Good morning. My name is Michel Moffatt.

I am a West Virginian that has decided to step up and serve as a member of the West Virginia House of
Delegates, a position that I am currently a candidate in the running for, but let me be clear this is NOT a
campaign stop nor it is a box I am looking to check.
I come before you this morning because on June 2, when I began to read the proposal, I saw that you
were looking to have comments from the public and I knew that I had to do all that I could to come and
speak up.
Let me start with words from a Protestant pastor from 1946 who himself had a revelation that his
Government that he first supported, was wrong. He was locked up for 7 years before preaching this
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

I am not a power plant owner. I do not work at a power plant. I am not an owner of a coal mine and I
do not work at a coal mine. I am someone that enjoys being able to flip the switch and know that the
lights come on. Someone that appreciates the heat in the winter. Someone that enjoys a little air
condition in the summer.
In the 1970s many of our government agencies warned of the pending Ice Age. Global cooling was
predicted by NASA, by the National Academy of Science, by college professors, and by researchers.
When I was just slight older than the age of my son who is here with me, we had a President that took
office and right from the get go he started talking about using Executive Orders and about his Energy
Policy. His Energy policy that encouraged everyone to set their winter thermostats to 55 degrees
overnight and 65 degrees during the day. It was a policy of conservation. One that addressed concerns
of not having enough power for this great nation.
Conservation, is a great thing. We have learned to be better environmental stewards. Reduce, reuse,
recycle is now common in our vernacular in the US and we no longer have the smog and the acid rain
that were common not too many years ago. The Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act of the 1970s
have had some positive results. Our air and our waters are cleaner, but now we are going too far.
At home we are blessed to have an amazing Power Plant, AEPs John Amos coal fired power plant. AEP
spent $2 billion dollars to install well established scrubber technology to reduce Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) and
Nitrogen Oxide (NOx). I had the privilege to hear from them a few weeks ago in conjunction with our
Putnam County Chamber of Commerces Leadership program. They are proud of the work that they
have done but they are also very aware of the potential power shortages that are looming as we take
more coal fired plants off line.
The MACT standards on Mercury under the Utility MACT are about to take effect in April 2015. They
will reduce the power generating capabilities of the US by 34.7 GW, or 9% of our annual usage, which
may result in anticipated brown outs during our hottest summer days and coldest winter nights.
The EPA anticipated this to ONLY be 9.5 GW lost and estimated a cost $9.6 billion per year. Speaking of
costs, the increased cost to produce has led to price increases of over 3% from 2013 to 2014 and 27%
since 2001to our hard working families and fixed income seniors.
Focusing on these new CO2 regulations, we are expected to see 30 to 60 of our power plants close.
According to the Department of Energys deputy assistant secretary for clean coal, the costs of these
new regulations would be a 70 or 80 percent increase on wholesale electricity prices. Some of our
leading banks are estimating that could really be up to a 300 percent increase. The cost will also come
in the brown or black outs that occur because we wont have the coal fired plant to turn back on. We
cannot afford to eliminate our most reliable and most cost effective energy source for the supposed
hundredths of a degree that this may affect our climate.
Coal IS West Virginia. Yes it is the marketing theme that we hear regularly but I know this is more than
just some clever jingle. Coal really impacts every single one of the 1.8 million residents of our great
State. Every County benefits from the severance tax that is placed on coal and that money goes to all
sorts of projects that their County Commissions deem appropriate.
I must point out that it is noticed that these hearings today are far enough away from the Southern coal
fields to make it near impossible for the nearly 5,000 people that that work directly in the industry in 3
of my 4 Counties of Boone, Lincoln, and Logan to make it here to speak, and for those that make a living
in industries that prosper off of those hard working miners to make it here to speak. I come here today
for those that cannot.
Coal has built this Country that we many of us love. Coal from our land has created the steel that has
built so many great things in this nation. It has built this, the Steel City. Coal has given us the
relatively inexpensive energy for years and it MUST be part of or future. The efforts in Clean Coal have
created a number of technological advances that make it a viable source to continue to be our leading
energy producer while other technologies become more cost efficient. We have coal seams in this
Country alone that will power us for over 250 years. The moves by this EPA and this Administration to
price it out of existence make no sense to me.
The Carbon Capture technology is NOT ready for use. It is NOT efficient. It IS costly. I know the bill lists
all sorts of cost benefits but in speaking to those that actually create our power. It has been researched
and it is not there yet. So despite this Presidents Action Plan, this EPA or our Congress must act to reign
in this over reach and the over reach, one that we are now seeing in the Clean Water Act as well.
The world is adding coal fired power plants WITHOUT emission controls every week and some of our EU
partners are switching back to coal
I am here to speak out because we need to continue to use Coal to Power our Country and this bill will
make that impractical and nearly impossible.
I am speaking up for the Coal miner and the Coal Industry
Thank you for your time.