[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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