[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5681]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               H.R. 2824

                                  _____
                                 

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 4, 2014

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2824, which 
would roll back a Reagan-era rule to protect Appalachian streams and 
communities from mining waste contamination.
  In 1983, in order to protect ground and surface water, the Reagan 
Administration implemented a rule that said mountaintop mining 
operations could not dump their waste too close to streams. Today's 
bill would require states to replace those existing protections with a 
2008 rewrite of the rule that would weaken standards and fail to 
safeguard water resources from the impacts of mining waste. States 
would not be permitted to enact stronger standards to shield their 
drinking water from contamination. I offered an amendment with my 
colleagues Representatives Cartwright and Lowenthal to ensure States 
have the right to take additional action if they find it necessary, and 
I urge my colleagues to support it.
  This legislation is particularly egregious because just last month, 
the DC Circuit Court vacated the 2008 rule because the Bush 
Administration failed to consider the impact of waste dumping on 
threatened and endangered species. Not only would this bill write that 
illegally-drafted rule into statute, it would set a five-year 
moratorium on any new rules to protect streams from coal mining waste.
  The Interior Department is currently in the process of developing new 
rules to reflect advances in mining practices and mitigate 
environmental and health impacts from mining operations. Rather than 
forcing implementation of a rule so flawed that it's been tossed out by 
the courts, we should allow this process to go forward to safeguard 
Appalachian communities. I urge a no vote on the bill.

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