U.S. Senator Joe Manchin says his heart goes out to the AEP workers that are facing an uncertain future.

"Let me be clear, it's decisions like the one made by AEP today that demonstrate the urgent need to rein in government agencies like the EPA, preventing them from overstepping their bounds and imposing regulations that not only cost us good American jobs, but hurt our economy. Onerous regulations issued by the EPA are the reason that 242 West Virginians will lose their jobs, and that's simply wrong," Manchin said in a prepared release.

Second District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito also responded. 

"This is a perfect example of the EPA implementing rules and regulations without considering the devastating impact they may have on local economies and jobs. Just this past week the EPA fired back and said the agency does run economic analysis when issuing new rules. In this instance, either the EPA did not run proper analysis or the administration knew these rules would cost jobs and increase utility costs and still went ahead anyway. Either way, this is unacceptable," Capito said.