[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 36 (Wednesday, March 13, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H1364]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1210
COAL
(Mr. BARR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I was recently visiting with my constituents
in Nicholas County, Kentucky, when I learned about the latest casualty
in the Obama administration's war on coal. Joy Global, a manufacturer
of underground mining equipment, operates a plant in neighboring
Bourbon County. The news had just broken that Joy Global plans to cease
all operations and manufacturing at that plant. The story of Joy Global
is timely in light of President Obama's nomination of Gina McCarthy to
lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
I wish those who are responsible for the war on coal could have been
with me that Friday morning. It's easy to sit in Washington and issue
regulations when you don't have to confront the human cost.
The Obama administration's war on coal cost more than 3,000 well-
paying coal miner jobs in Kentucky last year. Thousands of families
potentially went from healthy incomes to food stamps. But this
administration doesn't appear to care.
The coal industry supports 19,000 full-time jobs in Kentucky while
providing our State with the Nation's fourth lowest utility rates. Mr.
Speaker, it's time the administration put people ahead of its radical
agenda.
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