[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           EPA RULE WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR COAL COMMUNITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. Rahall) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the EPA is expected to unleash 
what is essentially a Federal cap-and-trade proposal aimed at our 
Nation's existing coal-fired power plants.
  I will oppose this rule, as it will adversely affect coal miners and 
coal mining communities throughout West Virginia and the Nation. At 
stake is our economy and the livelihoods of our coal miners, our 
steelworkers, electrical workers, those who keep our freight trains 
running, and families and businesses that rely on affordable energy 
from coal.
  Even though we don't have the details of the rule yet, from 
everything we know, we can be sure of this: it will be very bad for 
jobs. The only real question is where, on a scale from devastating to a 
death blow, the new rule will fall.
  I have written to OMB opposing the new source performance standards 
rule for future power plants and calling upon the Director to return 
the draft rule to EPA and calling on EPA to go back to the drawing 
board on their proposal.
  I have joined 181 Members of this body in a letter to Administrator 
McCarthy asking that the normal 60-day comment period be extended to at 
least 120 additional days.
  I have cosponsored and voted for H.R. 3826, the Electricity Security 
and Affordability Act, along with my colleague, the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), which would block the new source performance 
rule for future power plants. The House passed the bill on March 16, by 
a vote of 229-183, and sent it over to the other body.
  I have cosponsored, along with my colleague, the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. McKinley), H.R. 2127, a resolution of disapproval that 
would prevent the new source performance standard rule for future power 
plants from going into effect. If enacted, this would have the same 
effect as the Whitfield bill, blocking EPA from advancing the rule on 
existing plants.
  More importantly, Mr. Speaker, are the effects on our coal miners' 
health care and pension plans. There are more than 100,000 retirees, 
their dependents, and surviving spouses who receive health care and/or 
pensions from the UMWA, United Mine Workers of America, health and 
retirement funds.
  Because these benefits are paid for by contributions made by the coal 
companies for every hour worked by an active miner, this rule could 
dramatically undercut the solvency of these funds.
  In 2012, for example, a total of $1.2 billion went into coal field 
communities in pension payments and direct payments to health care 
providers for retiree health care benefits. That included nearly 400 
million into rural West Virginia communities.
  This is what keeps the health care systems in these communities open. 
Doctors, pharmacies, clinics, therapists, and nursing homes all depend 
on this funding to survive.
  So in conclusion, Mr. Speaker, let me say how devastating these 
proposed rules--although we have not seen the details yet--could be for 
coal mining communities.
  I--and I am sure others who represent coal mining communities across 
this Nation--will not sit idle in the face of this latest challenge by 
the EPA to our way of life.
  It is about jobs, it is about jobs, and it is about jobs, and I will 
look at any and all options that will be available to block this 
proposed rule from being finalized.

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