Washington, 11 August 2016 — The US coal sector must rehabilitate its public image and gain bipartisan support for fossil fuels in Congress if a more favorable regulatory environment is ever to be achieved, industry leaders say.

 

The industry faces "a problem of public perception which translates into political and regulatory repercussions," H Quest Vanguard chief executive George Skoptsov told participants yesterday at the American Coal Council (ACC) conference in Park City, Utah. "Coal has basically become a four letter word."

 

This has created an environment ripe for anti-coal regulations.

 

"The administration’s efforts to diminish coal really are bookended by (the US Environmental Protection Agency’s) Clean Power Plan on one side, which is blocking coal consumption, and the Interior Department’s stream protection rule on the other side, to block coal production," ACC chief executive Betsy Monseu said.

 

The stream protection rule alone "could shut the industry down," CoalBlue project president and former Alpha Natural Resources executive Jon Wood said. CoalBlue is an initiative focused on encouraging congressional Democrats to support clean coal legislation.

For the rest of this piece, including more from conference speakers George Skoptsov and Jon Wood, and from speakers Drew Kramer of Tri-State Transmission and Generation, Inc. and Bill Kovacs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, click here.