[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19204]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    NO COAL IN DEMOCRAT ENERGY BILL

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, my coal Democrats, who have promised me 
that they would take one vote in this Congress to advance coal, and we 
have not seen it. And my colleagues will want to attack the oil, but 
the best way to get off of imported crude oil is to use coal.
  There is nothing in the Democrat bill that advances coal use; 
nothing, zero--no oil shale, no coal, no oil sands, nothing. It's not a 
comprehensive plan.
  We can turn coal into liquid fuel. That's what our Department of 
Defense wants. We can turn coal into clean burning electricity. That's 
what the environmentalists want. But is there anything for coal in this 
bill? No.
  If you vote for this Democrat bill, you are voting against coal. It's 
our largest resource that we have in this country. We are the Saudi 
Arabia of coal. We do not use it fully, you all know it. Speaker Pelosi 
hates coal, hates it, and that's why it's not in this bill.

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