Manchin said the hour
and a half meeting included direct and engaging discussions with the President,
Vice President, EPA Administrator and other officials about cap and trade and
mountaintop removal mining.
“They’re not a
fan of mountaintop removal and they talked about it and they asked me and I told
them it’s a volatile issue, we know that,” Manchin said.
“If we can use
the land, remove the resources and benefit all the while, then we believe as
states we should be able to do that,” he continued.
Governor Manchin
says he doesn’t think EPA officials knew about the state’s policies on reclaiming
mine land. In a letter Manchin presented to the President, Manchin requests a
meeting with EPA officials to discuss regulatory concerns.
During the
meeting, President Obama announced he is creating a task force to help speed
the development of cabon capture and storage.
“The President has
established an ambitious national goal: bring five to ten commercial
demonstration projects online by 2016 and advance carbon capture and storage
technology to the point where widespread, affordable deployment is possible
within 10 years,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
The Department of Energy is
investing more than $4 billion into the practice of capturing the carbon
dioxide emissions from power plants and storing it underground.
Secretary Chu says U.S. industry is pumping another $7 billion into the
efforts.
“We’re investing in critical
research and development and supporting the testing of carbon capture and
sequestration at nine test injection sites through a regional carbon
sequestration partnership,” Secretary Chu said.
“That will include injection
into at least four important North American
geological formations and injecting at least eight million tons,” he added.
The Obama Administration says
advancing carbon storage is necessary for the U.S. to continue burning coal to produce energy.
Manchin wants West Virginia to be part of the solution to the country’s and the
world’s energy needs.
“If we can find that
competitive priced energy and do it better and cleaner through technology, we
will have the answer to help clean up the rest of the world,” he said. “That’s
what I would like to see them focus on, not just using the stick and beating
the daylights out of people.”
Governors from Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky were also part of Wednesday’s meeting
with the President.