[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 41 (Thursday, March 8, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H1480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SENSE ACT WILL HELP RESTORE PENNSYLVANIA LANDS

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of 
the Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act, also called 
the SENSE Act.
  The SENSE Act will have a tremendous impact on the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania. Decades of historic mining has left behind piles of coal 
refuse or waste coal, which is essentially a worthless material, but 
its presence has led to environmental degradation in many cases.
  Today, the coal refuse-to-energy industry uses waste coal to generate 
affordable energy. This means hundreds of good-paying jobs and 
remediated waste coal piles across the Commonwealth.
  Pennsylvania is home to 14 of the 19 coal refuse-to-energy plants in 
the United States. And we have already seen enormous environmental and 
economic benefits thanks to this industry. We are keeping 
Pennsylvanians employed and working to restore our beautiful streams 
and countryside.
  Mr. Speaker, one-size-fits-all government regulations do not work.
  The SENSE Act crafts responsibly tailored regulations to address the 
application of an EPA rule for electric generating units that utilize 
coal refuse to generate electricity and serve critical environmental 
cleanup and remediation purposes.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense 
legislation.

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