[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 93 (Wednesday, June 26, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H4042]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          OBAMA'S WAR ON COAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Rogers) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, American coal families are under 
attack, not from a foreign power or a natural disaster, but by an 
administration that has resolutely, perversely, and now overtly 
proposed to end coal mining and coal-fired power generation in these 
United States.
  President Obama's calamitous climate change plan announced yesterday 
is the latest job-killing bomb to be dropped on Kentucky, West 
Virginia, Illinois, and dozens of coal States already knocked down 
after 4 years of administration policies. This administration has used 
code words like ``streamlining'' and ``permit reviews'' to shell our 
communities with regulations and red tape that even the most 
sophisticated businesses can't adhere to.
  Now the White House is dismantling our strategic energy advantage and 
unilaterally disarming our economy in broad daylight. I quote White 
House climate adviser Daniel Schrag straight out of the White House: 
``A war on coal is exactly what's needed.''
  Mr. Speaker, a war on coal is exactly what is not needed. A war on 
coal is a war on middle class Americans. It's a war on jobs, all kinds 
of jobs. It's already claimed 5,700 direct Kentucky jobs in just a year 
and a half, the vast majority of those in my economically challenged 
district.
  There is no recovery in Inez or high-tech boom in Harlan, Mr. 
President. My families are struggling to get back to work, pay their 
bills, or find salaries comparable to coal mining. And my communities 
are losing their main employers. This climate plan makes the situation 
worse, dimming the prospects of reopening the mines even further.
  Moreover, this disastrous climate change plan is a plan for America's 
economic and security decline. This plan would only lead to higher 
electric bills and increased dependence on foreign enemy sources. And 
to think someone has the audacity to say, ``We need a war on coal.'' 
Well, what we need is a war on that line of thinking.
  This administration's stringent rules and absurd mandates are simply 
meant to force coal-fired power plants to stop burning coal or shutter 
the facilities altogether. I call it strangulation by regulation.

                              {time}  1010

  Mr. Speaker, more than 200 coal plants have already closed across 25 
States, and now seven new EPA regulations are on track to do even more 
damage. I'm losing one of the biggest employers in Lawrence County to 
this onslaught--1,200 good-paying jobs.
  In total, the closure of mines, shuttering of power plants, and 
resulting hikes in electric rates are expected to cost the U.S. economy 
some 887,000 jobs per year. Please tell me how this is in our national 
interest, how this is leading America forward. In 2008, the President 
promised to bankrupt the coalfields. And yesterday, he took a giant 
step toward that reckless, shameful goal.

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