After the EPA announced new regulations to limit the amount of carbon dioxide produced by power plants, the agency announced a “listening tour” of 11 cities to hear the public’s opinion on its sweeping policy change. Since these new regulations effectively ban (link to coal page) the building of new coal-fired power plants, you’d probably assume that the agency would put states that get most of their energy from coal at the top of its destination list. But you’d be wrong.

Take a look at the list of states that rely on coal for their energy vs. the stops on the EPA’s listening tour:

Notice that there isn’t any overlap? If the agency really wants to hear from the public, it should go to the cities where jobs are dependent on coal production and residents rely on coal to keep their heat running on these cold winter nights.

Instead of hearing from a balanced panel of affected citizens, these listening sessions have been packed with anti-coal activists from the Sierra Club, which bused in activists and prepped their testimonies in support of the EPA’s move to eliminate coal from our energy portfolio. How’s that for listening?