[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 124 (Thursday, September 19, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6612-S6613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              WAR ON COAL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I might say we have a genuine emergency 
in Kentucky--a depression in eastern Kentucky--as a result of what this 
administration has done and is about to further do this very week, 
directed at the jobs and livelihood of my constituents. So it is for us 
a genuine emergency.
  The EPA is due this week to announce regulations capping carbon 
emissions on new coal-fired powerplants. It is just the latest 
administration salvo in its never-ending war on coal, a war against the 
very people who provide power and energy for our country. The EPA has 
already stifled the permitting process for new coal mines. The Agency 
has done this so dramatically that they have effectively shut down many 
coal mines through illegitimate, dilatory tactics.
  The EPA's actions ignore the thousands of people in my home State of 
Kentucky who depend on the coal industry for their livelihoods. 
Kentucky's own Jimmy Rose, a veteran and former coal miner, said it 
best in

[[Page S6613]]

the title to his song: ``Coal Keeps the Lights On.'' Coal keeps the 
lights on.
  In the year President Obama took office, there were over 18,600 
employed in the coal industry in my State. Over 18,600 Kentuckians were 
employed in the coal industry in my State the year President Obama took 
office. But as of September 2013--this month--the number of persons 
employed in Kentucky coal mines is down to 13,000. That is 18,600 when 
the President took office; 13,000 today employed in coal mines in my 
State.

  The picture is actually getting worse instead of better. This week a 
major employer announced 525 layoffs in eastern Kentucky mines. This 
news ironically came out on the same day the President announced that 
his proposals, according to him anyway, are helping to strengthen the 
economy. Try and tell that--try and tell that--to the hard-working coal 
miners in eastern Kentucky that this is a way to strengthen the 
economy. These people are now trying to figure out how to feed their 
families and pay their bills.
  Kentucky coal miners have suffered far too much already. Congress 
cannot idly sit by and let the EPA unilaterally destroy a vital source 
of energy and a vital source of employment. That is the reason I sought 
a few moments ago to bring up and pass the Saving Coal Jobs Act. Saving 
coal jobs is the single most important accomplishment in the near term 
for the people of Kentucky. It is a combination of two bills, both of 
which have languished in committee for literally months.
  The bill would essentially repeal the administration's declaration of 
war against coal. The first part of the bill would prevent the EPA from 
regulating carbon on new and existing coal plants; the second would 
force the EPA to stop stalling on mining permits.
  It is time to act on the Saving Coal Jobs Act. The time to act is 
now. This is a genuine emergency in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

                          ____________________