Saturday, September 15, 2012

The war on coal

Allen Black is a casualty in the Obama administration’s war on coal.
He worked in the coalfields of Eastern Kentucky for two decades earning upwards of $70,000 a year and was financially secure enough to help support his son’s pre-medical studies at a private university.
After losing his job on April 29, Black had no choice but to clear out his retirement savings to supplement his only income of $350 a week in unemployment and is now struggling to take care of his family at home, in addition to his son’s textbooks, food and other college expenses.
“You do what you’ve got to do for your kids,” Black told Human Events last week. “He’s worked hard, he’s earned it, and I’m proud of him. We’ll find a way.”
Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania—the heart of Appalachia—have been hardest hit by nine regulations proposed or finalized by the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that critics say will cripple this region’s coal industry.
“There was a massive migration out of Appalachia going north to build cars in the 1960’s because there were no jobs here. Coal is the only industry and when it fails, we all fail. We have another migration but this time we have nowhere to migrate to,” Black said.
“It’s really sad that government policies could make you leave a home where your family has been for generations. I’m not so sure it’s a war on coal so much as it’s a war on Appalachia,” Black said.

Read more: http://www.humanevents.com/2012/09/14/the-war-on-coal/

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