GOP upset the EPA didn’t host any meetings in coal country

The Environmental Protection Agency's proposed carbon rule would heavily impact states whose economies rely heavily on coal production, and Congressional Republicans are upset that the EPA chose not to hold "listening sessions" on its landmark bill in the places most likely to be affected.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), The Hill reports, pressed the EPA to find out why the agency "did not schedule any listening sessions on its landmark carbon rule for power plants in West Virginia or other places in Appalachian coal country."

Capito was told that the EPA wanted to host its national level meetings "in locations where people were comfortable coming."

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Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly asked the EPA to hold meetings in coal country a number of times, but the agency instead visited Denver, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C.

McConnell declared that the EPA has no interest in visiting coal country "because it makes them uncomfortable to look Kentucky coal miners and their families in the eye and tell them what they plan to do to their communities."

The EPA estimates that the bill would "take a large bite out of coal's market share for electricity generation, reducing it to 31 percent by 2030 from the current 39 percent."