Virginia’s Appalachian Representatives

Robert Hurt (VA-5)

A second-term representative whose district stretches from Charlottesville to the North Carolina border, Hurt has consistently voted to stop the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from limiting pollution from coal-fired power plants, including carbon and mercury pollution. He is also a supporter of offshore oil drilling along the coast of Virginia.
District Specs: 17% poverty rate in, 64.7% rural, Education level: 25.8% college, 83.4% high school

Bob Goodlatte (VA-6)

Recently elected to his 11th term, Goodlatte represents the highly conservative northwestern section of Virginia. He has been an advocate of the coal industry for nearly two decades and believes the Obama administration, through a “war on coal,” is creating unattainable standards for coal companies that will shutter coal-fired power plants and halt coal mining in Appalachia.
District Specs: 14% poverty rate, 35.6% rural, Education level: 24.2% college, 84.3% high school

Morgan Griffith (VA-9)

Griffith, a second term representative from southwest Virginia — an area that includes all of the state’s mountaintop removal coal mines — has been an ardent supporter of the coal industry, and believes that coal jobs are the bedrock of the southwest Virginia economy. A fervent critic of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Griffith has consistently voted to limit the agency’s powers to veto mine permits and to create and enforce regulations on coal-fired power plants and coal ash ponds.
District Specs: 19% poverty rate, 58.2% rural, Education level: 18.5% college, 80.9% high school