Getting tired of the in your face corruption? Expect filthy air and pollution from this crowd as they reward their big donors.
“In one exchange on July 6, 2018 — one day after Pruitt resigned — American Coal Council CEO Betsy Monseu offered support to Wheeler. “As EPA moves forward under your leadership to further the Trump administration’s priorities, I offer best wishes to you and the support of the American Coal Council for continuing the path of regulatory reform and rebalancing,” she wrote.
“Thank you,” Wheeler replied.”
Trump wants to save coal plant linked to EPA head’s former client, a big donor
The acting EPA administrator spent years lobbying for Murray Energy.
Amid a sharp decline in coal jobs, President Donald Trump on Monday pushed for a federal entity to keep open a coal fired power plant supplied by Murray Energy, a company with strong ties to the administration including Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
“Coal is an important part of our electricity generation mix and [the Tennessee Valley Authority] should give serious consideration to all factors before voting to close viable power plants, like Paradise #3 in Kentucky!” Trump wrote in a Feb. 11 tweet.
The TVA is a federally-owned generator that doesn’t receive taxpayer money and is funded through electricity sales instead. Paradise Unit 3, which is almost 50 years old, has been deemed too expensive to continue operating, and the TVA board is set to vote as early as Thursday on whether to shutter the coal plant.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) has also called for the plant to remain open, as has Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Paradise 3’s fate has been cloudy for some time. In 2017, TVA retired two other coal plants near the former town of Paradise, Kentucky in compliance with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule, an Obama-era anti-pollution effort that the EPA is currently trying to roll back.
High costs coupled with low efficiency at Paradise 3 have combined to slowly doom the coal plant. An environmental assessment released this month meanwhile found that Paradise 3’s closure would have minimal impact on the environment.
Throughout his presidency, however, Trump, has pushed hard to revive the dying coal industry, even as jobs decline and plants continue closing en masse.
But Paradise 3 also has the distinction of relying on coal predominately from a subsidiary of Murray Energy, the largest coal mining company in the United States. That company’s chief executive, Robert Murray, is a top supporter of the president’s, who has pushed repeatedly for the bailout of coal and nuclear plants that Trump has encouraged. Murray notably gave $1 million to a pro-Trump political action committee in 2018.
Murray Energy is also the former client of Wheeler, who worked for the company as a lobbyist, a job he held for years prior to his time at the EPA. Wheeler’s former coal lobbying is likely to be further scrutinized as he appears set to sail through his confirmation to formally lead an agency tasked with safeguarding the environment and enforcing regulations.