By Bill Wilson — This is a tragic defeat. Enough Democrats voted with the Republicans to defeat the EPA’s crippling regulation against the coal industry, but then five GOP senators led by Lamar Alexander provided the margin of victory for the radical environmentalists. If all five had voted with their party, this regulation would have been defeated. Therefore, it is these five Republicans: Lamar Alexander (TN), Kelly Ayotte (NH), Scott Brown (MA), Olympia Snowe (ME), and Susan Collins (ME) who are responsible for the higher energy costs that will result from implementation of the EPA’s irresponsible war on coal.
These five senators have undercut the message of job creation and growth being advanced by the Republican Party and its nominees this year.
The EPA’s mercury emission regulations will require power plants be retrofitted with new technologies that cost billions of dollars to implement. Rather than going through that trouble, however, older coal-fired plants are simply being shut down, leading to a drop in demand, which then hurts miners who depend on coal for their livelihoods. These five senators now deserve the blame.
Bill Wilson is the President of Americans for Limited Government. You can follow him on Twitter at @BillWilsonALG.
