Missouri Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler kicked off her “all of the above” energy tour with several stops in Mid-Missouri Tuesday, including the Thomas Hill coal fired power plant near Moberly.
Hartzler ended the first day of the tour with an energy policy rally at Moberly Area Community College. She spoke out against recent EPA proposals that would target coal- fired power plants such as Thomas Hill.
Missouri gets 80 percent of its energy from coal. Hartzler stressed that if passed, Missouri residents will pay more for energy and many residents working in these plants will lose their jobs. State Rep. Tim Remole said that 2,500 jobs in the Kansas City area alone depend on coal-fired plants.
Hartzler said that the purpose of the rally was to spur people to speak up against EPA regulations.
“Hopefully it’ll spur people to action to make comments to write and to have their voice heard. Because now’s the time to speak up because otherwise down the road they're gonna have higher electricity costs so we may see jobs going overseas and we don’t want to see that happen,” Hartzler said.
Moberly resident, Ted Sander, said that these types of events are necessary.
“We need these kinds of events so that we know where our public officials are and so they have a chance to hear from us, and what our thoughts are,” he said.
Not all members of the community were impressed with the rally.
Mike Diel, a member of the local community, said the rally was one-sided.
“There was no one there against coal. Everyone there loved coal. Coal has built our industry, but it’s time to move on,” he said.
Hartzler concludes her energy tour today at the University of Missouri with a panel of Missouri energy experts at 2 p.m. in the Jesse Wrench Auditorium, located in the Memorial Union.
