More on: Enemies of Coal (and Kentucky’s economy)

Points made by Dr. Len Peters, Secretary, Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, to Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce on May 20, 2011:

• One of every 20 Kentuckians is working in the manufacturing sector.
• They have jobs in manufacturing thanks to affordable energy in Kentucky.

• 30 percent of all stainless steel manufactured in the United States is made in Kentucky.
• 40 percent of all aluminum manufactured in the country is made in Kentucky.
• Kentucky is the third largest manufacturer of light duty vehicles in the country.

• If we don’t protect affordable electric rates, companies will build new plants overseas.

EPA now using a 'strangulation by regulation' approach

Having failed to get its radical anti-fossil fuels agenda passed through legislative means, the EPA is using regulation to bypass the will of the people and enact -- and enforce -- measures that will bring great harm to Kentucky's coal industry and its economy.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon.

Bipartisan support for Kentucky coal 'sanctuary'

Kentucky makes national headlines in an important states' rights issue as legislators attempt to declare the commonwealth's coal industry exempt from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Yesterday, Senate Joint Resolution 99 moved out of the Natural Resources and Energy Committee to debate on the Senate Floor. The bill passed out of committee with unanimous support.

"As the overreaching EPA impact settles in on us," resolution sponsor Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, remarked, "it's costing us jobs, it's putting us in a very perilous situation."

Yesterday in the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee, House Bill 421, sponsored by Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, also cleared committee without a single "no" vote. The bill would exempt Kentucky coal mines from federal Clean Water Act requirements.

Rep. Gooch remarked, "We feel that the federal government does lack some of the authority to regulate everything that we do."

Even if the measures pass, bill sponsors acknowledge they are unlikely to force the EPA to stop its regulation of coal. Despite that, legislators on both sides of the aisle see this as a symbolic opportunity to fight back against federal over-involvement in the commonwealth.

Rep. Keith Hall, D- Phelps, commented, "There comes a time when we as leaders and we as legislators have to push back."

EPA trying to force its hand with cap and trade

When cap-and-trade legislation regulating carbon emissions stalled in Congress, Kentuckians breathed a sigh of relief. But that collective sigh may have been a little premature. If the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has its way, cap and trade may not be fatally poisoned after all.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) released a paper this week detailing how the EPA is working to enforce greenhouse gas regulation under the Clean Air Act. The EPA cites two current programs as granting the authority to regulate greenhouse gases.

As the EPA works to usurp the law through regulations, what could this mean for the Bluegrass State?

Cap-and-trade regulations would be devastating for Kentucky's economy. As the third-largest producer of coal in the U.S. thousands of Kentuckians would lose their jobs and energy costs would skyrocket in the Bluegrass State.

Jim Waters, vice president of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, detailed the dismal prescription for cap and trade in a 2009 Lexington Herald-Leader column.

The federal government is finding ways – with or without the votes in Congress – to implement its extreme and devastating environmental regulations. In doing so, it also threatens Kentucky’s way of life.

Beshear joins coal industry to fight EPA

In recent months, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has acted with unprecedented encroachment, circumventing the law with more stringent regulations for the coal industry. In early October, the EPA blocked 11 water permits in the Appalachian region.

Yesterday, Kentucky responded. Gov. Beshear and the Kentucky Coal Association filed suit in a federal court in Pikeville.

"Once again the EPA is overstepping its bounds and harming the coal industry in Kentucky," Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissert said.

Beshear defended the commonwealth's action by stating that Kentucky had tried to work with the EPA but failed to find common ground. He called the EPA's actions "arbitrary and unreasonable" and said they could have a "devastating impact" on Kentucky's economy.

The administration is to be commended for taking seriously its obligation to protect the sovereignty, constitution and citizens of this commonwealth.

What's next? A lawsuit filed by the Beshear administration pushing back against Washington's unrestricted and unwarranted involvement in Kentucky's health care policies?