CHARLESTON -- The state’s top elected leaders pledged Tuesday to lobby for a meeting with White House officials to discuss bringing “certainty” in the federal government’s handling of mining permits, particularly with regard to mountaintop mining.

Gov. Joe Manchin, members of the state’s congressional delegation and commissioners from the state’s southern counties met with coal industry representatives behind closed doors for nearly two hours to discuss the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to delay dozens of permits for proposed mining projects and what effect those delays could have on the state’s economy.

Afterward, Manchin, flanked by congressional and state legislative leaders, held a news conference to discuss their plans to make their case before White House officials.

“I believe we heard a lot of frustration, a lot of anger, a lot of uncertainty as to how to proceed with providing jobs for our people in West Virginia; that’s what it is all about,” U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said. “And certainly the lack of a definitive plan of action by our federal agencies has caused this frustration.”

Not invited to the meeting were environmental organizations and coal industry critics who contend the EPA is simply doing its job after the previous administration either didn’t enforce or attempted to gut mining regulations.

At the same time, the gathered officials didn’t go into detail about how they could win over federal officials given the state almost certainly lacks political clout with the current administration. West Virginia voters twice voted against Obama, and polls indicate a majority of the U.S. public favors stronger regulation of the industry. At the very least, mountaintop mining is certainly unpopular among the many liberals that make up the president’s base of support.

When asked about political clout, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said the state brings five powerful members of Congress to the table. He also said he wasn’t sure federal regulators understood what the senator characterized as the need for mountaintop mining to provide flat land for development.

“I think one of the things (people at the meeting) felt this afternoon is we are tired of the yakking,” Rockefeller said. “We are tired of people screaming at each other, although we understand the anger and frustration that cause them to do that.”

Manchin said West Virginia coal produces about 40 percent of the energy consumed on the East Coast. Federal officials have “nothing to replace it,” and the state is taking the lead in developing renewable energy sources, such as wind energy and switchgrass for biofuels, he said.

“We’re not sitting back and waiting for people to point fingers at us,” he said. “We’re basically getting out and doing something. But to arbitrarily to say, ‘I don’t like it and shut it down,’ I don’t think that’s the way we built this country.”

Also present was U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, the state’s only Republican in Congress and the only GOP lawmaker at the news conference. She said the issue crossed party lines.

U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va, were represented by staff.

The lack of representation from the environmental community or landowners affecting by mining at the close-door meeting drew sharp criticism from those groups. When asked about that absence, Rockefeller answered that he has said mining operations will not be able to operate as they have in the past, and those operators themselves told him they “were willing to make the adjustments.” Neither he nor anyone from the coal industry said what those adjustments might be.

Manchin said afterward no one from the environmental community had asked to hold a meeting with him on the issue. Tuesday’s meeting was requested by county commissioners, who had asked the governor to gather the state’s congressional and legislative delegations so they could talk about their concerns in private, he said.