110 HCON 285 IH: Expressing the sense of the Congress that a U.S. House of Representatives 2008-01-29 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. CON. RES. 285 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 29, 2008 Mr. Kanjorski (for himself, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Wilson of Ohio, Mr. Altmire, Mr. Murtha, Mr. Carney, Mr. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Peterson of Pennsylvania, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. Holden, Mr. Gerlach, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Shuster, Mr. Wolf, and Mr. Space) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the Congress that a postage stamp should be issued honoring the Nation’s coal miners.

Whereas the Nation is greatly indebted to coal miners for the difficult and dangerous work they perform to provide the fuel needed to operate the Nation’s industries and to provide energy to homes and businesses; Whereas millions of workers have toiled in the Nation’s coal mines over the last century, risking both life and limb to fuel the Nation’s economic expansion; Whereas during the last century, over 100,000 coal miners have been killed in mining accidents in the Nation’s coal mines; Whereas thousands of coal miners have contracted black lung disease as a direct result of their toil in the Nation’s coal mines; Whereas coal provides 50 percent of the Nation’s electricity and is an essential fuel for industries such as steel, cement, chemicals, food, and paper; Whereas the United States has a demonstrated coal reserve of more than 491,000,000,000 tons, with an estimated 263,000,000,000 tons of recoverable reserves which, at current production rates, represents about 275 years of recoverable coal reserves; Whereas these coal reserves represent about 95 percent of all fossil fuel reserves in the United States, and about one fourth of the world’s known coal reserves; Whereas the recoverable coal reserves in the United States have the energy equivalent of about 1,000,000,000,000 barrels of oil, which is comparable to all of the world’s known oil reserves; Whereas since the energy crises of the 1970s, United States dependence on foreign oil has grown substantially, with imported oil accounting for 39 percent of all oil consumed in 1973 and about 60 percent today; Whereas energy security is an integral component of the Nation’s economy and national security; Whereas coal mining continues to be the economic engine for many communities, providing jobs to areas with little economic diversity; Whereas coal mining provides economic benefits far beyond its direct revenues, including billions of dollars in economic output and household earnings and hundreds of thousands of jobs in other industries; and Whereas issuing a postage stamp to honor the Nation’s coal miners is fitting and proper: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of Congress that— (1)the United States Postal Service should issue a stamp honoring the Nation’s coal miners; and (2)the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.