21Dec

W.Va. Reacts to Ruling on Stream Protection

Via The Weirton Daily Times: Officials throughout Appalachia and the coal industry are reacting following Monday’s announcement by the Obama administration of final rules aimed at protecting 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests from any impacts of coal mining. Among those promising quick legal action against the Interior Department’s Stream Protection Rule […]
21Dec

Four Obama Regulations Trump Can Undo Right Away

Via The Washington Examiner: President-elect Trump’s pledge to “drain the swamp” in Washington struck a chord with millions of Americans and helped propel him to his stunning election as the nation’s 45th president. Trump can start by reversing many of the laws the Obama administration created on its own, in its serial abuse of executive […]
21Dec

Gillette Hopes Trump Puts Coal in Christmas Stockings

Via WyoFile: Lula Belle’s Cafe is a freestanding white-stone building between the railroad tracks and the bottom end of Gillette’s sloping main street. Smoking is still allowed inside, and the ashtrays between mugs of coffee suggest that’s the way the customers like it. Clientele varies from ranchers and retirees lingering over their coffee in the […]
20Dec

Stream Rule – Destined for the Dumpster

December 20, 2016 Although bitterly opposed by the mining industry, states and Native American communities among others, the stream rule finalized Monday by the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) serves a very useful purpose.  It shows what’s wrong with this administration’s regulatory policies and the malign motivation behind them. The stream rule achieves a rare […]
20Dec

Obama’s Last Coal Rule Likely Headed for the Chopping Block in Congress

Via Politico: The Obama administration’s years-in-the-making rule to protect streams from mountaintop removal coal mining is on track to go into effect a day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, meaning Congress will have to step in to kill it quickly. Trump has railed against regulations on the coal industry in general, although he has […]
20Dec

President Obama Takes One Final Shot at Coal

Via West Virginia MetroNews: The Obama administration on its way out the door is delivering one last blow to the coal industry–the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement’s (OSM) final version of the Stream Protection Rule. The rule piles on controversial new regulations to the mining industry, which is already laboring under the heavy hand […]
19Dec

Obama Adds Last Minute Anti-Coal Regs Before Trump Takes Office

Via The Daily Caller:  The Obama administration added another layer of anti-coal mining regulations to the books Monday, just before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The new regulations require coal companies which have finished mining in an area to restore the land to the same condition that existed before digging began. Obama’s Secretary of the Interior […]
19Dec

NMA Strongly Opposes Interior Department’s Duplicative Stream Rule

The National Mining Association (NMA) today expressed its strong opposition to the Interior Department’s stream rule, calling on Congress to swiftly pass a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval and the president to sign it without delay. The rule, which the Trump Administration has said it opposes and will act to rescind, provides no discernable […]
16Dec

The Trump Cabinet: Bonfire of the Agencies

Via The Washington Post: Democrats spent the first two decades of the post-Cold War era rather relaxed about Russian provocations and revanchism. President Obama famously mocked Mitt Romney in 2012 for suggesting that Russia was our principal geopolitical adversary. Yet today the Dems are in high dudgeon over the closeness of secretary of state nominee, […]
14Dec

Pruitt Comes to Town

December 14, 2016 It’s been a frightful cacophony. The mournful lamentations, the rending of robes, the wailing and keening over the nomination of Attorney General Scott Pruitt have echoed throughout the Acela corridor. “This can’t be happening!”  “This” being the election. Now Armageddon is at hand, we’re warned, if this climate change apostate, this unrepentant […]