[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 129 (Friday, September 21, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               H.R. 3409

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 21, 2012

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today the House is voting on H.R. 3409, 
the so-called ``Stop the War on Coal'' bill. am strongly opposed to 
this legislation and joined many of my colleagues in voting against it, 
because it endangers our environment, the public's health, and the 
stability of the American auto industry.
  While this bill is about much more than just coal, I want to take a 
moment to be clear about my position on coal: it is an energy source 
from our past, not for our future. We must reduce our reliance on coal 
for generating electricity at home and abroad. I have long been 
fighting to protect and strengthen the Clean Air Act.
  Predictable enforcement of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act 
helps protect our health, keep our air and water clean, and provides 
regulatory certainty to American businesses. As countries around the 
world strengthen their environmental protections, it is concerning to 
watch the United States move backwards. Not only does this bill 
restrict the Environmental Protection Agency's power to protect public 
health, but it changes the regulatory process to blatantly prioritize 
profits over human health. It also rolls back an industry-negotiated 
agreement to strengthen tailpipe emission standards.
  I supported many of the attempts to improve this bill, including an 
amendment to implement a renewable energy standard, an amendment to 
require a study on the public health impacts of coal dust, and an 
amendment to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to take action 
under the Clean Air Act when such action would reduce our reliance on 
oil. Unfortunately, the Republican majority defeated all of these 
commonsense amendments.
  We find ourselves in this debate due to the lack of comprehensive 
national policies on energy and global warming. The actions we should 
take now would help us move forward into the clean energy economy; 
instead of focusing on the past. We should lead by example and enforce 
the Clean Air Act against older, inefficient plants to make them clean 
up or shut down. We should enforce the Clean Water Act to restrict or 
shut down mountain top removal coal mining. When the economy 
strengthens, we should enact a carbon tax to discourage the production 
and export of our carbon pollution. And finally, we should fight for 
international action global greenhouse gas emissions so that emerging 
global economies do not destabilize the global climate.
  While this bill is upsetting enough on its own, it is particularly 
frustrating given the work that Congress has failed to do this session. 
We have yet to address tax reform, the looming budget sequestration, or 
even the Farm Bill. Instead, Republican leadership has decided to spend 
this week to vote on policies that we have already voted on several 
times, and that have no chance of becoming law.
  I offered an amendment to strike the language in H.R. 3409 and 
replace it with broadly supported, bipartisan language to extend the 
Production Tax Credit. This language would have helped protect tens of 
thousands of manufacturing jobs across the country, and helped move the 
United States into the clean energy economy. I am frustrated that we 
did not have a chance to vote on that important amendment, which would 
have created jobs in Oregon, strengthened United States manufacturers, 
and improved our public health and our environment.

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