[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 157 (Sunday, November 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H10425-H10426]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            COALGATE IN UTAH

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, today I rise to inform my Members about 
Coalgate; no, not the toothpaste or the university, but another 
campaign scandal. In the heat of the 1996 campaign, President Clinton 
created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, which 
consisted of more than 1.7 million acres of land, an area larger than 
the State of Delaware.
  The White House claims this monument was needed to protect one of the 
most pristine areas in America. However, I would contend that 62 
billion tons of low-sulfur coal reserve was the real reason for this 
designation. The

[[Page H10426]]

Lippo Group, very large donors of the President's campaign, had a large 
financial stake in this monument, because clean Utah coal would have 
competed with the imported coal from Indonesia.
  It is a sad day when the President would deny schoolchildren in Utah 
the tax revenues of $1.5 billion in coal or the royalties, to protect 
foreign interests and promote his own self-serving ambition. Madam 
Speaker, the definition of greed has truly been revealed to the 
American people. They deserve the truth.

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