July 25, 2024 - Twenty-seven states, including West Virginia, today filed motions with the U.S. Supreme Court to stay EPA’s carbon rule that was finalized in early May. Chris Hamilton, President and CEO of the West Virginia Coal Association, offers the following statement:

“We call upon the U.S. Supreme Court to stay this rule until legal challenges are settled. Our utilities, and ultimately the public, shouldn’t be forced to waste hundreds of millions of ratepayer dollars to attempt to comply with a rule that ignores the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in WV v EPA.

Make no mistake, EPA’s Clean Power Plan 2.0 is specifically designed to shut down West Virginia’s nine coal-fired power plants and many more across this nation. This is a continuation and escalation of the national Democratic Party’s decades-long War on Coal and threatens the livelihood of tens of thousands of West Virginians.

West Virginians will lose jobs. Americans will continue to pay increasingly more expensive power bills. Our nation’s electric system will become even more unreliable. And energy security in the United States will become more dependent on foreign countries and potentially foreign adversaries.

A diverse energy mix that is supported by coal-powered plants, not in place of them, is crucial to ensuring all Americans can afford to keep their homes heated and lit. Until we recognize the need for an energy policy reset, we can expect our energy situation to remain unstable and potentially poised to fail us when we need it most.”