CLEARFIELD – Yesterday, the Clearfield County Commissioners supported their local coal industry by calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider its proposed Clean Power Plant rule.
Further, the commissioners called for the EPA to either withdraw its proposed CPP rule, or to revise it to eliminate the “economic shocks” expected to occur in critical coalfield communities across the country.
The EPA has proposed the CPP rule with intentions on reducing the amount of carbon greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by 30 percent throughout the country by 2030, said Commissioner John A. Sobel.
The CPP rule, he said, will result in the closure of coal-firing power plants throughout the country. “The EPA is not factoring in the massive, detrimental effects its rule will have on coal mining and the jobs associated with the same,” said Sobel.
According to the commissioners’ resolution, the CPP rule will result in the loss of more than 52,000 jobs in coal, utility and railroad industries by 2020. Additional direct job losses in those industries will reach 65,000 by 2030.
These job losses, the commissioners stated, will have a ripple effect in the communities throughout the coalfields and beyond with more than 208,000 jobs to be lost by 2030.
“The retirement security for retirees, their spouses and their widows will be put at significant risk as a result of the proposed rule,” stated the commissioners.
The commissioners’ resolution called out the EPA for not holding public hearings on its proposed CPP rule in coalfield communities. Instead, the commissioners stated that the EPA has conducted these meetings in cities that aren’t near coal mines or populated with coal workers.
“The people who will be the most adversely affected by this rule are being shut out of the process without a vote or voice and without consideration being paid to what will happen to them and their communities,” stated the commissioners.
Sobel said recent information from the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance reported that Clearfield County has 683 individuals directly employed in deep or surface mining. Further, he said there are another 2,700 indirect jobs associated with the coal industry in Clearfield County alone.
Dale Lydic, president of the United Mine Workers of America Local 2193, said the CPP rule, if implemented, will have a huge impact not only on Clearfield County, but also in the coalfield communities beyond in Jefferson and Clarion counties.
According to Lydic, through United Mine Workers’ pensions in 2013, Clearfield County received $1,147,925 for miners and their widows. In addition, he said health care costs last year totaled $3,112,079 for Clearfield County.
“I ask you to take the resolution and approve it. I think it’s for the good of the community,” said Lydic. Commissioners Mark B. McCracken and Joan Robinson-McMillen concurred with him.
McCracken said EPA officials have failed to realize coalfield communities rely upon the industry and families living in them rely upon those jobs. He said the United States has “this resource – coal – right here in the ground” and needs to utilize it.
“Clearfield County has deep roots in timber and in coal,” added Robinson-McMillen. “I think all of us here believe that we should use the natural resources that God has blessed us with.”
Sobel pointed out that an independent analysis has indicated there will only be a 1 percent reduction in global carbon greenhouse gas emissions as a result of the CPP rule. He said the proposed CPP rule will have little effect unless the entire world takes steps toward having a cleaner environment.
Sobel noted that since 2005, carbon greenhouse gas emissions have declined by 9 percent in Pennsylvania due to market factors, such as the closings of coal-fired power plants and the conversion to natural gas.
The commissioners will send a copy of their resolution to the United Mine Workers of America and to the county’s elected federal officials.