[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 15 (Monday, January 30, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S461]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           STREAM BUFFER RULE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for too long, coal communities in 
States like Kentucky were unfairly targeted by the Obama administration 
as part of its War on Coal. We now have the opportunity to start 
providing relief to coal families, whose only crime was working to 
support their loved ones. Easing the pain of these regulations is a 
priority. I laid it out in a letter to President Trump earlier this 
year. That letter was a continuation of efforts I began several years 
ago to push back against the previous administration's assault on coal 
families. I am pleased the President has already begun taking steps to 
provide relief from several different regulations imposed by the former 
administration, regulations that for too long have stifled growth and 
held our country back.
  Together, we can do more, including right here in Congress through 
the Congressional Review Act or CRA process. One of the first 
regulations we are working to address is the so-called stream buffer 
rule, a harmful regulation put into place by the Obama administration 
at the eleventh hour. One analysis estimates that it could threaten 
one-third of the Nation's coal-mining jobs--one-third. That is why so 
many across coal country have called for relief from this harmful 
attack.
  We have heard individual voices against this regulation. We have 
heard union voices in opposition, like the United Mine Workers of 
America, and we have heard from groups like the Kentucky Coal 
Association, who recently wrote to me about its negative impact. Here 
is what they said:

       The undeniable truth is that this rule will have a real 
     impact on the real world. It will cause real harm to real 
     people who support real families in real communities.

  This regulation is an attack on coal families. It jeopardizes jobs 
and transfers power away from States and local governments. Today, I am 
introducing a bipartisan resolution to overturn it.
  Congress will also continue acting to provide relief from other 
regulations that attack our economy and our constituents. In fact, the 
House will act on its own version of this Congressional Review Act 
resolution and several others this week. I urge our friends to do so 
quickly so we can pass them here in the Senate and start providing 
relief to our coal communities, to our national economy, and to our 
constituents.

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