Published: February 7, 2017 |

US Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin.
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A new administration means to some a renewed hope for coal country.

“I think what the president said and why people listened and why he was so popular there is because he said ‘I hear you,” West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) said.

President Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail to put coal miners back to work.

West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito said the message resonated with her constituents. Now they want to see Trump follow through on his promise.

“I think what we’re hoping for is a stabilization a predictability so some investment will come in,” Capito added.

Senator Capito has been working to overturn some of the coal regulations made during the Obama administration. Regulations the former president hoped would secure a clean environment for generations to come. Another West Virginia senator said the two could go hand in hand.

“We think there’s a balance between the economy and the environment,” Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) said.

Senator Joe Manchin wants to see jobs come back to his state, but also believes it’s important to enforce the Clean Air and Water Acts. The acts were put in place to control air pollution and ensure safe drinking water. While Manchin said those are things he wants he still believes some of the regulations made by the Obama administration were too excessive.

“That’s what’s killed the West Virginia, that’s what people are upset about,” Manchin added.

In their first move to repeal coal regulations, the Republican controlled senate voted Thursday to abolish the stream protection rule. A rule directed at preventing coal-mining debris from polluting nearby streams. President Trump is expected to sign it.

Source: (February 3, 2017) Gray DC

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