[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 52 (Wednesday, April 17, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H2107-H2114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1730
WAR ON COAL
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Mr. BARR. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous materials on the topic of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Kentucky?
There was no objection.
[[Page H2108]]
Mr. BARR. Madam Speaker, this Nation was founded on a simple, but
majestic, idea; and that idea is that we are endowed by our Creator
with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.
Think about these words from Jefferson in the Declaration of
Independence for just a minute: the pursuit of happiness--the idea that
every human being has a fundamental, natural right to follow his or her
dreams, to reach for the stars, to work hard to achieve their God-given
potential, all without undue interference from the government.
What is the key to happiness? I believe it to be hard work--a
relentless and unyielding desire on the part of the individual to apply
effort and improve their lot in life. Hard work, after all, has been an
American tradition from our very founding. Benjamin Franklin once said:
It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle
man who is the miserable man.
And so this story is the story of America. The work ethic defines who
we are as a nation. It is in our DNA; unconstrained by excessive
government, the industry and creativity of the American people have
fueled the most prosperous and productive nation in the history of the
world.
So what gives Americans--or anyone else for that matter--the
character to pursue happiness? What animates our capacity to do work?
In a word: energy.
Quite literally, the classic, scientific definition of energy is the
ability to do work. And Americans' ability to perform work, to work
hard and to pursue happiness over the years has been supported by an
abundant and affordable supply of domestic American-produced energy.
Energy has been the indispensable ingredient in Americans' ability to
pursue happiness.
Think about it: the story of this country has been the story of
American energy--coal, oil, natural gas. Abundant, reliable, affordable
energy has always been essential to a growing national economy. It
built the railroads and conquered the West. It spawned the industrial
revolution and won two world wars. It revolutionized communications and
fostered innovation from Henry Ford to the Wright brothers, Apollo and
Neil Armstrong. It propelled us into the Information Age and the
knowledge-based economy. Energy always has been and always will be the
key to Americans' ability to work hard and pursue happiness.
It is no surprise then that the countries with the best human health
and the most material wealth on this planet are the countries with the
highest levels of energy consumption. The most salient difference
between nations in the developed world and nations in the lesser-
developed world is that nations in the developed world produce and
consume the most energy, whereas nations in the lesser-developed parts
of the world produce and consume the least.
And so before us we have a choice, and it's a choice between two
futures. The first is a future of energy freedom and independence in
which we continue to embrace the ideals of our Founding Fathers, of
Jefferson and Franklin, where men follow their dreams, can work hard
and pursue happiness unconstrained by central planners in Washington,
D.C., where we can pursue an open energy system and a diversity of
energy sources to create jobs and opportunity and power a future of
unlimited growth and potential.
The second is a future of energy scarcity, a future of energy
dependency in which we abandon the traditions of the Founding Fathers,
reject the American work ethic, and deprive Americans of their ability
to pursue their dreams, by limiting the diversity of their energy
choices to only those that Washington politicians and not the American
people decide are worthwhile and sustainable.
In short, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, we can be the happy man.
We can pursue happiness, or we can be the idle man. The choice is ours,
and here's why this is relevant today. We are on the path toward a
future of energy scarcity rather than energy freedom. We are on a path
that replaces Americans' right to work hard and pursue happiness with a
government-directed society in which politicians and bureaucrats
restrict Americans' freedom and limit their choices. And the best
example of this is the Obama administration's war on coal.
What is the impact of this great, abundant natural resource? In 2012,
coal was responsible for 37 percent of electricity generated in the
United States, more than any other source of electricity. Given current
consumption rates, the United States has more than 230 years remaining
in coal reserves. Coal is mined in 25 U.S. States and is responsible
for over 760,000 U.S. jobs.
My home State, Kentucky, has produced energy for centuries. And most
importantly, we have produced coal. And our coal industry that has been
built by the hard work of my fellow Kentuckians powers America.
Kentucky was the third largest coal producer in the United States
during 2011, and coal mining was by far the greatest source of energy
production in the Commonwealth. In 2011, coal mines employed more than
19,000 individuals through the year, and mining directly contributed
approximately $4 billion to the Commonwealth's economy.
What has the war on coal brought to our country and to Kentucky?
Domestic coal decreased by 4.6 percent just last year. In 2012, U.S.
coal consumption for electric power declined by 11.5 percent. Within
the past year, 226 coal electricity-generating units have been shut
down. In 2012, Kentucky's overall coal production decreased by 16.3
percent, reaching its lowest level of production since 1965.
And this has an impact on real people. U.S. coal-mining jobs dropped
by 7,700 in 2012, and new and pending EPA regulations will cost 1.65
million jobs. With 205 coal-fired generators shutting down in the
coming year due to stricter environmental regulations, the United
States is expected to lose up to 17,000 jobs.
In my home State of Kentucky, this war on coal has been devastating
to my fellow Kentuckians. In 2012, direct employment in Kentucky's coal
industry decreased by over 4,000 workers.
Mr. Speaker, this has a real impact on real lives. It's easy to sit
in Washington and issue regulations when you don't have to confront the
human cost.
I want to yield time to some of my fellow colleagues in the House;
but before I do, I want to tell a brief story that I think tells the
story of the war on coal and why it matters to people all around this
country. It's a story of a young coal miner that I met in my home State
of Kentucky. His name is Chris Woods, and Chris commutes over an hour
each way, both ways, to work and back home every day. He took me in the
coal mine, and he wanted to show me his work. And it's heroic work what
these coal miners do. And he took me underground and he showed me what
he did. As we were coming out of the mine, and as I recognized that
what he was doing was providing low-cost, reliable electricity to the
American people, he looked at me and he said: You know, Andy, I don't
really know much about politics. And, frankly, I don't care much about
politics; but if you can save my job, I'm for you.
And the thing about Chris Woods was he wasn't thinking about himself.
His one paycheck takes care of his wife, two children, and both sets of
parents.
{time} 1740
This matters to people. And for every one coal mining job lost, there
are 3\1/2\ additional jobs that are dependent on the coal industry.
And so, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to having a discussion tonight
about the future of coal in America, about the choices we have as a
country to pursue our happiness, to work hard, to fulfill and embrace
the Founding Fathers' vision that we should shoot for the stars, that
we should have energy diversity and energy freedom, and we should
reject the path we're on, a path of energy scarcity and dependence.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to yield to the gentlelady from
Missouri, Ann Wagner.
Mrs. WAGNER. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for yielding and for
hosting this Special Order on the importance of America's coal
industry.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss the importance of coal in Missouri.
There is no denying that coal has played a vital role in providing an
abundant source of power to plants that generate electricity for
families and for businesses across this country.
In Missouri, coal-fired electricity is responsible for 81 percent of
the State's electric supply, and largely contributed
[[Page H2109]]
to Missouri's low electricity rate of 7 cents per kilowatt hour in
2011, compared with the national average of 10 cents per kilowatt hour
for that very same year.
Additionally, Missouri was sixth in the country in coal consumption,
with 46 million tons of coal used for electricity in 2011, of which
Ameren Missouri's Meramec plant in the Second Congressional District
consumed 3\1/2\ million tons.
Ameren Missouri, based out of St. Louis, is the State's largest
electric utility and provides electric service to approximately 1.2
million customers across central and eastern Missouri, including the
Greater St. Louis area.
In addition to the consumption of coal, the Greater St. Louis area is
also a critical player in the procurement of coal for our Nation's
energy needs, with companies like Arch Coal, Peabody Coal and Patriot
Coal headquartered in St. Louis and drawing employees from Missouri's
Second Congressional District. These companies are among some of the
country's and the world's largest coal providers.
All of this helps in keeping energy costs low for families and for
businesses. More than half of American households devote more than 20
percent of their family budget to energy costs and, in this economy, we
must do everything we can in order to keep the costs of electricity
down.
Despite the reliance on coal in providing for this country's energy
needs and contributing to low electricity prices, this administration
has continually made it more difficult for these longstanding plants to
operate, which ultimately threatens the industry for the future.
Existing power plants are already in the middle of meeting compliance
with an EPA regulation aimed at reducing uncontrolled greenhouse gas
emissions by 90 percent over 3 years. Now EPA is also proposing to
regulate greenhouse gases for new power plants that will require them
to meet a natural gas standard for air emissions by relying on unproven
technology utilizing carbon capture and storage.
This standard was originally designed for a completely different
energy source and relies on technology that has not yet been
commercially tested, with the EPA itself estimating that this New
Source Performance Standards rule will add around 80 percent to the
cost of electricity for a new coal plant.
The EPA has already missed their April 13 deadline to finalize the
rule, citing that they are still reviewing the close to 2 million
comments that have been offered on the proposal. Among these comments
are submissions from 221 Members of Congress, including 14 Democrats,
who all have concerns with the devastating impact that this rule will
have on jobs and the economy.
As a new Member of Congress, I would like to join my colleagues in
opposition of this rule. The New Source Performance Standards rule will
deny economic and environmental benefits of new low-emissions coal
power plants in favor of plants that rely on commercially unproven
technology in order to chase unrealistic and marginal environmental
standards.
On top of all of this, President Obama's nominee to head the EPA
during his second term only promises to bring the same kind of policies
that have shut down factories and bogged down companies with increased
regulatory red tape during his first term.
Gina McCarthy has headed the EPA's Office on Air Quality since 2009,
and was instrumental in the creation of these regulations that have
attacked the coal industry.
I applaud Senator Roy Blunt's leadership in placing a hold on her
nomination, and hope that my other Senate colleagues will also take a
hard look at her previous agenda when considering her legitimacy for
the position, with such an important part of our domestic energy
production and economic activity at stake. The coal industry just
simply cannot handle four more years of the same regulatory overburden
by the EPA.
What this all comes down to is continuing to provide reliable and
affordable energy for the people of Missouri and the United States of
America. Increasing costs of doing business subsequently increases the
price of energy for households at a time when families are spending
more and more of their budget on powering their homes.
The amount that American households devote from their family budget
to energy cost is more than double from 10 years ago, and these
regulations on coal have all played a significant role in that.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentlelady, and appreciate her comments on the
fact that certainly affordable electricity is part of this discussion.
And it's particularly important to recognize that the war on coal
affects everybody, not just coal miners, not just people in the power
industry, but seniors on fixed income.
Over half of American households devote more than 20 percent of their
family budget to energy costs, more than double 10 years ago, and so
this matters to every middle class family in America.
At this time I'd like to yield to my colleague, the gentleman from
Kentucky, the chair of the Energy Subcommittee.
Mr. WHITFIELD. I want to thank the gentleman from Kentucky for
hosting this discussion about the importance of coal, and for all those
who are going to participate in this discussion this evening.
When President Obama was seeking the office he now holds, he visited
San Francisco and he attended a meeting in San Francisco. And at that
meeting he made the comment that if he was elected President, you could
still build a coal plant in America, but he would bankrupt the
industry.
And guess what?
He and his administration have made it very clear, despite their
comments that they support all of the above in energy policy to produce
electricity, they've made it very clear that they do not support the
use of coal.
The gentleman from Kentucky mentioned earlier that over 205 coal-
burning plants have closed in this country in recent years. And this
President's EPA recently came out with a rule proposal relating to
greenhouse gas emissions, and that when they finalize that rule--they
were supposed to have finalized it on April 13 and they did not do it--
but when they finalize it, it will be impossible to build a new coal-
powered plant in America because the technology is not available to
meet the emissions standards required by EPA.
Now, let's think about that for a moment. We would be the only
country in the world in which you would not be able to build a coal-
powered plant to produce electricity. And we know that in China,
they're building more and more every day, every week, every month. The
same thing in India. And even in Germany, where they closed down their
nuclear power plants, they're building more coal-powered plants.
Now, what does that mean to America if we can not build a new coal-
powered plant?
My friend from Virginia was talking about, in Virginia, just about a
year ago, they built one of the cleanest burning coal-powered plants in
America.
I was in Texarkana, Arkansas, in December. They opened up another
clean-burning plant in Arkansas. But under these new regulations, you
would not be able to build any plant, regardless of how clean it is.
{time} 1750
Now the sad thing about this is that we're losing jobs because of
these regulations. But just as important, America is becoming less
competitive in the global marketplace because it's increasing the cost
of electricity, making it much more difficult for us to compete in the
global marketplace. And the sad thing about it is that this is being
done by regulators without any public debate.
It's hard to believe that a regulation administered by EPA will
prohibit the building of any coal-powered plant in America, once it's
final, from that day forward, unless the technology is dramatically
improved. And yet there's no public debate about it. This is a decision
that should be made on the floor of the House of Representatives and on
the floor of the United States Senate, not by a group of regulators who
determine that they want to put coal out of business.
Now a few of our friends were talking earlier in the 1-minutes about
climate change. America does not have to take a backseat to anyone on a
clean environment. In fact, our CO2 emissions in
[[Page H2110]]
America today are lower than they have been in 20 years, and our other
emissions are lower than they have been in many, many years because our
Clean Air Act and our Clean Water Act are working. But let's not use
these pieces of legislation to penalize the American people and lose
jobs and be less competitive in the global marketplace.
So I want to thank the gentleman for sponsoring this event. Let's be
mindful of the importance of coal and producing electricity in America.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentleman. And I think his final point was a
good one; that, ironically, the EPA's overly restrictive policies are
actually contributing to a negative global environment. The crackdown
on domestic energy production is producing exports to countries with
inferior electrical generation capabilities. We need to unleash the
American free enterprise system. The American free enterprise system is
what will solve problems in utility generation and energy production.
So I thank the gentleman, and I look forward to continuing to work
with him on this important topic.
I now would like to recognize the gentlelady from West Virginia.
Mrs. CAPITO. I would like to thank the gentleman from Kentucky for
hosting us today to talk about coal. As he mentioned, I am from the
great State of West Virginia, one of the largest coal-producing States
in our Nation, and, historically, some of the largest coal-producing
areas of our Nation.
As we know, coal is a huge part of the economy in West Virginia. But
we also know that energy is a jobs economy. When you're generating
energy in any capacity, you're generating jobs. We have over 7.6
percent unemployment across the country, and yet we have a President
who wants to pick winners and losers on the energy front. Coal has been
one of the President's favorite losers, as we have seen and heard from
our colleagues.
But there are three reasons I'm standing here today. The first reason
I'm here is to stand up for the jobs of tens of thousands of West
Virginians, whether that's a coal miner, as you mentioned,
transportation, shop owner, electrician, fuel supplier, and all the
different jobs that are connected with getting to and burning our
Nation's most abundant resource. And I'm very concerned about it. We
lost 1,200 jobs in the last quarter of 2012 in West Virginia alone.
Secondly, I'm here to stand up to the families and those who are on
fixed incomes. As the gentleman from Kentucky brought up, when you
think about the largest part for a senior who lives on a fixed income,
the most difficult thing for them is the fluctuation in their power
bill, whether it's heating or air conditioning. And when you start
chipping away at $50 or $100 a month, you're going to find our seniors
and those who live on fixed incomes really suffering.
Finally, I'm here to talk about the reliability of our electrical
grid. If we disadvantage ourselves as a Nation, as we have been, and
say no more coal generation, no more coal-fired power plants, we're
going to disadvantage ourselves as an energy economy and the
manufacturing jobs that come with that.
We've heard a lot about the different regulations that are out there
that we've tried to battle back in the House and say, Unacceptable; you
can't regulate; you have to legislative, you have to let this body, the
representatives of the people, decide who are going to make these
decisions. We've already had 266 coal-fired power plants close.
I know we have the gentleman from Kentucky. We've got Virginia, West
Virginia. Permitting has been very, very difficult. We've got
regulators who are coming in and have yanked back one major permit
retroactively. After the 10 years of going through all the permitting,
all of the reissuing, all of the capital investment, the EPA comes in
and grabs back on that permit. The court said, No, you can't do that.
And so we have an overreaching EPA that is willing to overreach into
the legal area until the courts say, No more.
Now we've worked in the House to try to stop this war on coal. We've
passed a lot of things. We did pass the Stop the War on Coal Act last
September. Unfortunately, the Senate did not act on this. It's sort of
a bit of a repeating theme for us in the House.
But the administration is seeking to turn us away from coal and keep
the war on coal and drive up energy prices. People around the world are
buying West Virginia coal. Our exports in the Nation almost doubled
since 2006, and in West Virginia we exported more than $5 billion of
West Virginia coal. Now we all know it's going to China because they
have an insatiable demand, right? Guess where else it's going? Europe,
the Netherlands, Italy, Germany. These are countries that are going to
use our cheaper resource to power themselves into a burgeoning economy,
and we're going to disadvantage ourselves here with our own natural
resources.
So the rest of the world wants American coal.
Myself and my colleagues here today can't for the life of us see why
we don't have a President and an administration that believes that coal
has a great future in our energy mix. He always says he's for all of
the above, but we all know standing here it's ``all of the above,
except.''
I always try to end everything on a bit of a positive note. And
there's some great technological advances with coal. This is why I
think we've got to keep coal active and in the mix and viable as our
energy resource because the future for coal is very good. One of the
discoveries was at Ohio State University, where they were able to do a
laboratory experiment. We don't know if it'll go full-scale, but the
technique would release the heat from the coal without actually burning
it. So there's no carbon emission. That has great potential.
Also, in another use of coal, the carbon could be used commercially
for enhanced oil recovery. We hear about all of the oil sands and the
oil shale in the northern part of our country and even in West
Virginia. There are technologies that enable the use of carbon to
enhance that recovery so that we get more from the recovery. And I
think that's something that has a tremendous future for us.
We stand here today on a united front. I look at my colleagues and I
see folks from States all across this country. We formed a Coal Caucus,
of which I'm the chair, to talk to our other Members of Congress who
don't have this passion and realistic view of the place that coal can
play in our energy future.
I want to thank all of my colleagues here for fighting the good
fight. We have a lot of miners and their families, other business
folks, jobs, manufacturers, and elderly folks who understand what it
means to try to have availability of cheaper energy resources. We've
got a whole lot of America behind us. This is the reason the
opportunity to talk about these things tonight, I think, sends a
powerful message across the Congress, across to the Senate, across to
the President that really an all-of-the-above energy plan does include
coal, must include coal, and we're going to fight like heck to make
sure it does.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentlelady.
I would like to recognize another Member from the great State of West
Virginia and yield some time to the gentleman. This is not a partisan
issue. It is an American issue. And I am appreciative of the
gentleman's attending this session tonight.
Mr. RAHALL. Thank you, Mr. Barr. I appreciate very much your giving
this Special Order for a discussion of America's most plentiful, most
economic, efficient domestic energy resource we have, that being coal.
{time} 1800
I also come from the great State of West Virginia, a State that is
proud of its heritage of mining coal--proud of its coal miners, number
one, those individuals who go beneath the bowels of the Earth to
extract the energy that has fueled the industrial revolution in this
country. They are brave, courageous individuals. Every one of us is
concerned every day about their safety, number one, their health, and
their retirement benefits for themselves and their families. Yes, coal
is a valuable natural resource, but our number one natural resource is
the coal miner, himself or herself. So we thank them for what they do.
They are courageous individuals.
My district is both surface and deep mined. We can do both in a very
environmentally sane manner, a manner
[[Page H2111]]
which produces jobs for our people, produces energy for our country,
and at the same time does restore our environment and make it a
beautiful place in which to work. That's why we in West Virginia pride
ourselves on our clean environment, our productive workforce, and our
high worker morale because we can do all-of-the-above at the same time.
And we are for all-of-the-above as far as our energy resources as long
as all-of-the-above means our domestic production of resources for
energy in this country.
Coal literally keeps the lights on. Many a county commission in my
district, during the downturns in the coal market, has had to lay off
law enforcement personnel, has had to really trim the lighting of their
public streets when coal resources are down, when revenues and our coal
severance taxes are down to our local county units of government.
So coal is important. It has been, it is, and it always will be a
mainstay of our economy in West Virginia. Our quality of life--indeed,
the quality of life in America--and our economic vitality have long
been fueled by coal, and it's something that the American people cannot
turn their backs on. Yet too many, I'm afraid, fail to recognize the
contributions that coal has made to our past, and certainly they
underestimate the role that coal can and should play in our future.
Through decades of investment, coal has changed for the better. It is
not our grandfathers' coal. It is a cleaner, more efficient fuel than
ever before. And with the right kind of investments and know-how and
the technologies that are coming online--some of which have already
been talked about this afternoon--its use continues to improve and
modernize.
Our Nation must embrace an energy strategy that encompasses a broad
range of fuel choices, including domestic coal, if we are ever to have
any hope of completely freeing ourselves from our overdependence on
foreign fuels. This means that this Nation must acknowledge the simple
fact that coal has been and for the foreseeable future it must be part
of a comprehensive national energy strategy that will enable us to grow
our economy, remain strong militarily, and help to influence
environmental and economic challenges around the globe.
So coal is a critical element for ensuring affordable, abundant, and
reliable energy that fuels the opportunities and the way of life that
we cherish here in the United States of America.
So as a Representative of coal mining communities and generations of
coal mining families, I will continue the good fight in the Congress
for the future of coal and for the health and safety of America's coal
miners. And as the gentleman from Kentucky has said, it is a bipartisan
issue. I wish there were more from my side of the aisle here this
evening, but perhaps they will submit comments for the Record. I do
hope that many more of my colleagues that may not be with us on the
floor this evening will come forth and express their support for coal
as a valuable domestic source of energy.
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentleman from West Virginia. I thank him for
his comments. I thank him for, in particular, his sentiments about the
heroic work of these men and women who go to work every day in our coal
mines. I just cannot thank them enough for their contributions to our
society every day for providing us with affordable and reliable
electricity.
With that, I would like to yield to the gentlelady from Missouri.
Mrs. HARTZLER. I thank the gentleman. I really appreciate you holding
this special time, where we can show our support for the coal industry,
as well as condemn the Obama administration's current war on coal,
because that's what it is.
In Missouri, coal is our preferred source of energy for electrical
generation due to its abundance and its low cost. Coal provides over 81
percent of Missouri's electric-power generation, and Missouri ranks
11th in the Nation in energy affordability. So that means the people of
Missouri have more money that they can spend on other things for their
family.
It also attracts businesses to our State. We want to keep it that
way. We love coal in Missouri, and we appreciate the role that it plays
in having affordable, safe energy in our country.
I wanted to show this picture to you and my colleagues here because a
lot of people think in Missouri that we don't have coal mines. But I
want to tell you, in the Fourth District of Missouri, we have a coal
mine. This is a picture. My husband and I had the opportunity to go
there and I snapped a few pictures, and let me tell you we are so proud
of it. These hardworking people here are doing a great job in getting
coal out of the ground and taking it to our local power plants.
This coal mine is providing great jobs in my district. These are
high-paying, skilled jobs. I know some of the people that work here,
and they appreciate this opportunity. This mine is also bringing in
property taxes to our local schools, and it's helping the economy of
the entire county, this region of the district. Plus, it is powering
two of our local power plants nearby. So this is very exciting for us.
We want to see this continue rather than having the current
administration, through the EPA, try to rein us in and to force us to
rely on more expensive, untested energy sources in our country.
You know, President Obama and the EPA are pushing this over-
prescriptive, regulatory agenda without adequate cost-benefit analysis,
workable timelines, and input from the industry. Both of the proposed
and current regulations being promoted by the EPA are having sweeping
negative impacts on coal-fueled electricity generation in this country.
Now, according to the National Economic Research Associates, it is
estimated that compliance costs for these EPA regulations on the
electric sector will average $15 billion to $16 billion per year. Who
pays for that? Who's going to pay for the extra cost to our electric
industry, $15 billion to $16 billion? I'll tell you who: it's the
families in my district who are living from paycheck to paycheck and
who are struggling to put food on the table. When they see their
electric bill go up every month because of the EPA coming here from
Washington, D.C., imposing these regulations on our electric industry,
that's who ends up paying, and it's wrong.
It also is costing jobs. The same group estimated that these
regulations are going to cost half a million jobs just next year. Now,
we have too much unemployment in this country already. Why would the
government administration from this President be pushing regulations
that's going to kick out half a million more people from being able to
work? Just in Missouri alone, the cost is expected to be $500 per
household in higher electricity bills. It's wrong.
I want to just point out two of these regulations that are driving
this cost and impacting them--and several of my colleagues have
mentioned several of them already. But these two I wanted to bring to
your attention.
The New Source Performance Standards for new coal units are
establishing new guidelines that control carbon dioxide emissions from
any newly constructed coal and natural gas power plants. This proposal
requires new coal units to meet a standard so low that it effectively
is going to ban new coal plants. My friend and colleague from Kentucky
did a very good job of illustrating this. I wanted to reiterate,
though, the quote from our President about this administration. He
admitted in 2008 that his goal was to bankrupt new coal-fired power
plants. Now, that is wrong. Here's what he said:
If somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.
It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to
be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's
being emitted.
Now, it's frustrating to me that the Obama administration, our
President, would target an industry that is providing clean, affordable
energy for our country, providing jobs in my district and all across
this country, and keeping that electricity bill at home low for our
families, but he is.
The second regulation that he is talking about is going to impact
what's called coal ash and try to make it a hazardous waste. Now, this
is something that is not hazardous. It is going to increase the cost of
cement. Now, we need cement. We're building new highways. We need it in
building new homes. We need it for our businesses that are building.
Why would we do this? It's going to increase the cost for that.
[[Page H2112]]
{time} 1810
We have in Missouri five cement plants that provide 12,000 jobs. Yet
if this continues to go through we're going to see an increase in
cement cost.
So here, gentleman, we have two examples of regulations coming out of
Washington here that are increasing the cost for our families at home
and that are killing jobs and increasing our electricity costs. It's
wrong, and I will continue to stand against it. And I appreciate all my
colleagues as we stand together tonight against this and we make a
stand for low-cost, reliable energy, and that is coal. I commend you
for having this, and I encourage all my colleagues to join us in this
very important effort.
Mr. BARR. I appreciate the gentlelady, and I appreciate her stand for
the coal industry. Just one of those rules that she was referring to,
the Utility MACT rule, the EPA estimates it to cost $10 billion per
year, but other independent annual cost estimates range from $70
billion to $200 billion, well above the EPA estimate. It is no wonder
that within the past year, 226 coal electricity-generating units have
shut down.
With that, I would like to recognize the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman, and thank you for
holding this this evening, because it's really important that we
understand exactly what's going on with coal.
When America was looking for energy, they went to coal. Coal has
always been there for us. It is abundant, it is accessible, it is
affordable, and it is truly American. And this is the part I don't get.
You just heard Mrs. Hartzler talk about the President's statement, and
also Mr. Whitfield. That's one campaign promise he kept. He said, If
you want to produce electricity using coal, you can do it, but we'll
bankrupt you. Now, this makes absolutely no sense to anybody who
understands what America needs right now, and it's jobs.
In Pennsylvania, 40 percent of Pennsylvania's electricity is produced
using coal. In addition to keeping electricity affordable, the coal
industry contributes more than $7 billion annually to the
Commonwealth's economy. It's about jobs, jobs, jobs.
This is a President who just doesn't get it. He talks about all the
above when it comes to energy, but he forgets all that's below. He
turns his back on coal and looks to renewables that are very expensive
and make no sense to the average American. And the hardworking American
people who produce this coal are miners. We've not only shut down their
mines, we've shut down their power plants, and we're ruining their
communities. We're absolutely ruining communities right now.
Now, I couldn't understand what was so horrible about this product,
because I heard the President describe it many times, and I grew up in
a coal producing community. The Sauls were in the coal mining business,
they had Eagle Coal. My friend John Stilley has Amerikohl. I have
friends over in the Kittanning area, Rosebud.
But I went to CONSOL, and I went down to the Bailey Mine. I went down
700 feet underground to see this horrible, horrible product that the
President absolutely hates and wants to eliminate. And while I was
there, I was trying to figure out: Where is it so bad?
I watched as they did the longwall mining, how it shaved the coal off
the wall. It's being drenched all the time with a fine mist, and then
there's vacuums taking all the coal dust out.
I sat as far away from the machine as you having a conversation with
somebody. And the guy who I was talking to said: You know, Mike, I've
done this for 40 years. When I first started, I had to do it on my
hands and knees. I laid on my back and I used a pick. And the reason I
did that was because I was married and my wife and I had some dreams.
We wanted to buy a house, we wanted to raise a family, wanted to
educate those kids, and we wanted to live our life. And I did it
through coal mining.
But, you know, the way it is now, this is incredible. And I stood in
a room that was at least 10 to 12 feet high and about 30 feet wide and
watched the coal miner, a machine, shave the face of the coal off the
wall and then extract it.
Now, it doesn't make sense to me or to anybody else as a commonsense
person. What in the world are you trying to do, Mr. President? In Erie,
Pennsylvania--that's where GE Transportation is, they build
locomotives. Now, the locomotives haul trains and those trains haul
coal. And there's been a 20 percent reduction in coal.
So do you know what that did to GE? They don't have to build as many
locomotives. We have 3,000 locomotives sitting idle. Why? In a country
that's looking for jobs, why is this President eliminating jobs?
Now, look, it doesn't make any sense, it just doesn't make any sense.
And as we go forward, I would like this President to look at energy,
all the above. What would make us great as a country? Energy
independence. That's what we need--low cost energy. And we have it
right here, right now.
When coal wins, America wins, and when America wins, we all win. This
isn't a Republican initiative or a Democrat initiative. As you said
earlier, this is about America and America's strategy and America's
answer to energy independence. Coal is a big part of it and has to
continue to be a big part of that.
So I thank you for what you're doing. We'll keep fighting for coal,
we're not going to give up, we're not going home. Mr. Rahall spoke very
eloquently about it. But all these folks from all these coal-producing
areas--you know, Pennsylvania is the fourth-leading coal-producing
State in the country, the third-largest State in terms of coal produced
by the underground mining method, and first in terms of total coal
extracted by longwall mining technology. We win with coal, we put
people to work with coal, we lower our energy costs with coal, we win
the battle in the world economy because our cost of energy is lower,
which allows us to pay higher wages to all those folks out there right
now who are struggling, hardworking American taxpayers.
Why in the world would we take from them right now low-cost energy
and condemn it because it doesn't meet this President's standards?
It's time for us to fight back and fight back hard, not as
Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans. So, Mr. Barr, I thank
you so much for what you're doing.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentleman. I think his comments about the
railroads reminds me of a quick story about my district in Estill
County, Kentucky, a little town called Ravenna. This community was
built on the railroads, and those railroads carried the coal out of
Perry County and Harlan County and Bell County and all those counties
in southeast Kentucky. This community in my congressional district was
built on the railroads.
Today, furloughed railroaders, their families are without jobs,
without a paycheck, and this is because of the war on coal. One of the
furloughed railroaders told me that just a few years ago 120 trains
would come through their community full of coal. Now barely 50 come
through every month.
So this has a real impact for real people, middle class Americans
losing their jobs. The war on coal is hurting the American people.
Unemployment is higher than the national average in Estill County,
Kentucky, because of this President's war on coal. So I thank the
gentleman.
I would now like to recognize the gentleman from Indiana to talk
about coal in Indiana.
Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of our coal
industry and the men and women who work in the industry.
I grew up in a small town in Illinois, 1,400 people, Kincaid,
Illinois, where my dad was a United Mine worker for 36 years. All of my
friends' parents worked in the coal mine. Coal created good, middle
class jobs for those who lived in my hometown.
I've been down in these mines in my hometown when I was a kid, and
recently in my district now in southwestern Indiana. I've met the
proud, hardworking coal miners, and I've seen the impact their hard
work has on the local economy.
In 2010, Indiana mined around 36 million tons of coal and consumed
nearly 65 million tons. Currently, Indiana has more energy underground
in the form of coal reserves than the entire United States does in oil
and gas reserves.
Indiana's demonstrated coal reserve base of over 17 billion short
tons is
[[Page H2113]]
enough to maintain the current level of production in Indiana for 500
years. The reserve base for the entire Illinois Basin, which includes
Indiana coal, is over 130 billion tons, enough to meet the entire U.S.
coal demands for the next 100 years. Eighty-eight percent of all
electricity generated in Indiana is from coal. And I'm proud to say
that all of that coal production is in my district.
This natural resource is vital to our State's energy industry and
supports over 3,300 direct mining jobs and approximately 12,000
indirect mining jobs. Twenty-seven percent of Indiana's GDP is from
manufacturing dependent on coal-fired electrical generation.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot deny that coal is vitally important to
Indiana's economy, as well as our Nation's. Despite the immense impact
coal has on our economy, onerous Federal regulations can often be an
obstacle for this industry.
I'm pleased to say that the administration actually recently
responded to a request by myself and our two Indiana Senators to give a
permit to a company creating 100 jobs in my area, but this is unusual.
The coal industry under this administration should not have to navigate
the overaggressive and ideological regulatory climate coming out of the
EPA.
{time} 1820
The Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA, recently proposed
outlandish rules that are nearly impossible to follow. As has been
previously stated, they can't be followed. There's no technology that
will meet these standards. These proposed rules are oftentimes, as I
just stated, impossible to meet, and they fail to examine the science.
I was a heart surgeon in my previous career, and I can tell you I
didn't practice medicine based on ideology or anecdote. I practiced
based on scientific fact. Many of the regulations do not have the
backing of science.
Madam Speaker, we need a sound energy policy that supports our
Nation's coal industry to lower the cost of electricity, create jobs,
and make our businesses more competitive internationally.
I'm proud to stand here today to support coal in Indiana and across
America, and I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for holding this
Special Order.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentleman.
I would now recognize the gentleman from Montana.
Mr. DAINES. I want to thank the gentleman from Kentucky this evening
for this opportunity to talk about coal.
I stand with my colleagues to show support for an all-of-the-above
energy strategy. Montana possesses an abundance of hydropower, oil,
sun, wind, natural gas, and coal. And coal is a very important piece of
that equation.
Coal provides the fuel for roughly 40 percent of the electricity used
in the United States. You know, I see the electric cars going down the
street; and I'm not opposed to electric cars, but they ought to say
``powered by coal'' on them in terms of understanding where the source
of the power is to power these electric cars.
Coal keeps energy costs low. It helps keep American businesses
competitive, and it allows middle Americans to keep more of their hard-
earned dollars during these challenging economic times.
In Montana, we are seeing firsthand the critical role that coal plays
in the energy sector. In my home State, it is creating hundreds of
jobs, fostering important relationships with our Indian reservations,
being a leader in coal production for our country and leading the way
for coal exports.
I support this industry because it enables more young Montanans to
put their training and education to work and to stay at home with their
job instead of exporting our talent to other places so Grandma and
Grandpa have to fly to see the grandkids versus visiting them next
door.
You see, in my home State of Montana, we boast the largest coal
reserve in the Nation. The Powder River Basin, which spans across
southern Montana and northern Wyoming, contains nearly 3.4 billion tons
of coal reserves.
I recently met with representatives from Arch Coal, a company that is
ready to invest millions of dollars into developing the Otter Creek
mine in southeastern Montana.
Developing these resources creates jobs, injects millions of dollars
into the economy. It helps lower energy costs, and, importantly, it
creates tax revenues for our schools.
Cloud Peak Energy recently signed an agreement with the Crow Tribe to
open up access to more than 1.4 billion tons of coal on the northern
Powder River Basin, which would help inject millions of dollars into
the Crow reservation's economy. I met with Chairman Old Coyote of the
Crow Tribe. He said they have a vision of becoming financially
independent on the reservation because of these coal opportunities.
These are exciting opportunities, but the industry is under attack.
Fringe environmental groups continue to pressure the administration and
others to slow production and slow economic development. This must
change.
As Montana's Congressman, I'm committed to working for commonsense
reforms that ensure that our natural resources like coal can be
developed responsibly.
With that, I thank the rest of my colleagues here tonight for helping
do the same.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentleman.
I now yield to the gentleman from Illinois.
Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. I'd like to thank the gentleman from
Kentucky for doing this Special Order tonight, and it's an honor for me
to also follow my colleague from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon), who talked
about his hometown of Kincaid, Illinois, and talked about the
importance growing up of coal mining in that community.
I represent Kincaid, Illinois, right now in the 13th Congressional
District of Illinois, and just over 20 years ago, these miners lost
their jobs because of deliberations and the eventual stroke of a pen
here in Washington, D.C. It became cheaper to import coal from the
western United States to burn at the power plant across the street from
this coal mine where these miners worked than it was to dig it out from
underground, ship it on an electronic conveyor belt across the street,
and burn it. Over 1,200 miners that day lost their job.
Those were Congressman Bucshon's friends. Those were my friends'
parents. It hit our local economy harder than anything we had seen. Our
local economy has since recovered, but we cannot forget that these
deliberations in this great body have an impact on all of America's
families. And these coal miners of 20 years ago are no different than
the coal mining families of today, and we need to make sure we think of
them every single time we see this war on coal, that we stand together,
Mr. Barr, and fight.
Thank you.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentleman.
I would now like to yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
Mr. ROTHFUS. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky, and I rise today in
solidarity with the middle class workers and families who call western
Pennsylvania home.
President Obama's war on coal is a threat to their livelihood and to
our communities. From the mine and power plant workers who have
received pink slips because of misguided regulations, to the middle
class moms who are trying to pay monthly utility bills, to the
restaurants and barbershops and other small businesses concerned about
costs, President Obama's onerous regulations will negatively impact our
communities.
Coal is an essential part of our economy and infrastructure. It is an
abundant, affordable, and reliable source of energy that powers our
streetlights, schools, and factories. Coal-fired power plants generate
40 percent of electricity in Pennsylvania and 37 percent around the
country. Electricity derived from coal is more affordable for families
and businesses.
The coal industry employs more than 41,000 hardworking women and men
across our commonwealth. Unfortunately, these workers, their families,
and their communities are the ones who will suffer as a result of the
EPA's unreasonable regulations and President Obama's war on coal.
These burdensome regulations have forced the electric generating
industry to shutter coal-fired power plants and lay off workers. Six of
these coal-fired power plants in our commonwealth--including several in
Western Pennsylvania--have been marked for closure since
[[Page H2114]]
the beginning of last year. The power company placed part of the blame
on the burdensome cost of federal environmental regulation.
The resulting slowdown in demand and surge in costly regulation have
forced coal mines to shut down or reduce production. Last summer, the
head of a Western PA coal company attributed the idling of some of its
mines to the escalating costs and uncertainty caused by EPA
regulations.
Layoffs caused by shuttering of power plants and idling of coal
mines--and job losses in related industries--devastate middle-class
workers, their families, and their communities.
It is too easy for unelected federal elites in Washington to write
regulations without an understanding of the human costs of their
actions.
That is why I am working with my colleagues to pass the REINS Act.
The REINS Act will provide a check and balance on the Obama
Administration by requiring that any regulation with an annual economic
impact of $100 million or more be subject to the approval of the House
and Senate. Last week, I voted in favor of the REINS Act in the House
Judiciary Committee. The Act was approved and now moves to the full
House for consideration.
Middle-class moms and dads, coal miners, seniors, and those on fixed
incomes deserve the support of all of my colleagues in the House and
Senate on a pro-growth agenda. I call on both chambers to pass the
REINS Act as a good first step towards sensible regulation that helps
grow all parts of our economy.
There is a war on coal in this country, and it needs to stop. It's
time to keep the lights on in America. It's time to relight America,
and we need to do that here in this House and stop this war on coal.
With that, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentleman.
I would now like to yield to the gentlelady from Wyoming.
Mrs. LUMMIS. I thank the gentleman for yielding and hosting this
Special Order.
Wyoming is the largest coal-producing State in the Nation. It has
been since 1986. The 10 largest coal mines in the United States are in
the State of Wyoming. And we're having trouble exporting our coal. Even
if Americans don't want to use it and would disadvantage themselves in
comparison to other countries, we'd like to send it overseas to people
who want it.
Who wants it? I'll show you.
China, India, and even Turkey wants our coal. Yet here's the United
States, this little dot. This is all the United States wants. It's
silly, given this tremendous resource the United States has that
produces jobs and revenue and electricity that keeps our manufacturing
competitive, to have to send it to those other countries. They want it
because they want what we have. They want inexpensive, affordable,
abundant energy so their people can manufacture.
We need to protect these jobs in manufacturing. We need to protect
the affordability and the reliability by keeping these resources
working at home for Americans with American energy.
Mr. BARR. I thank the gentlelady.
I appreciate all of my colleagues here this evening talking about and
highlighting the importance of the future of energy freedom in this
country and independence.
I would like to yield the balance of our time to the gentleman from
California.
Mr. LaMALFA I appreciate my colleague from Kentucky having this
conversation tonight and allowing me to speak on it.
Being from California, we don't have a lot of coal in California, and
we don't really use a lot of it either. But what I would like to point
out is we have a very similar plight in that many of our industries
have been devastated by out-of-control regulations by Federal
Government: our timber industry, mining, our ability to trap more water
for our water supply. Agriculture is also being affected by
overreaching regulations.
Also, coal is very important for our entire Nation, and it does have
an effect on California, too. What I'm saying here is that, with 42
percent of our Nation's grid being powered by coal and a mandate coming
down from the EPA and the President's very aggressive remarks saying
that coal is a thing of the past, we're going to put our country in
great peril by devastating this industry for our electricity grid. For
all the many jobs that are all over the eastern part of this country
and part of the West, we're really going to hurt ourselves in this
country with this type of policy.
{time} 1830
In California, we've seen the effects, for example, in that we have a
self-inflicted mandate that makes it where California can no longer use
coal, and we've devolved down to only 8 percent as part of our grid--
and getting lower. So we're going to be seeing higher and higher energy
costs in our State. Why would we want to do this to the rest of our
Nation here? California's energy costs are 14 cents per kilowatt while
the Nation's average is about 10 cents.
That's why we see an exodus of business from the State of California
and their moving to other States. If we do this type of thing in this
country, this mandate, we're going to see a bigger exodus to places
like China, where they don't have near our environmental regulations.
Indeed, China's smoke plume comes over in the jet stream and affects
California. We're going backwards with this type of mandate, with this
type of policy.
So, for many reasons, I think it's key that we support the coal
industry in America--for our economy and for our electricity grid. For
those who want to be agitators against coal, then they should be the
first ones to sit in the dark, in the cold, from not having electricity
on the grid.
Mr. BARR. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________