Haley Barbour: EPA Is Over-Regulating Coal

LEXINGTON, Ky. — On a visit to coal country, potential Republican presidential candidate Haley Barbour says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is over-regulating coal.

The Mississippi governor spoke privately Thursday to a group of Kentucky coal executives. He told The Associated Press afterward that the EPA under the Obama administration is imposing impossibly strict environmental standards.

He called it a "deliberate way to try to halt coal mining, which would be catastrophic for Appalachian America."

Barbour was the first candidate pondering a run in next year's presidential race to reach out to Kentucky's coal operators.

Environmentalists say rather than bashing the agency, one remedy is to look at changing mine designs to prevent pollution.

Comments

[CoronaDischarge]

10:24 AM on 02/28/2011

Yo, Haley. Try telling that to the families of the miners lost at the Upper Big Branch, or for that matter in most any mine disaster that entails loss of life.

[NER2]

12:57 PM on 02/24/2011

It's an old trick: tell uneducated and/or undiscerning people what they want to hear, whether true or not, and many will vote for you. I don't know why it keeps working for the red right, but it does. The flip side of this sad situation is that Barbour probably doesn't know much about how the coal industry operates, how it negatively impacts the environment, or how it is actually regulated, let alone when those regulations were adopted. (Mississippi doesn't produce a lot of coal: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mississippi_and_coal.) He just "knows"' that the industry is somehow "over-regulated." The guy who owns the coal mine in West Virgnia where 29 people died last year also thinks the coal industry is over-regulated. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-22/massey-energy-s-blankenship-says-regulation-of-coal-industry-is-excessive.html). Pretty amazing, isn't it? Note also that Barbour tries to bring Obama into this. Most of the regulations applicable to coal mining were adopted long before Mr. Obama was elected. Barbour's reference to him simply plays on dislike of the President in an effort to scrape up votes in a possible 2012 bid. Believe it or not, one of the strictest laws governing coal mining, the "Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act" was introduced in the House of Representatives in 1977 by Morris Udall, R-AZ. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_Mining_Control_and_Reclamation_Act_of_1977.

[rpr]

11:17 PM on 02/23/2011

So did he apologize to them?

[cragusa]

01:48 AM on 02/22/2011

I swear the republicans are working under the mantra of "F#$k the world".

[oldgeek1]

04:54 PM on 02/21/2011

Lets approve a whole bunch of new Nuclear Power Plants in Mississippi. BTW the next time there is a oil spill or flood in Mississippi, let them pay the bill. Barbour will be crying like a baby for help.

BTW lets cap the amount of federal help to any state to the amount of their federal tax payments, anything above that is a loan.

[oldgeek1]

04:46 PM on 02/21/2011

How many coal miners have been killed in the past several years? Black Lung is a myth?

Let's say we send him to the coal mines for a month .

[fredgladys]

04:00 PM on 02/21/2011

Do these people ever learn, sighhh.

[rpr]

11:15 PM on 02/23/2011

No they don't. Generally you only can have progress after they're dead.

[pineappaloupe]

12:45 PM on 02/21/2011

Term of the day: Cognitive dissonance.

[rpr]

11:16 PM on 02/23/2011

Actually I think for him that might not even be the case. He seems old and boneheaded enough to actually believe this cr@p.

[motoGpifupleez]

06:17 PM on 02/20/2011

There are people in West Virginia who would like to offer Haley Barbour a drink of "water" from their kitchen taps.

Vegas has said they will not take that bet.

[thundermummy]

10:05 AM on 02/20/2011

Coal already has been catastrophic to Appalachia. Environmental degradation. And while executives have made multimillions, the life for the common man has been dangerous back breaking work with few other opportunities.

[LMPE]

09:20 PM on 02/19/2011

Hey Haley! You know what really needs regulating? Your waistline.

[quidam56]

07:22 PM on 02/19/2011

This is over regulation ? www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138 More of Hannity's Insanity !!!

[rainkitty]

04:46 PM on 02/19/2011

Republicans Are Using the Budget to Wage a Massive Assault on the Environment and Roll Back Crucial Protections - Our water, air, food and public health are all being sacrificed to enrich the Right's corporate cronies.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/149956/republicans_are_using_the_budget_to_wage_a_massive_assault_on_the_environment_and_roll_back_crucial_protections

[Monk Monkey]

01:52 PM on 02/19/2011

Disgusting.

[barkingcat]

10:29 AM on 02/19/2011

The EPA should regulate Haley Barbour -- he's a toxic substance.