[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 172 (Monday, November 30, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H8634-H8639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DOMESTIC ENERGY STRATEGY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Zeldin). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, because of the number of Members 
wishing to participate this evening, 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 this Special 
Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, as the House begins to consider and 
debate important energy legislation this week, I want to take just a 
moment to reflect on the opportunities America has in energy 
development.
  Our energy landscape has tremendously changed in recent years. Thanks 
to new innovative technologies, we have gone from a Nation of scarcity 
to one of energy abundance. Our new and existing natural resources have 
created jobs, lowered energy costs, and spurred new investments in 
manufacturing and chemical industries.
  Today the United States has an opportunity to take advantage of this 
era of energy abundance. Congress must first ensure our laws reflect 
this new energy-abundant era so that we can fully harness our potential 
as the world's dominant energy superpower. The legislation we are 
considering this week will allow our country to do just that.
  Unfortunately, the rules and regulations coming out of this 
administration conflict with this type of energy-independent and secure 
vision. Most concerning is the Office of Surface Mining's proposed rule 
to further regulate the coal mining industry, which has already lost 
more than 40,000 jobs since 2011. If the administration allows this 
rule to go into effect, an additional 40,000 to 78,000 coal mining jobs 
will be at risk.
  Dubbed the stream protection rule, this regulation will amend or 
modify 475 existing rules and add new rules on top of that. Make no 
mistake about it. This is not an effort to protect streams. It is an 
effort to regulate the coal mining industry out of business. In fact, 
between 95 and 100 percent of coal operations occurring in the States 
that account for almost 75 percent of the Nation's coal production have 
no offsite impacts.
  So what does this rule accomplish? This rule means increased energy 
costs for families and small businesses. At least 22 States, including 
mine, Ohio, rely on coal for their primary fuel source. Not 
surprisingly, these States' electricity prices are well below the 
national average. I fear, however, that will no longer be the case if 
we allow this rule to go into effect.
  Consequently, companies will be forced to pay more for their energy 
bills instead of hiring additional employees. Families will be forced 
to make tougher decisions as well, like paying the increasing electric 
bill or putting food on the table, clothes on the kids, and providing 
for their education.
  Furthermore, U.S. household income is stagnant and the economy 
remains mired by sluggish economic growth. We need to be enacting 
policies that encourage an economic recovery, not promoting further 
stagnation by shutting down access to America's most abundant and 
lowest cost energy resource. What is worse, this is not the only 
regulation currently threatening our energy security, reliability, and 
low electricity costs.
  The Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan will also 
change how we generate, distribute, and consume electricity by forcing 
States to comply with CO2 targets through a Federal takeover 
of electric power generation.
  It is for this reason I will be voting in favor of S.J. Res. 23 and 
24 this week. These resolutions of disapproval send a clear message to 
the President that a majority of the Senate, the House, and America do 
not approve of higher electricity prices and an unreliable electric 
grid.
  Mr. Speaker, America was built on ingenuity and resourcefulness. 
Unlike the stream protection rule and the Clean Power Plan, H.R. 8, the 
North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act, will encourage 
that entrepreneurial spirit, not hinder it.
  It will pave the way for a resurgence of manufacturing where new 
innovative products are designed and built right here in America, and 
it will keep America in our rightful place as a leader in the global 
economy.
  I am proud to support this legislation, which the House will be 
considering this week. H.R. 8 will modernize our energy infrastructure, 
protect the electricity grid and the delivery system, improve energy 
efficiency, and strengthen our energy diplomacy.
  Based on language that I have introduced and that previously passed 
the House with bipartisan support, this legislation includes a 
streamlined process for natural gas export projects currently pending 
before the Department of Energy.
  This language will help strengthen America's standing as a world-
class exporter of natural gas, create tens of thousands of new jobs, 
add billions to our economy, and help our allies abroad by providing a 
reliable source of energy.
  I am honored to lead this Special Order that will highlight the 
House's approach to a truly all-of-the-above domestic energy strategy, 
a strategy that focuses on a secure and reliable energy sector with 
affordable electricity rates for hardworking taxpayers as well as small 
businesses.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of 
Colorado (Mr. Tipton).
  Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Ohio for the 
opportunity to be able to provide some remarks this evening.
  It is no secret that American coal production and coal-fired electric 
generation is experiencing regulatory and legal obstacles at every 
turn. In 2008, the President famously outlined an energy vision in 
which he stated, ``So if someone wants to build a coal-fired power 
plant, they can. It is just that it will bankrupt them.'' There is no 
ambiguity in that statement. The administration is certainly not 
seeking to encourage coal production. Indeed, it is just the opposite.

  The Environmental Protection Agency just finalized its so-called 
Clean Power Plan, a carbon emissions rule that will force States to 
submit complex plans to meet federally mandated emission goals. The EPA 
estimates the annual cost of this rule to be anywhere from $5.5 billion 
to $8.8 billion annually, but other credible estimates are much higher, 
ranging from $366 billion to $479 billion from 2017 to 2031.
  Now, why is this important? Oftentimes, when we are talking about 
fees about taxes that are going to be applied, we assume that someone 
else gets to pay them. Here is the real reality: These costs are being 
shouldered by hardworking Americans who will see their energy bills 
increase.
  They impact the most vulnerable people in our society, including 
senior citizens on fixed incomes and low-income families who will have 
to make tough decisions in their already tight household budgets just 
to be able to heat their homes.
  In my own district in rural western Colorado, upwards of 500 coal 
mining jobs in Delta County, with wages and benefits exceeding 66 
million, have already been lost and more are threatened due to anticoal 
lawsuits. Another 220 are threatened in Moffat and Rio Blanco Counties 
for the same reason. There is no shortage of examples such as these in 
the coal-producing States.
  Now, I think we need to be very clear. As Americans, people in 
Colorado, we want to be able to see blue skies and clear streams. Here 
is the opportunity for us to be able to demonstrate that we can create 
a win-win with the technologies in place.
  If you want to be able to see blue skies and a coal-fired power 
plant, come with me to Moffat County, visit Craig, Colorado, to be able 
to see hardworking people in the coal mining industry and a coal-fired 
power plant being able to do it the right way and being able to provide 
affordable electricity for the citizens at home.

[[Page H8635]]

  The Department of the Interior has also laughably announced it will 
be reviewing whether the public is receiving a fair return on coal 
production when it is in the Federal Government's own policies and the 
actions of its lawsuit-happy allies that are actively suppressing the 
production of coal and its associated revenues.

                              {time}  2045

  Proposing to raise the royalty rate, which cuts into the 
profitability of coal production and makes it less attractive to mine, 
while simultaneously pushing other policies like the Clean Power Plan 
that make coal less attractive as a power source will mean the death of 
the industry.
  These are the same industries that are providing tax revenues that 
help support our children's schools, help support the public library in 
rural areas like mine to be able to help provide the revenues that are 
needed for the volunteer fire departments to be able to provide that 
public assistance.
  Let us not forget that those royalties are only a portion of the 
revenues and benefits that are generated by responsible coal mining. 
There are bonus payments as well, received at the time of the lease, as 
companies seek to outbid one another for the development rights. Again, 
higher demand will result in higher bonus payments. There are annual 
rental fees as well.
  State and local governments also accrue revenues through their own 
assessed taxes and fees on equipment and production, and the high wages 
of employees are definitely a boon to local economies.
  All told, coal production contributes some $2.8 billion to Colorado's 
economy and provides 64 percent of its electricity. While it is true 
that our energy portfolio is made stronger through diversity, coal can, 
does, and must continue to fill a vital role in that equation.
  Responsible coal production provides a reliable fuel for baseload 
electrical generation. Its low cost equates to savings for average 
Americans on their monthly energy bills, an especially critical 
consideration, as I mentioned, for lower income families, for seniors 
and others on fixed incomes, and its abundance domestically contributes 
toward American energy security.
  It is well worth the meetings that I have had, and I know my 
colleague from Ohio has as well, looking into the eyes of families that 
rely on the coal industry to be able to provide for their families. 
They will do it right. They will provide low-cost energy to be able to 
support this country and that all-of-the-above strategy.
  Over the course of the next few days, I look forward to a robust 
debate on the floor this week as we continue to push for policies that 
will secure all of the above when it comes to establishing American 
energy independence.
  Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to thank my colleague from Ohio for 
this opportunity to be able to address an important American issue: 
jobs and affordability.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I am reminded that even this week 
our President is in Europe trying to advance his climate change agenda. 
I, too, was in Europe back in May, talking to some of our key friends 
and allies within the European Union.
  Surprisingly to some, we learned that some of our friends in Europe, 
in those countries, are actually going back to a higher mix of coal in 
their overall energy profile because their ratepayers, their 
manufacturers, their consumers, their small businesses, their 
residential customers have finally reached the tipping point where they 
are no longer willing to pay the exorbitant high prices for alternative 
sources of energy.
  Coal remains the most low-cost, affordable, reliable form of energy 
on the planet. It is essential that coal continue to be a part of our 
energy profile, along with oil and gas and nuclear and all of the 
energy capabilities that America has.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), my friend and my neighbor.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I would like to pursue an 
energy agenda that maybe makes sense for America, a AAA strategy of 
energy, to reach self-sustainability and secure America's economic 
future.
  While we all agree on an all-of-the-above strategy, let's not turn 
away from an all-below strategy that makes sense for America, is truly 
unique, and makes us totally energy self-sufficient--energy below that 
is abundant, accessible, and affordable; centuries' worth of coal, oil, 
and natural gas that lie just below our surface; energy that makes 
America the energy envy of the world.
  It creates thousands of jobs, not just Republican jobs or Democrat 
jobs, but red, white, and blue jobs--jobs that truly make us energy 
self-sufficient, jobs that let us rebuild our families, our towns, our 
churches, our schools, and make us strong again in the world, rebuild 
our national security.
  As we speak here tonight and as the gentleman just referenced, our 
President is in Paris kicking off the Paris Protocol. Again, he 
promises to reshape America's future through upsidedown policies, the 
cost of which will be beyond astronomical, according to Bill Gates.
  This is another example of an out-of-control Executive who has placed 
his legacy above the wants and needs and the safety and security of the 
American people, the people he serves. It is not the other way around. 
The Paris Protocol must be a treaty; it cannot be another executive 
agreement.
  Let all those who participate in the Paris Protocol know that, 
without the advice and consent of America's Senate, the hardworking 
American taxpayers' moneys will not be squandered on an ill-fated 
agenda that the President lays forward.
  He sets timetables and targets--targets that are in direct defiance 
of America's future, that are in direct defiance of America's 
wellbeing, that are in direct defiance of America's economic recovery.
  This is another example of a President who is not only out of touch, 
he is out of control. He has lost his vision of what made America great 
and what would keep America strong as the future goes on, about 
American jobs and about American self-sufficiency when it comes to 
energy.
  These are truly renewable sources of energy. What do I mean by 
``renewable''? They renew our economy. They renew our towns, our 
communities, our families, and our future. This is the renewable energy 
that America needs. This is the energy that America has, and this is 
the energy that America needs to make the most of.

  That is why myself and Senator Mike Lee have introduced a concurrent 
resolution, one that says no moneys that come out of the pockets of 
hardworking American taxpayers will be squandered on this agenda. 
Unless it comes with the advice and consent of the Senate, there is no 
agreement, there are no moneys, there is no way this President can 
promise other countries that these dollars will be coming.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for holding this Special Order on 
a very timely issue and an issue that we must win if we are to maintain 
our national security.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague very much for 
his passion on this issue. He understands it. As a current 
businessowner, he understands how important this is.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. You and I don't just talk this; we walk 
it. We have actually gone into the mines with these people. You and I 
have seen communities that have been shut down, not just mines that 
have been shut down--communities that have been shut down, families 
that have been shattered now and scattered across the country, people 
that have lost jobs that were generational jobs.
  This President has turned his back on coal, America's workhorse. We 
must reclaim it.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Absolutely. Absolutely.
  You hear some of those in opposition to using fossil fuels talking 
about how they would allocate taxpayer funds to retrain people in those 
communities like coal production communities. Well, my question is, 
where are the jobs going to come from to retrain them into?
  These are communities that have had coal miners for generations, as 
Representative Kelly just talked about. I thank him for his comments.

[[Page H8636]]

  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from the great State of 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson), another friend and neighbor.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, it is a real honor to join 
my good friend and colleague from Ohio here this evening. I thank him 
for hosting this Special Order on such an important topic: energy.
  I rise this evening in strong support of jobs, consumers, and 
homegrown American energy.
  With the construction of the world's first commercial oil well in 
Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859, energy production and natural 
resources have long been key pieces to our economy in the Fifth 
Congressional District of Pennsylvania, which I have the honor of 
representing.
  Since Drake's well, we have been fortunate to produce oil, natural 
gas, coal, and various forms of renewable energy. We are also home to 
the world's first nondefense nuclear reactor.
  In recent years, development of the Marcellus shale formation has 
been a game changer for Pennsylvania. The Marcellus formation contains 
upward of 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This amount is more 
than enough to meet the current demand for nearly 100 years, if not 
longer.
  It also means significant economic opportunities for the State and 
for local governments, as well as the creation of tens of thousands of 
family-sustaining jobs throughout the region. According to the 
Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, as of the fall of 2014, 
roughly 250,000 Pennsylvanians were employed by Marcellus shale-related 
industries.
  The average wage in core Marcellus industries remains constant at 
$94,000 a year, which is more than $43,000 greater than the average 
salary for all industries throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
  In short, developing this resource means good jobs, both direct and 
indirect; lower energy prices for American consumers; and increased 
revenue for State and local governments.
  One of the greatest challenges we have right now in Pennsylvania is 
unnecessary processes and arduous Federal roles--regulations that are 
both ineffective and inefficient.
  Another key challenge is moving this natural gas to market. 
Specifically, we do not have the adequate infrastructure and pipelines 
to move this gas. A basic way we can address this challenge is by 
streamlining processes and reducing unnecessary red tape.
  This week, the House will consider H.R. 8, the North American Energy 
Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015. This legislation will address 
these issues by accelerating the approval process for pipelines and 
hydropower projects.
  The bill requires the administration to designate at least 10 new 
energy corridors in the eastern United States to help prioritize 
construction. The bill also requires the Energy Department to make 
decisions on applications that have been submitted for the export of 
natural gas.
  In addition, we will also be voting this week on legislation 
disapproving the Environmental Protection Agency's regulations on both 
existing and new power plants.
  My district has been hit hard over the past several years by 
regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency regarding coal power 
plants. I have opposed these unrealistic regulations.
  When a coal power plant is forced to shut down, it has a devastating 
effect which extends far beyond the men and women who are left jobless, 
to the trucking and mining jobs that are connected to it. Many of these 
are family-supporting positions which communities have depended on for 
decades.
  I wholeheartedly support these resolutions disapproving of the 
emissions rules on existing and new power plants. The protection of our 
environment is an important goal, yet these regulations are not a 
solution.
  I thank my colleagues for being here tonight. I am certainly going to 
urge a ``yes'' vote on all three of the bills that will be before this 
body in the days to come.
  I thank my good friend from Ohio once again for hosting this 
important topic this evening.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I, too, thank my colleague from Pennsylvania for 
those eloquent remarks on a very, very important subject. I know he has 
a lot of other things he could be doing tonight, but this is important 
to him, and I appreciate him being here to sound off.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Whether we are talking families or 
businesses or schools, hospitals, you know, personnel, people obviously 
are first, but, after that, the second most important thing that people 
think about is energy and energy costs and having access to affordable 
and reliable energy.
  God has been good to the United States of America with what we have 
been blessed with. We have been blessed with these energy sources, but 
we have also been blessed with the technology now in 2015 to be able to 
access those energy sources and to utilize them consistently as good 
stewards of this Earth and this environment.

                              {time}  2100

  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. You and I took a trip not too long ago from here 
in our Nation's Capital to a conference meeting in Pennsylvania. We 
stopped at a little service station, a gas station owned by a veteran 
out in the middle of nowhere. In rural America, those communities are 
powered by small businesses. Small businesses can only thrive when they 
have affordable electricity.
  The area of the country where you and I live and much of Appalachia 
is a manufacturing belt, but a lot of that manufacturing has left 
because of the downward pressure from Washington, D.C., in regulations 
of all shapes and sizes, and now with a threat to shut down the very 
source of energy.
  I know I have had manufacturers that have come to me saying they have 
been approached by utility companies saying: Can you idle your plant 
for a day because we don't have enough energy on the grid to be able to 
meet the peak demand in the dead of winter, in another polar vortex, or 
in the stifling heat of summer, when seniors and the elderly and the 
homebound are sitting in their homes either freezing or burning up 
because they can't get their HVAC systems to work because of the 
utility prices or the energy on the grid.
  It is appalling that it has come to this in America. Our allies get 
it in Europe. China is not necessarily an ally, but it is building a 
new coal-fired power plant every 9 days. Germany is building coal-fired 
power plants. Belgium is returning to a higher mix of coal in their 
energy profile. We are going to be going over there again very soon to 
talk to more of our friends and allies across Europe about this very, 
very same subject.
  So, again, I appreciate your passion on this issue as well.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I now yield to the gentleman from West Virginia 
(Mr. Jenkins), my friend and colleague, who is another neighbor from 
across the river.
  Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia. I thank the gentleman from Ohio.
  Our natural resources power this Nation and our economy. We have 
abundant, affordable resources that provide low-cost energy and give 
thousands of people good-paying jobs.
  In my district of southern West Virginia, coal is struggling because 
of this administration's anticoal regulations. The people who mine coal 
and the families who depend on coal's paychecks are suffering.
  We are at a critical point in the war on coal. I know times are 
tough. I see it every time I talk to a coal miner or their family.
  Our Nation is at a turning point. We will fight for coal each and 
every day. But the question is: Will we support jobs in domestic 
energy, or will we favor an environmental agenda at the expense of our 
economy and our communities?
  Coal must play a critical role in an all-of-the-above domestic energy 
strategy. We can use our resources to create jobs here at home, provide 
safe and affordable energy for businesses and families alike, and 
reduce our dependence on energy from unfriendly nations.
  Unfortunately, it appears that the EPA and the Office of Surface 
Mining

[[Page H8637]]

are dead set on bankrupting coal. They have issued rule after rule that 
will decimate our industry--and the livelihoods of our coal miners.
  The proposed stream buffer zone rule will lead to the loss of tens of 
thousands of direct mining jobs and hundreds of thousands of jobs 
linked to mining. Likewise, the EPA's finalized regulations on coal-
fired power plants will hurt our economy and drive up electricity rates 
for our families, seniors, and small businesses. It sets unachievable 
emissions limits for our coal-fired power plants and forces States to 
adopt different energy policies or else become subject to additional 
Federal regulations and a cap-and-trade program.
  Not only will the EPA's plan destroy jobs, but it will increase 
utility costs for consumers and lead to higher household electricity 
bills for all American families. Our seniors, the middle class, and 
Americans on fixed incomes should not have to bear the burden of 
increased costs. Our economy is still struggling to recover. People are 
struggling to survive.
  Each of us here tonight has led the fight against the EPA's 
overregulation and overreach. On the House Appropriations Committee, I 
helped to secure a provision in the Interior-EPA funding bill that 
would prohibit funding for the rulemaking on power plants to proceed. I 
was an early cosponsor of Chairman Whitfield's resolutions to block 
implementation of the EPA's coal-fired power plant rule.
  This week, we will join together with the House to send President 
Obama and the EPA a strong message: No more attacks on coal. No more 
attacks on domestic energy. No more attacks on the people who produce 
energy.
  We will take up resolutions to disapprove of the EPA's new 
regulations on new and existing coal-fired power plants. We will also 
vote on a broad energy bill that will update our policies to allow 
America to take advantage of all of our domestic energy while 
strengthening our energy security and independence.
  Congress is standing up to this administration's regulatory 
overreach. We must send a message to President Obama and his runaway 
EPA and end the war on coal.
  Again, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his leadership.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I thank the gentleman for his passion--as others 
have shared--on this very, very important issue.
  You and I live in a region of the country where we have to look into 
the eyes of those coal miners every single day. Oftentimes, the media 
talks about the coal industry as this abstract industry, that it 
doesn't really have an identity. But it does. It is the heartbeat of 
our country.
  Look at where we were even 10 years ago, with the majority of the 
energy across America provided by the coal industry. In Ohio, at that 
time, in excess of 70 percent of our energy came from coal. Coal has 
provided the innovative engine for America's prosperity for 
generations--and for us to turn our backs on it.
  One of the things that is so shocking that I think the American 
people would like to know more about right now, today, almost $2 
trillion--$1.8 trillion, to be exact--comes out of our economy every 
year in the form of government regulations. I heard a report not too 
long ago that new Federal regulations are coming out on the average of 
about 10 per day. It is a cancer that is growing, and the EPA is one of 
the worst, with no rhyme, no reason, little consideration, and total 
disregard for the lives that their rulemaking impacts.
  Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Absolutely.
  Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia. You and I share the Ohio River. We both 
have actually been in the districts together. We both have seen on the 
faces of the people that we have the honor of representing the real 
impacts of this war on coal.

  I know each of us can come with a multitude of stories, but your 
remarks reminded me of attending one of these wonderful county fairs 
last summer. It was a year ago this summer, in Nicholas County, in my 
district. A middle school teacher came up to me and kind of put a face, 
again, on the war on coal, and said: ``I remember earlier this year in 
our public school in Nicholas County when the principal came on to the 
intercom and said, 'If there are any kids whose parent lost their job 
this morning in the announced coal layoffs, come on down to the office 
and sign up for the free lunch program.'''
  What a stunning indictment of Obama's war on coal, to think that we 
have principals in our public school systems come and ask kids to come 
down because those rules and regulations just put them into the free 
lunch program. It is a stunningly tragic example of the impacts of this 
war on coal.
  Again, thank you for your leadership and your fight on this.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I thank the gentleman.
  I now yield to another colleague and neighbor from the great State of 
West Virginia, Representative Alex Mooney.
  Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia. I thank Congressman Bill Johnson for 
inviting me to speak this evening.
  Ladies and gentlemen, this is it. This is one of the last chances to 
save the coal industry in my State of West Virginia. There is no time 
to hesitate. We have to act now. That is why I am proud to have 
introduced my bill, H.R. 1644, the STREAM Act.
  In the 8 years since President Obama took office, our unemployment 
rate in West Virginia went from the fifth lowest to the highest 
unemployment rate in the country. This is a direct result of the Obama 
administration's continued war on coal, which is a war on West 
Virginia's economy.
  Three months ago, the Office of Surface Mining, under the Department 
of the Interior, released its latest set of regulations that will 
cripple the coal industry not only across the country, but especially 
in West Virginia.
  Understand that the EPA, or the Environmental Protection Agency, 
already overregulates the coal industry. And now the Department of 
Interior, under this President, is doubling down and doubly 
overregulating the coal industry.
  Even more ridiculous is the heart of this rulemaking, which is to 
fundamentally change the definition of a stream to include temporary 
puddles of water. Temporary ``streams'' are essentially ditches that 
fill with water after it rains.
  A recent study from the National Mining Association estimates that 
these new proposed rules will kill as many as 77,000 coal jobs across 
the country.
  I have a chart here showing where many of these jobs are going to 
come from. Between 5,000 and over 10,000 jobs in Western mining States 
will be lost here in this pink region. In the interior of America, the 
interior States, between 5,000 and 14,000 jobs will be lost.
  My colleague from West Virginia was just mentioning how that affects 
families and how you have to make announcements at schools to come and 
support the children because of these totally unnecessary losses of 
jobs through these regulations.
  And certainly last but not least, in the area that I represent, West 
Virginia and the Appalachian region, we have between 30,000 and a 
little over 50,000 coal mining jobs that will be lost due to this new 
stream protection rule that the President is trying to impose.
  These new regulations would be catastrophic to the coal industry and 
all of the hardworking American families that depend on coal to keep 
their energy costs low. In my State, 90 percent of the power is 
generated by coal-fired plants. If these rules come into effect, it 
will make it even more expensive just to keep the lights on.
  According to a recent study, if the Obama administration successfully 
implements its radical environmental policies, the average American 
family will experience an increase in their home energy costs per year 
of $1,707 by the year 2025.
  So, if you are listening to this: $1,707. This affects you and your 
home energy cost. Not only does it kill jobs in the coal industry, it 
will affect your home energy costs to the tune of $1,707 a year.

                              {time}  2115

  This is what we are trying to fight here.
  The average American family earned $53,657 last year. The average 
family in West Virginia earned $41,059 last year,

[[Page H8638]]

which is $12,598 under the national average. So this home energy cost 
increase will be detrimental for all Americans, but especially for West 
Virginians.
  Going into these long winter months, increased energy costs will be 
devastating to those on fixed incomes, like the elderly and the 
impoverished.
  According to the Applied Public Policy Research Institute for Study 
and Evaluation, energy costs are adversely impacting lower income 
seniors afflicted by health conditions. This leads them to forgo food 
for a day, leads them to reduce medical or dental care, fail to pay 
utility bills or become ill because their home was too cold.
  This does not have to be the case. If we utilized the energy that our 
country is so blessed with, people would not have to make these tough 
choices. Instead, we see these hard choices become commonplace under 
the over-regulation of this administration.
  When I traveled the State of West Virginia asking to represent the 
people of the Second Congressional District in Congress, I promised 
that I would defend the coal industry. West Virginia and our country 
needs the STREAM Act to pass the House and Senate and be signed into 
law.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I thank the gentleman for his comments and for 
his passion.
  We have been fighting this Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation 
Stream Protection Rule for almost 5 years now--actually, longer than 
that--because we know what happened when the Obama administration came 
in.
  That was one of the first things that they set their targets on and, 
through a series of exposing their flaws and inconsistencies in their 
rulemaking, we were able to stop it. But they have been persistent.
  Now we need the American people to sound off, and we need the 
American people to understand how this is going to affect them.
  I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  One thing, Mr. Speaker, I want to make sure we assert is, you know, 
we have heard a lot of passionate talk about the coal industry, and you 
may hear even more before this Special Order is over this evening.
  But I want to make sure we understand we are talking about 
modernizing America's energy infrastructure. H.R. 8 is called the 
Architecture of Abundance. Yes, it is about coal, but it is about much 
more than just coal. It is about modernizing our energy infrastructure, 
protecting the electricity system, strengthening energy security and 
diplomacy across the globe, and improving energy efficiency and, 
importantly, holding the Federal Government accountable for a real all-
of-the-above energy policy that guarantees America's energy, security, 
and independence.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of 
Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), our majority whip, my Boudin-loving colleague.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Ohio, who 
also loves Boudin, for yielding and for bringing up this important 
issue of energy.
  Mr. Speaker, American energy means jobs. When we come here on this 
House floor and talk about ways to get our economy moving again, ways 
to help Americans who want to get back to work, there is a very clear-
cut, commonsense answer to get our economy moving again, and that is 
just to open up more of the resources of this great Nation.
  Just on the placard right there above us, Mr. Speaker, inscribed on 
the walls of this House Chamber is a plaque that starts off, that says, 
``Let us develop the resources of our land.'' It is on the House 
Chamber.
  And, yet, President Obama, through his policies, through his radical 
regulations--every single day his unelected bureaucrats wake up 
figuring out more ways to close off those resources, to kill those 
American jobs.
  When my colleagues come here on the House floor and tell story after 
story about things like the war on coal, these are real wars that this 
Obama administration is waging upon American workers.
  The war on coal is real. I have seen it in the eyes of coal workers 
when I went to my colleague's district in Ohio. We sat out before a 
whole room full of coal workers, many of them multi-generational. These 
aren't people who have their first job in the industry. For many of 
them, their father, their grandfather, worked in the coal industry.
  When you look out at coal workers today, as I saw in Eastern Ohio, 
you see the look of fear, not because they face global competition. 
They can beat global competition. What they can't beat right now is the 
barrage of radical regulations coming from the Obama administration 
killing American jobs.
  It has got a real direct impact on workers across this country, 
people who are part of the middle class today that the President loves 
talking about. Yet, that middle class dream is under attack by these 
policies.
  They have real impacts, Mr. Speaker. In fact, one of the other things 
I went out and saw when I was out in Eastern Ohio, was the Utica shale 
play, another example of great American ingenuity.
  These aren't just American jobs. This is American ingenuity that is 
figuring out how to explore new areas of energy, to allow us not only 
to create good jobs in America, but to be completely energy 
independent, to export our energy to other countries, including some of 
our friends in the world, our allies around the world right now that 
have to get energy from countries like Russia, who use energy as a 
weapon against those very countries who would love to get energy from 
America.
  What is the President's answer to them? The President's answer is to 
make it more difficult to create that energy here through rules, 
through regulations.
  What are some real examples? Just this week, Mr. Speaker, the 
President is in Paris not to talk about ways to combat ISIS and the 
global threat of terrorism.
  The President is over in Paris talking about global warming. As 
people are walking around this town in parkas right now because it is 
so cold, the President is trying to focus on ways to make our economy 
in America less competitive globally.
  So this week we are bringing up more legislation to push back on 
those kind of regulations. One example is later this week, under the 
Congressional Review Act, we are going to be bringing up legislation to 
reverse President Obama's new source performance standard.
  This was one of the many radical rules coming out of the EPA. One of 
the biggest threats to jobs in America is the unelected bureaucrats 
over the EPA who have another brilliant idea, again, dreamed up by 
people that are unelected, that now have a plan to actually make it 
more difficult to create electricity in America, not only more 
difficult, Mr. Speaker, but dramatically more expensive for hardworking 
taxpayers in this country to buy electricity. So we are going to bring 
up a bill on the House floor this week to reverse that radical 
regulation.
  As we bring that up, we are going to have this debate about something 
very specific in terms of a policy brought up by the President that is 
going to make it much harder for our country to be competitive, much 
harder for middle class families to achieve that American Dream, 
because it is going to make things more expensive for them, things that 
they buy, not just their electricity, but it cascades into all the 
other things that people buy when they go to grocery stores, when they 
go do their Christmas shopping. These are having real impacts on real 
people.

  Something else we are going to be taking on is the Department of the 
Interior right now, one of the other agencies of President Obama, 
coming out with a well control rule that is going to make it very 
difficult to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, a place where we, 
through American ingenuity, have figured out ways to generate more 
energy in America that we can use not only to help our economy, but to 
help our friends all around the world.
  So what is the President's answer? Using unelected bureaucrats, once 
again, to propose a rule that is going to make it more difficult to 
create those American jobs.
  Then, of course, as my colleague from Ohio was talking about, this 
week we are also going to bring up a bill called the Architecture of 
Abundance, a bill to create more American jobs, to create real American 
energy security, again, to open up those natural resources that are 
being shut down by this President.

[[Page H8639]]

  So when you talk about getting the economy back on track, you don't 
need a team of economists to come in and figure out some new way to 
invent the wheel.
  Mr. Speaker, the answer is sitting right underneath our feet. In many 
cases, it is the energy that is trapped, not trapped by the lack of 
ingenuity, because Americans, more than anybody in the world, have 
figured out great ways to go and use technology, to go and get those 
resources, attract those resources, explore and then produce those 
resources.
  But, unfortunately, their biggest challenge every day is not the 
competition from other States, not the competition from other 
companies. It is the challenge of the threatening regulations from this 
Obama administration that are trying to shut those opportunities down. 
It has real impacts on real people, the coal industry, the oil 
industry, the natural gas industry, all across the board.
  When our allies around the world are looking to us and saying, ``We 
want to trade with the United States,'' we want to be able to buy the 
oil that America is generating, that we have now a surplus of and, yet, 
the President wants to issue a veto threat when we say let's allow for 
exporting of oil, for goodness sake.
  We have an abundance of it. People are getting laid off in the United 
States, those middle class workers that the President loves talking 
about at photo-ops, who are being laid off because of his policies.
  We have got the technology. We have got the expertise. We are the 
world leader, Mr. Speaker. All we need is for the right policies to 
unleash that potential, to unleash that opportunity, to create those 
American jobs.
  So as we have been talking about tonight, the House will actually be 
taking action--not sitting on the sidelines, not just criticizing, but 
taking action--bringing bills on the House floor this week to open up 
those opportunities for hardworking taxpayers, to create more middle 
class opportunities for people who want to be a part of this industry, 
but also to lower costs for these middle class families who are 
struggling under these tough economic times to be able to have more 
opportunities for themselves and their families.
  Hopefully, we will continue this debate throughout this week and 
throughout the rest of this Congress as we bring these good pieces of 
legislation to open up those resources again, as the placard says at 
the top of the House Chamber here, to develop the resources of this 
land so that America can be the world leader in energy.
  So we don't have to get our energy from countries who don't like us, 
but we can actually export and create more job opportunities and help 
our allies around the world by undermining countries like Iran and 
Russia and others who want to do them harm.
  I look forward to continuing this debate. I am so proud to be a part 
of this effort in the House to create more energy opportunities in 
America.
  I thank my colleague from Ohio for leading in this effort.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I thank the gentleman.
  Our whip comes from a State that has a very rich heritage, a rich 
legacy of energy production, both onshore and offshore. And so you have 
lived it. The people that you represent live it every day. I thank you 
for your passion on this issue as well.
  Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 9 minutes remaining.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, seeing as there are no further 
Members to speak this evening, I will summarize.
  I mentioned earlier that coal-fired power had provided the energy for 
America's innovative engine for generations. We have now got new energy 
resources that have become available to us.
  I can remember--and I am sure many Members can--where they were the 
day that Neil Armstrong stepped foot out on the Moon. I am reminded of 
the excitement and the energy that we felt, the enthusiasm, the pride 
that we felt, when President John F. Kennedy announced that we were 
going to put a man on the Moon within the next decade.

                              {time}  2130

  That was in 1960, I believe, when he made that statement. It didn't 
take us until the end of the decade. We did it in 1969.
  Mr. Speaker, look what happened as a result of that. Every 
institution in America--academia, the medical industry, and the 
scientific community--everyone got behind the Moon race.
  We have got a stagnant economy struggling to get its feet underneath 
us in light of the staggering pressure from Federal regulations from 
the likes of the EPA, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
Enforcement, the Interior, and so forth. Imagine what would happen if 
we had an all-of-the-above energy policy that sounded something like 
this: starting today, we are going to set a goal to become energy 
independent and secure by the year 2020. That is only 5 short years 
from now.
  But we have made tremendous progress. We are going to continue to use 
the vast coal resources that we have at our disposal. We are going to 
harvest and use the natural gas and oil resources that we possess. We 
are going to expand on our nuclear energy capability. And, yes, we are 
going to let a private sector free market pursue alternative forms of 
energy--not at taxpayer expense, but at entrepreneur expense where 
brilliant minds will try and break the code of being able to store up 
and harness, for future use, energy from the wind and the Sun. They 
can't meet our heavy-lifting energy needs today, but who knows what 
great discoveries that we will find in the future?
  I believe if we had an energy vision, a true, all-of-the-above energy 
vision that sounded like that, you would, once again, see our young 
people lining up to get into institutions to prepare themselves for 
careers in energy production, storage, distribution, and usage. You 
would find companies with the certainty to be able to grow and expand. 
You would see a resurgence of manufacturing as America, once again, 
began to innovate and put its research and development ingenuity to 
work to find new products and new discoveries.
  The Pope stood right here on this House floor just a few short weeks 
ago. He said: Why do so many people around the world want to come to 
America? I am paraphrasing, but he said that they want to come here 
because America is the land of dreamers.
  We are the problem solvers. From the discovery of electricity, the 
invention of the light bulb, the invention of the combustion engine, 
mass production of automobiles, flight, space travel, computing and 
telecommunications innovation, and medical marvels beyond belief, so 
much of what the world enjoys today came from the ingenuity and the 
innovation of the American Dream--a dream powered by the coal industry, 
a dream powered now by a combination of oil, gas, coal, and nuclear 
energy.
  Mr. Speaker, we now know that our policies in the energy sector have 
been based on fears of scarcity, but we no longer have to yield to 
those fears. We have the resources, the know-how, and the wherewithal 
to be energy independent and secure. With H.R. 8, the Architecture of 
Abundance, we are going to be giving the Senate and the President an 
opportunity to launch America into this next great vision of energy 
independence and security by the end of the decade. I hope they will 
take that opportunity seriously.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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