as to quit, but she’s plenty ignorant and more bosses need to educate their employees that liberals kill jobs. Come to Cook County/Obamaland and see for yourself.
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