[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 151 (Tuesday, October 11, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1813]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         OPENING REMARKS FOR THE SCREENING OF THE LAST MOUNTAIN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 11, 2011

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following. Thank you for 
coming this evening and welcome. I am excited to introduce to you The 
Last Mountain and I am proud to host its screening. It left quite an 
impression on me when I saw it and I trust it will do the same for you.
  Scientific research shows that Mountaintop removal mining is 
devastating to both the environment and the health of Appalachian 
communities. It has created a water quality crisis in streams where the 
debris and spoil from mining sites have been dumped. It has created an 
environmental crisis for aquatic life in those streams and for the most 
biologically diverse forests in the world, which are being 
systematically destroyed by Mountaintop removal.
  Mountaintop removal mining has created a public health crisis for 
people depending on those streams. The research shows that Appalachian 
residents of areas affected by mountaintop mining experience 
significantly more unhealthy days each year than the average American; 
and women who live in areas with high levels of mountaintop coal mining 
are more likely to have low birth-weight infants and poor birth 
outcomes.
  Not only is mountaintop removal mining environmentally harmful, but 
it is actually a job destroyer, not a job creator. Studies have shown 
that mountaintop removal mining has actually had a negative impact on 
Appalachian employment. Because Mountaintop removal mining relies on 
enormous machines instead of individual, skilled miners, the number of 
mining jobs needed to produce each ton of coal has been drastically 
reduced. Mountaintop removal mining is essentially eliminating the 
miner from coal mining, contributing to a decrease in mining jobs.
  In 1948, there were 126,000 coal-mining jobs in West Virginia and 
169,000,000 tons of coal mined. In 2010, however, only 20,000 of these 
jobs remain despite the fact that almost the same amount of coal--
144,000,000 tons--had been mined. This job loss did not result from any 
regulation. Instead, it occurred because coal companies themselves have 
replaced workers with machines and explosives. The evidence is clear: 
mountaintop removal mining destroys both mountains and jobs.
  Coal mining in general has experienced a diminishing share of 
employment in Appalachia as well. The cause is falling demand for coal. 
According to the Federal Reserve, the capacity of already permitted and 
active coal mines set an all-time record in 2010, while the utilization 
of that capacity was at a 25-year low. So, while enough permits have 
been approved to achieve a new record level of coal mine capacity, 
there is simply not enough demand for all of the coal that these mines 
can produce. Demand for coal, or the decision by consumers to use 
cleaner, more energy efficient forms of energy, is not something the 
EPA controls. It is a decision by made by electric generating plant 
operators and investors. Increasingly, they have chosen to fuel their 
power plants with natural gas, rather than coal.
  Just last week, a study in the prestigious American Economic Review 
found that the damage from coal-fired electrical plants costs more than 
twice as much as the electricity they generate. Coal plants wreak $53 
billion worth of damage per year, not considering the enormous harm 
from climate change.
  The Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of trying to 
fulfill its duty to increase scrutiny of Appalachian mountaintop mining 
permits. The efforts in the House to undermine the EPA are wrongheaded. 
I have fought them on the floor and I have fought them as Ranking 
Member of the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight 
and Government Spending of the Committee on Oversight and Government 
Reform. And I will continue to fight to stop not only mountaintop 
mining, but also coal.
  Coal-based energy creates ponds of ash that are so toxic the 
Department of Homeland Security will not disclose their locations for 
fear of their potential to become a terrorist weapon; it fouls the air 
and water with sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulates, ozone, 
mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and thousands of other toxic 
compounds that cause asthma, birth defects, learning disabilities, and 
pulmonary and cardiac problems . . . for starters.
  In contrast, several times more jobs are yielded by renewable energy 
investments than comparable coal investments. We must redirect the 
resources of this great nation away from things like war and 
counterproductive spending cuts and toward creating millions of new 
jobs in the economic sector of tomorrow; green energy. I will be 
introducing a bill to create a Works Green Administration which will 
harness the innovative power of NASA to help create, refine, and ready 
for distribution the very technologies that put the power in the hands 
of the people. It will put people to work promoting and installing wind 
and solar microtechnologies, energy efficiencies, and much more.
  Until then, I hope you enjoy the screening tonight. Thank you for 
your interest and for your time. I look forward to working with you to 
save mountains, streams, forests, and livelihoods.

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