[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 26780]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCTION OF NATIONAL MINER'S DAY RESOLUTION

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                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 4, 2009

  Mr. RAHALL. Madam Speaker, as we, in the Congress, continue to debate 
the course of energy in America; as we consider the science of 
efficiency, the effects of power generation on the environment, and the 
impact of energy supply on the economy and on national security, I 
believe we also need to remember some very fundamental things.
  We need, for example, to pay acute attention to the effects that the 
decisions we make in Washington will have on the men and women, the 
families, and the communities back home who have, for generations, 
provided the natural energy resources that fuel America.
  Today I am proud to introduce--along with my colleagues from West 
Virginia, Representatives Alan B. Mollohan and Shelley Moore Capito--a 
resolution honoring America's miners.
  The government has long recognized that it has an obligation to do 
all that it can to ensure that our coal miners have safe, healthy 
workplaces. But I contend that we also have an obligation to do all we 
can to ensure that our miners simply have work.
  America has grown strong through the labor of coal miners. Their work 
has provided, light, warmth, and economic security for generations of 
growing American families. it has fueled the steel furnaces that built 
our great cities and our military might And the labor of miners has 
made reality of the creative imaginings of America's most inventive 
minds.
  These hard-working, selfless, earnest men and women, their 
livelihoods, their way of life, and the future of their families and 
their communities are at stake. Mining can be difficult, dangerous 
work, but mining is also a noble, honest profession, and miners and 
their families are proud of the work they do for America, as well they 
should be.
  We can mine and use coal more safely, more cleanly, and more 
efficiently. And we will. Our future depends upon it.
  So, Madam Speaker, I introduce this resolution to support the goals 
and ideals of a National Miner's Day that will commemorate the work and 
the sacrifice of miners past and present. But I do so, as well, as a 
demonstration of support for the jobs of miners future.

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