Coal-state Democratic candidates are lashing out at President Obama for new Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards that would squeeze the coal industry.
West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant and Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, both Democrats running for Senate in their respective states, issued stern statements slamming the president for allowing the EPA standards, which would restrict emissions on future power plants, to go forward.
“Yet again, President Obama has taken direct aim at West Virginia’s coal industry. This proposed regulation would effectively prohibit the construction of any new coal-fired plants. This regulation is bad for West Virginia coal miners, their families and communities across the coal fields,” Tennant said in a release.
She added that she’s “not afraid to take on leaders in my own party to protect West Virginia’s coal industry.”
Lundergan Grimes said she was “disappointed” at the ruling.