WV Governor throws down anti-EPA gauntlet at inauguration

This past weekend, Earl Ray Tomblin was inaugurated as Governor of West Virginia.* and he wasn’t bashful about what he feels he’s been put in office to do: buck federal protections for public health and the environment, for the benefit of the coal industry.

In his inauguration speech, Tomblin declared,

“I will fight for our state's coal industry, the backbone of our economy. We will continue to take on the federal government and oppose efforts by the EPA and others to stop production of the most efficient fuel our country knows.”

I guess it’s not too surprising coming from the politician who headlined an anti-regulation coal industry rally at the State Capitol earlier this year and proudly unveiled West Virginia’s new “Friends of Coal” license plate at an industry function in May. 

But if I were one of the West Virginians who’s seen their neighbors sickened and their homeplaces fouled by mountaintop removal mining, I’d still be wondering: when will the governor fight for me?

Tomblin has, so far, blown off the science indicating that serious health problems are linked to mountaintop removal activity. Confronted with this summer’s Environmental Research study showing a tie between MTR and birth defect rates, he told the Charleston Gazette, "There's reports every day on something causing some kind of illness."

I know, right? Cigarettes…asbestos…E. coli...toxic mine waste in the air and water…it’s always something, isn’t it?

West Virginia’s mountain defenders don’t have any illusions about the likelihood of Tomblin seeing the light. They organized an “Occupy the Governor’s Inauguration” event on the state Capitol grounds to stand up for the federal health and environment protections that Tomblin is so devoted to tearing down.

And this is why it will continue to be so critical to defend strong, well-enforced environmental protections at the federal level. Congressional attacks on EPA regulation of polluters under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and other laws are going to keep coming. And while everyone deserves clean air to breathe and water that's won't make their families sick, not all of us can count on our local elected officials to defend these rights.

*Tomblin had been appointed Acting Governor after Gov. Joe Manchin won a special election to fill Robert Byrd’s seat in the U.S. Senate in 2010. Tomblin won a special election on Oct. 4 and is now finishing out the remainder of the term. He’ll face reelection again in 2012.