EKB News

Following the cancellation of an earlier meeting, Second District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito got a chance Thursday to sit down with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson to discuss ongoing delays in the surface mine permitting process. Capito says, although broad disagreements remain, the talk was cordial. Capito says she voiced concerns that delays had real-world consequences on the economy, West Virginia jobs and the lives of miners and their families, saying these real people and real families deserve to have their voices heard. She also told Jackson the continued uncertainty prevents those involved from planning future investments, therefore affecting local economies. Capito concluded Jackson and the EPA believe they have no obligation to take economic factors or jobs into account, a feeling she calls troubling during a time of record unemployment and economic insecurity. The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce says mining is about 25% of West Virginia's economy, supplying thousands of jobs for West Virginia families. The chamber says Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller should withhold votes on the health care reform bill until the Obama administration and Congress ceases its war on coal/energy.