A southern Illinois congressman is standing up for the coal industry.
Representative John Shimkus talked about the human toll of what he calls the Obama administration's war on coal as the U.S. House debated energy legislation this week.
The Collinsville republican says an example of that is the announcement that Murray Energy Corporation plans to close its New Era mine in Galatia next year.
"The human toll is lost jobs, lost benefits, bankruptcies, which then creates a risk to the promised pension payments to retirees. It becomes a loss of revenue to the taxing districts, to the counties, to the villages, to the first line responders and support for our schools."
Shimkus says at the beginning of the Obama administration, over half of the nation's electricity came from coal...as of 2014, that number was down to 38 percent.
"Coal is the most efficient, the cheapest source of electricity generation and creates a base load capacity that's very critical to keep the lights on. If you lose the base load generation and you rely on renewables, you really do risk keeping the lights on. You assure the nation of higher costs of electricity."
Shimkus says the number of coal mines opening each year has fallen to its lowest point in a decade. He says according to the Energy Information Agency, the number of operating coal mines is at its lowest number on record dating back to 1923.