West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin told home-state reporters yesterday that he was the only governor who took handouts for President Obama and his staff to the big White House energy policy meeting.
And Gov. Manchin went to great lengths to make sure we reporters got these handouts, reminding his very patient communications director, Matt Turner, several times to send them out as soon as the conference call was over.
So, I figured Coal Tattoo readers out to get a look at these documents too. Here they are:
– Gov. Manchin’s letter to President Obama.
– Powering America’s Future, a W.Va. Division of Energy flyer.
– Gov. Manchin’s “talking points” memo about EPA mining permit reviews.
Among Gov. Manchin’s prepared talking points:
Clarity DOES NOT MEAN a pass on environmental protection
EPA holds all the cards on establishing the new culture of mining.
WV simply wants to know what the new culture is going to look like.
WV has never argued the position of status quo.
I haven’t had time to totally deconstruct or debunk some of this … I hope to get to that.
But one thing that really jumped out at me was the contradictory statements about the Hobet 45 permit deal that EPA made with Patriot Coal:
Hobet 45 approval presumably would be the new model around which future permits could be constructed.
But
EPA said the Hobet 45 approval was not a model. From a legal, regulatory and scientific perspective, this is difficult to understand.
I’m a little at a loss on two counts here.
First, I’m not sure why the Manchin administration wants to keep bringing up Hobet 45. That’s because what that permit really shows is that the WVDEP and the Corps weren’t doing their job … EPA came in and worked out a deal to reduce stream impacts by half and still allow nearly all of the coal to be mined. WVDEP and the Corps could have done the same thing. They didn’t. That’s why the Obama EPA has stepped in to the mountaintop removal permit process.
(In fairness, WVDEP Secretary Randy Huffman says he realizes this … and he’s announced that his agency is working on its own new valley fill policy. Oddly, Gov. Manchin doesn’t seem to have included discussion of that in his “talking points” for the White House meeting … wonder why).
Second, it’s clear that Hobet 45 can’t be a “template” for how other permits can get EPA approval. Why not? As any industry engineer would tell you, each mining site is different and needs site-specific considerations taken into account. And the Hobet 45 permit was probably a little more different than others — and WVDEP knows that, too. But what Hobet 45 can be is an example of how companies if they go into it with an open mind — and a good engineer — can rewrite their mining plans to further reduce their environmental impacts.
What’s so hard to understand? The same coal production. Less impacts. Permit approved.
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Gov. Manchin is not worried about being consistent. He’s only concerned with making sure his coal buddies know he’s completely in their camp. His citation in the letter to Obama of the “alternative energy” plan shows this – you know, the plan that said wind – coal – solar – coal – tires – coal, coal, coal. (Yes, I know this is hyperbole, but not by much.)
1- The letter to Obama would be laughable if it weren’t so embarrassing. The renewable energy and post mining use policies cited are both widely viewed as industry sops. Renewable energy defined all wrong, post mining use same old same old.
2- The Div of Energy pamphlet is so sad, as it underscores the iron grip industry has on state government at every level. This item from a state agency might as well have been written by Bill Raney – - now that I think of it, maybe it was.