[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 17, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5652-S5653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           KENTUCKY COAL JOBS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is no secret that the Obama 
administration policies have been extraordinarily harmful to job 
creation and retention. From the perspective of my home State of 
Kentucky, there is no greater example of the ill-effects of these 
policies than the President's war on coal.
  Given the unhealthy economy, the Senate should be regularly debating 
and voting on measures to overturn antijobs policies and pass 
bipartisan reforms to help grow our economy. But under the current 
majority, that, sadly, is not the case. The majority leader instead has 
refused to permit any amendments on preserving coal and coal-fired 
power all year long--none whatsoever; no votes at all--even though the 
Obama administration's anticoal rules not only adversely affect States 
with Republican Senators, such as Kentucky, but States represented by 
Democratic Members as well.
  The Senate's failure to address coal is reflective of the Chamber's 
dysfunction. While the House is passing bipartisan jobs bills, Senate 
Democrats' priorities are show votes.
  Let's review where we are and how we got here.
  In 2008 Candidate Obama said:

       If somebody wants to build a coal power plant, they can--
     it's just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going 
     to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's 
     being emitted.

  I have to say he has been true to his word. Americans have seen a 
barrage of regulations and redtape from the President's Environmental 
Protection Agency, strangling the coal industry--one of my home State's 
most important sources of jobs and economic development. Kentucky 
miners and thousands more from the Commonwealth whose jobs rely on 
mining are feeling the pain from the President's efforts.
  The regulations and lack of certainty in the coal industry that this 
administration has caused have contributed to a loss of 7,000 Kentucky 
jobs in that industry since President Obama took office--7,000 lost 
jobs. That tells me the overregulation this administration's EPA keeps 
piling on is contributing in a major way to the job decline in my home 
State.
  Those of us who represent coal States have made numerous attempts to 
rein in EPA, but the majority leader and fellow Democrats here in 
Washington have blocked us at every turn.
  Last September I introduced the Saving Coal Jobs Act. The bill would 
have ended the abuse of the permitting process by the EPA by requiring 
the Agency to approve or veto mining permit applications within 270 
days of their submission. It was simply a time limit to make a 
decision. This legislation is necessary because the EPA's tactic of 
choice is to sit on permits, effectively killing them. My bill also 
included language prohibiting any new carbon emission standards on new 
or existing powerplants as mandated by Federal agencies without the 
approval of Congress. After all, Congress, not the executive branch, is 
supposed to write our Nation's laws.
  Unfortunately, what happened when I introduced this legislation is 
something that has become all-too familiar. When I made a motion to 
proceed to the bill, it was blocked by the majority leader.
  In April I offered my Saving Coal Jobs Act as an amendment to the 
then-pending unemployment insurance bill before the Senate. This motion 
was blocked by the majority leader as well.
  In May I again offered the Saving Coal Jobs Act as an amendment to 
the then-pending energy efficiency bill. Once again it was blocked by 
the Senate majority leader.
  A few days later in May I offered legislation to stop the EPA from 
moving forward with its anti-coal jobs carbon regulations. My 
amendment, introduced along with Senators Vitter and Hoeven, would have 
halted the administration from moving forward with new regulations on 
coal-fired powerplants until the technology required to comply with the 
regulations is commercially viable, which currently it is not. Once 
again this commonsense measure on behalf of Kentucky coal miners and 
their families and jobs was blocked by the majority leader, and that 
bill was originally sponsored by a colleague on the other side of the 
aisle, on the Democratic side. It fared no better under the majority 
leader than do Republican procoal bills.
  Moreover, the majority leader is not just blocking procoal 
legislation on the Senate floor, he is also willing to shut down the 
committee process for fear of procoal amendments having the votes to 
pass. In June, he had the Senate Democrats prevent the Energy and Water 
Appropriations bill from being marked up when they learned I had the 
votes for my amendment reining in government regulations on coal-fired 
powerplants. So once it was clear the votes might be there in 
committee, they shut down the committee process.

  Earlier this year, the President's EPA announced new regulations it 
wanted to enact on existing powerplants that would be a dagger to the 
heart of my State's middle class and constitute the single worst blow 
to Kentucky's economy in modern times. The proposed EPA regulations on 
existing powerplants would kill jobs and raise utility rates across the 
State while making the transmission of electricity less reliable. The 
regulations would adversely affect Kentucky powerplants that account 
for literally thousands of Kentucky jobs.
  These regulations are why this June I introduced the Coal Country 
Protection Act--legislation to block the President's proposed 
regulations on carbon emissions from existing powerplants if those 
regulations eliminate jobs, cost our economy dollars, increase 
electricity prices or jeopardize electricity reliability.
  Those requirements are just common sense. Yet once again the majority 
leader refused to allow a vote on my legislation.
  The importance of my Coal Country Protection Act is reflected in the 
findings of a recent Government Accountability Office, or GAO, study. 
My colleague Senator Murkowski from Alaska requested this study which 
found that as a result of EPA's existing and proposed regulations, the 
number of coal-fired powerplants closing across the country is even 
higher--even higher--than what was originally estimated by the GAO in 
2012.
  These coal plant retirements are largely due to EPA redtape. Current

[[Page S5653]]

proposed regulations, from carbon regulations to proposed lower ozone 
standards, will only make this number increase if they move forward.
  These shutdowns mean higher electricity prices. Sadly, EPA 
bureaucrats don't understand or don't care about how the abundance of 
coal in Kentucky permits the State to benefit from relatively low 
energy rates which make our businesses more competitive and make it 
easier to attract jobs. As we saw during last winter's cold snap, our 
country needs coal and ready access to it. Coal allows us to generate 
affordable power when there is an uptick in electricity use combined 
with spikes in natural gas prices. But as the EPA uses the 
administrative fiat to terminate existing and future coal-fired 
powerplants, there will be less coal when we need it the most--when we 
need a source of affordable power. Families throughout the country who 
rely on coal for electricity could find themselves in a tough spot in 
the near future with the current administration in office.
  Those are the facts about this administration's war on coal, but let 
me provide a more vivid picture about Kentucky coal itself.
  Kentuckians have been mining coal for generations. Kentucky coal 
helped power the Industrial Revolution that transformed our economy 
into the largest and most prosperous in the world. Kentucky coal has 
even contributed to the struggle to defend our Nation in times of war. 
Kentucky's coal miners have done so much for our Nation. The Senate 
should not be turning its back on them now.
  Jimmy Rose of Pineville, KY, is well known to many as the voice of 
coal country. Jimmy is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who served in 
Iraq, a former coal miner, and a finalist from the television show 
``America's Got Talent.'' He is famous for his song ``Coal Keeps the 
Lights On.'' I think Jimmy put it best when he said, ``Coal keeps the 
bills paid, the clothes on the backs, and shoes on the feet.''
  I am not going to stand idly by while this administration and this 
EPA try to wipe out the lifeblood of my home State. The Senate was 
created to be a deliberative body, one that would debate and legislate 
on the great issues of the day. Instead, the Senate, as it is currently 
run, does all it can to avoid important subjects such as the war on 
coal.
  It doesn't have to be that way. The Senate can still reclaim its 
mantle as a body of vigorous debate and legislative achievement, and 
the Kentucky coal miner can still do an honest day's hard work for good 
pay, because after this administration is out of office, the coal will 
still be in the ground. After this administration leaves office, the 
coal will still be in the ground.
  So I am going to fight for that Kentucky coal miner to hold on to our 
State's birthright. This war on coal is not over, not by a long shot.

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