Kentucky Coal Association Press Release: Withdraw from the Paris COP21 agreement
TYLER WHITE
Kentucky Coal Association- President
twhite@kentuckycoal.com
Lexington – The following statement may be attributed to Tyler White, President of the Kentucky Coal Association, regarding President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris COP21 agreement. .
The Kentucky Coal Association, which represents over ninety percent of Kentucky’s coal industry, thanks President Trump and his Administration for putting America first by calling for the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
The unilateral decision by the Obama administration to join the Paris agreement without the consent of Congress was one of many examples of the former administration’s executive overreach that put the American people and competitiveness at risk, for little or no meaningful environmental benefit. The People’s Republic of China is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide and, in accordance with the Agreement, it can continue to increase its CO2 emissions until 2030. Furthermore, the Republic of India announced that, notwithstanding the Paris Agreement, it will continue to rely on fossil fuels and plans to double the nation’s coal output within the next 5 years.
Over the past eight years the burdens of misguided policies fell not only on the coal industry, but also on the end-users of electric power, American businesses and families. One of the most dangerous steps taken was the shuttering of coal-fired power plants across the nation while other nations continued to develop their competitiveness through the use of coal.
Any agreement that does not analyze the impact on the economy of the United States is ultimately a policy that does not put America first. The Paris agreement was such an agreement. We stand firmly behind the President’s Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth Executive Order which is a pro-jobs and pro-affordable and reliable energy policy. The Paris agreement was simply an obstruction to achieving energy dominance in the United States of America.
