[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14505-14506]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      ENERGY CLOSURES AND LAYOFFS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this week another American 
energy-producing company announced plant closures and worker layoffs, 
citing the Obama administration's authoritarian regulatory regime in 
part as a rationale for its decision.
  Yesterday Alpha Natural Resources announced closures of eight coal 
mines in three States, one of which is located in the Fifth 
Congressional District of Pennsylvania, which I'm proud to represent. 
Company officials, in announcing the closures, cited ``a regulatory 
environment that's aggressively aimed at constraining the use of 
coal.''
  The decision will result in layoffs of 1,200 workers and an immediate 
400 jobs lost in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
  The fact that the coal industry is facing tough times isn't news. 
They have other energy competitors, including natural gas, and 
challenges with coal transport costs, energy, and labor costs. The 
issue that's newsworthy is the additional burden being placed on 
American employers during such difficult and tough economic times.
  The administration's announced intentions to eliminate coal, our most 
abundant natural resource, from our fuel mix, with no clear plan to 
replace it with any effective alternative, has taken a significant toll 
on employers and individuals across my home State.
  Here are several news headlines of closures and layoffs in my home 
district from the past several months:
  September 18 headline: ``Alpha Natural Resources closing eight coal 
mines.'' Twelve hundred companywide layoffs and an immediate 400 jobs 
cut in Virginia, West Virginia, and my home State of Pennsylvania.
  August 30 headline: ``Another round of Joy workers laid off,'' The 
Derrick:

       In August, Joy Mining Manufacturing in Franklin, Venango 
     County, Pennsylvania, posted another round of employee 
     layoffs, and 43 employees were notified they had been 
     furloughed from their jobs. The week before that, 19 others 
     were laid off. Joy Mining is the largest private-sector 
     employer in Venango County.

  February 9 headline: ``Local Officials Respond to Shawville Power 
Plant Closure'':
  GenOn Energy has about 80 employees at its plant in Shawville, 
Clearfield County, and contributes roughly $225,000 annually in local 
taxes. GenOn offers jobs not only through its plant but through Amfire 
Coal and trucking firms, which means a loss of 100 to 200 workers in 
the next several years.
  January 26 headline: ``FirstEnergy Shutting Down 6 Sites in Ohio, 
Pennsylvania, and Maryland'':

       In January, FirstEnergy announced that the new 
     environmental regulations led to a decision to shut down six 
     older coal-fired power plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and 
     Maryland, affecting more than 500 employees.

  Coal operations are closing, forcing more workers into unemployment 
as countless indirect coal jobs have been put at risk because of the 
President's unwavering commitment to end coal. Our most abundant 
natural resource is a source of domestic energy.
  In the aftermath of all these closures and job losses in my district, 
along with numerous across my State and the country, it is becoming 
increasingly clear that this administration expects the consumers of 
Pennsylvania to bear the costs of a poorly thought out, poorly defined, 
and poorly explained environmental agenda.
  But it's not just a war on coal, it's a war on electricity and jobs. 
The shuttering of a record number of coal-fired power plants threatens 
thousands of the 555,270 direct and indirect coal-related jobs that 
help supply America with nearly half of its generated electricity and 
pay $36 billion in wages.
  The nonpartisan U.S. Energy Information Administration has all but 
confirmed the President's aggressive push against coal development with 
a report detailing a record number of coal-fired power plants to be 
closed this year, largely because of the burdensome regulations and 
other compliance costs.

[[Page 14506]]

That's why this week the U.S. House will pass H.R. 3049, to push back 
on the President's commitment to end coal as a source of domestic 
energy and protect the countless jobs that have been lost or put at 
risk as a result of his politics.
  H.R. 3049 includes the following package of bills: The Coal Miner 
Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act, which 
bars the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing any regulation 
before December 31, 2013, that would adversely affect coal mining 
employment.
  The Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, which establishes State-
level permitting programs for the storage of coal combustion residuals 
under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, which is now primarily used to 
regulate the management of municipal solid waste landfills and sewage 
landed fills.

                              {time}  1040

  The Energy Tax Prevention Act, which prevents the EPA from regulating 
greenhouse gases and any effort to address climate change.
  The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act, which prohibits the EPA 
from issuing a new or revised water quality standard when a State 
standard has already been approved by the EPA.
  The Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act, 
or the TRAIN Act, which creates an interagency committee to examine the 
effects of current and proposed Federal regulations on U.S. energy and 
manufacturing industries, U.S. global competitiveness, U.S. and energy 
prices.
  Again, it's not just a war on coal; it's a war on the use of carbon-
based fuels--coal, oil, natural gas--which supply over 80 percent of 
our energy.

                          ____________________