{Washington, D.C.}...The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a hearing Friday on Capitol Hill to address whether the EPA overreached its authority when it revoked permits for the Spruce No.1 Mine in Logan County. A federal judge has already ruled the agency did, but the EPA is appealing. Friday's hearing evolved into a partisan debate over the future of the coal industry. Representative Ed Markey, D-Mass., said modern technology is replacing old technology, but the coal industry is refusing to modernize and improve itself to produce cleaner ways to use its product, and, when the Waxman-Markey Legislation would have provided $60 billion to advance carbon sequestration technology, the coal industry said 'No! We're not going to move.'" West Virginia First District Congressman David McKinley blasted Markey's comments as a distraction from the real issue before the committee and said this is a war on coal. State Senator Art Kirkendoll of Logan said the EPA's unpredictable actions were driving the industry out of the region. Maria Gunnoe, an environmental activist from Boone County, said the war on coal is a lie invented by the coal industry, a multi-million dollar misinformation campaign funded by big coal polluters to distract Americans from the deadly effects of coals pollution on public health.
