WV Congressman Alex Mooney condemns Obama administration top officials

WV Congressman Alex Mooney condemns Obama administration top officials

U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., said he is condemning the recent trip of top Obama administration officials to the Mountain State.

Mooney spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives July 8 about the issues he had with the visit.

Mooney’s office said Interior Secretary, Sally Jewell and Office of Surface Mining Director, Joseph Pizarchik, should be embarrassed they are “just now coming to West Virginia after their offices have relentlessly continued to advance the Obama Administrations War on Coal.” The leaders were in West Virginia at the beginning of June, touring surface mines.

Mooney said in a news release about the trip the apparent visit was meant to seek input from the state about a new regulation by the Obama administration, one he said is estimated to kill about 80,000 coal jobs.
“It is clear that nothing will stop the President from trying to implement his radical environmental agenda, and I will continue to fight back on behalf of all West Virginians,” he said in a statement.

Mooney’s office said the Congressman introduced House Resolution.1644, the STREAM Act, to prevent implementation of a new stream buffer zone rule from the Office of Surface Mining in the Department of the Interior.

A 2012 study conducted on behalf of the National Mining Association found that the job loss nationwide from a new Stream Buffer Zone rule would be between 133,441 and 273,227 jobs or 29 to 59 percent of coal mining and linked sector jobs, according to his office.