[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13060-13066]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          THE IMPACTS OF COAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. McKinley) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I ask unanimous consent 
that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the topics of 
this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from West Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, tonight, we want to talk about these three 
subjects as it relates to coal. You have already heard recent remarks 
made a few minutes ago about the war on coal, but we want to talk about 
the impacts of coal, the regulations, and the Clean Power Plan. That is 
what we are going to be talking about tonight are these three primary 
subjects.
  I want to put things in perspective. We want to talk about how does 
this coal industry--you hear us, many of us that come from coal 
country, we have been fighting about coal, fighting for coal--why do we 
do that?
  Look at the impact. For those of you that aren't coming from a coal 
community, now, we mine coal in 27 States, but just look at this, the 
impact, what it has--between coal mining at $58 billion a year and then 
the generation of power from coal totals $142 billion.
  Now, maybe that doesn't mean a lot to a lot, but $142 billion, put 
that in context with the automobile industry. All of us are familiar 
with cars. We all hear the commercials on television. We know about the 
discussion about how you have got to have the latest car.
  This is bigger than the car industry. The automobile industry is $130 
billion. That is why many of us, all across this country, are concerned 
about this future of the coal industry. It is larger than the 
automobile industry. I want you to understand that. Everyone should 
make sure they grasp the impact of that.
  This war on coal that many of us have been talking about for some 
time, I want to make sure that people understand how it affects us 
individually and affects a State like West Virginia.

                              {time}  1845

  Just 7 years ago the unemployment rate in West Virginia was the 
seventh best in the country. But after 7 years of a war on coal, after 
regulation after regulation after regulation, West Virginia's 
unemployment rate now has dropped and we are in the last place in the 
Nation.
  Think about that impact for all of us. You go from number 7 to 50th 
in just 7 years. Combine that with the families of our coal miners. 
Just in the past 3 years, 45 percent of the coal miners in West 
Virginia have lost their jobs, 45 percent. These are people. These are 
real people. They are not statistics.
  The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) uses this chart. He has 
shown us over the years--my 5 years in Congress--he showed us that 
these are the people we are talking about all over this country who are 
losing their jobs.
  But in West Virginia, 45 percent of them have lost--in the coalfields 
of West Virginia, the unemployment rate is staggering, and that hasn't 
stopped the administration.
  We are talking about unemployment rates in counties two and three 
times

[[Page 13061]]

the rate of the national figures: 13.5 percent, 13 percent, 12 percent, 
10 percent. That is tough for a family, a community, a State, all to be 
able to survive.
  We keep talking about mines shutting down. I want people to 
understand, when you shut down coal mines, you really affect a 
community. These people all have families. When these men lose their 
jobs, it affects other people.
  The administration and the EPA can shut down our coal mining 
industry. Yes, they can. They are doing a pretty good job of it, if 
that was their intent, was to shut down and for people to lose their 
jobs.
  But think about it. When these men lose their jobs, it is not just 
the coal miners who are losing their jobs. It is the other individuals 
in the community.
  We are talking about the railroad workers, the barge operators, the 
trucking industry, all that come to pick up the coal at the mine to 
take it to the power plant.
  The machinists, the concrete suppliers, the people that put the 
conveyor belts in, and the building that we have to do with it, all of 
them lose their jobs. The timber industry.
  Then go outside and talk to the school board when the school boards 
are struggling to make ends meet because so many of their employers are 
gone and their tax base is eroded with it. But, also, go to the grocery 
store and find out that is the impact. Grocery stores, pharmacies, 
restaurants, apartment buildings.
  We have got a map that shows, again, the impact of this as we get 
into this. We have got several speakers here tonight to talk more about 
it.
  This is a location of all the power plants across America. There are 
over 500 coal-fired plants operating today around this country.
  But just in the last month the Sierra Club, Bloomberg, Earthjustice, 
and all have been touting the fact that they want by the year 2017 to 
take one-third of those red dots off the map.
  Almost a third of our capacity to generate electricity can be gone 
because of the rules and the way some of the environmental groups are 
pursuing this. One-third of them.
  Now, in terms of grid reliability with this, you have to deal with 
what they have talked about. If we continue to shut down coal-fired 
power plants and don't replace them, whether that is with wind, solar, 
or gas, our grid reliability is going to be in question.
  How many times are we going to lose our power? FERC has already said 
that, if we don't do something by 2017, they are saying the Midwest is 
going to start experiencing rolling blackouts. So let's be careful with 
this.
  I am going to stop now. We have tried to frame some of the argument 
about this history of how we got to this point that you are seeing the 
frustration in Congress. But I wanted to put that again in context.
  This industry is bigger than the automobile industry, but we don't 
have the big communities. We don't have the Detroits and the Grand 
Rapids. We just have Farmington, Lumberport, small towns that make up 
the backbone of rural America. That is what we are trying to fight for.
  I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson) for his comments.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Thank you to my colleague for yielding.
  You made a comment just a minute about, you know, we don't have the 
Detroits, we don't have the New Yorks, we don't have the big cities in 
coal country.
  We may not have those big cities in coal country, but I guarantee you 
those big cities get some of their electricity from the coal that is 
produced by the coal miners that live in our region.
  Over the past 5 years, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation has 
spent more than $10 million of its budget to pursue a wholesale rewrite 
of one of the agency's regulatory programs.
  Dubbed the ``stream protection rule'' by the agency, this massive 
regulatory undertaking has little to do with protecting streams and 
much more to do with riding roughshod over State regulatory programs.
  This rule rewrite means more Americans will be out of work and that 
electricity bills of hard-working families could increase.
  As OSM's related draft environmental impact statement indicates, the 
Appalachian Basin, home to thousands of Ohioans who depend on the coal 
industry for their livelihood, to put food on their table, to put 
clothes on their children, to send their children to school, could see 
as many as 450 production-related jobs lost per year, with potential 
adverse impacts of $37 million annually.
  This appears to be of little concern to the administration, as 
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell was recently quoted as characterizing 
the job loss in coal country associated with this rule rewrite as 
``minor.''
  I invite Secretary Jewell to join me on a trip to any coal mine in 
Ohio and directly tell the hard-working miners--look them in the eye 
and tell them that this new rule has only minor impacts.
  I will clear my schedule, and I will be available any day, anytime, 
to go with her if she wants to come there.
  Furthermore, this regulation omits and ignores the relevant input 
from those stakeholders with the most expertise in regulating mining, 
the States who have been doing it for years.
  In fact, 9 of the 10 States originally involved in the rules 
development have withdrawn their support due to OSM's exclusionary 
tactics.
  This is unacceptable, and it is why I urge the House to consider H.R. 
1644, the STREAM Act, as soon as possible.
  Introduced by my colleague from West Virginia, Alex Mooney, the 
STREAM Act would direct the administration to conduct a comprehensive 
study of the effectiveness of the Stream Buffer Zone Rule that has been 
in place since 1983. We have been doing this for a long time and 
protecting streams in the process.
  While this study occurs, a prohibition on the promulgation of new 
rules addressing the stream protection or stream buffers will be 
implemented to ensure that the Secretary incorporates the findings of 
the study into any future rulemaking.
  This is just one example, Mr. McKinley, of the regulatory overreach 
of this administration and its devastating impacts on coal miners, on 
families that depend on the coal industry for their livelihoods, and 
the businesses that depend on cost-affordable, reliable electricity 
across our country.
  I appreciate you giving me the time to share that.
  Mr. McKINLEY. Thank you. You have been one of our stalwarts in 
pushing this legislation for all 5 years you have been here on this.
  So I know people across this country recognize the work that you are 
doing on behalf of the coal miners and this whole industry.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I am proud to be on your team.
  Mr. McKINLEY. We have a host of other folks here to address the 
issue. We have got this chart up. Eventually, we are going to get to 
that in the next part of it.
  But what we are talking about here is here are all the regulations. 
These are all the regulations that are affecting the coal industry, the 
manufacturing industry, all promulgated from the Clean Air Act. We will 
get to that in a minute. But, in the meantime, let's hear from some 
more individuals.
  I yield to the gentleman from the Third District of West Virginia 
(Mr. Jenkins).
  Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia. Congressman McKinley, thank you for 
your leadership as chair of the Coal Caucus. It does great work. I am 
honored to be a part of it, and I am honored to work with you.
  Mr. Speaker, as you well know and as the people of America need to 
know, we are at a critical point in this war on coal, and it truly is a 
war on coal.
  Coal is vital to the people of West Virginia and to West Virginia's 
economy and to this country. Coal supports many crucial investments in 
southern West Virginia, in my congressional district.
  Its revenues help support tourism, roads, and infrastructure. It will 
make

[[Page 13062]]

King Coal Highway a reality and make sure we do not have a bridge to 
nowhere, like we already have in southern West Virginia.
  Coal puts food on the table. Coal pays the bills. Coal supports 
families. Coal generates the revenue that provides for our roads, our 
schools, our police, and our fire departments. Coal keeps the lights 
on.
  But, sadly, this administration doesn't recognize the value of coal 
or of the people who work to mine it. They are proposing regulation 
after regulation to make it harder to mine coal, harder to burn coal, 
and harder to produce affordable energy from coal.
  We have lost an estimated 43 percent of our coal jobs in just the 
last 6 years. While that is a sobering number, it is more than a 
statistic.
  Each one of those employees has responsibilities. They have bills. 
They have families. They have rent or house payments. How will they 
provide for themselves and others without their coal jobs?
  We must stand up for West Virginia jobs, West Virginia energy, and 
West Virginia coal. That is exactly what I am doing in Congress as a 
member of the House Appropriations Committee.
  At one hearing, I did ask EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to come to 
West Virginia and listen to us. She declined. So I brought Logan County 
coal miners to Washington to testify before Congress.
  They shared how coal provides good paychecks to support their 
families and how they are worried overregulation will put them out of 
work.
  I am working in Congress to ensure our miners will be able to provide 
for their families and that our State still has access to affordable 
domestic energy. I will continue to fight each and every day.
  Thank you for your leadership.
  Mr. McKINLEY. Thank you for your comments.
  Before we go to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Congressman Kelly, I 
just wanted to add, because you talked about education, that the Duke 
Energy plant over in New Richmond, Ohio--the closure of that cost them 
$1.5 million out of their school system, out of their property taxes, 
with that.
  You are absolutely right when we talk about the impact it is going to 
have on schools when we start depriving that.
  But then you have FirstEnergy's Albright plant. They lost $380,000. 
The AEP plant over in Lockbourne, Ohio, is $406,000.
  This is real money that is hurting the communities. It is depriving 
our school systems of money, all pushing an ideology. So thank you for 
joining this fight.
  I yield now to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly).
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, it is about time. Time is 
running out. I think right now we look at what is happening in coal 
country and nothing could be more alarming than what is happening.
  This is one promise the President kept. When he ran as a candidate, 
he said: You can continue to generate electric power by burning coal. 
But if you decide to go that way, we will bankrupt you. That is one 
promise he has kept.
  Now, in Pennsylvania alone, coal is responsible for over 40,000 jobs 
and 40 percent of our electric power. The Associated Press calls it the 
workhorse of America's power system.
  But the extreme overreach by the EPA is threatening jobs and forcing 
energy costs for families and manufacturers to skyrocket, which hurts 
every single American. That is something I think the general public has 
to understand.
  While maybe they don't go down in those mines and while maybe they 
don't bring that precious product out from underneath the ground and 
while maybe they don't work in a coal-fired power plant, one thing they 
do know is, when they hit that switch to turn on the power, it is 
reliable because of coal.
  Coal has always been the standard. Coal has always driven the fact 
that we not only have coal that is abundant, we have coal that is 
accessible and we have coal that is very affordable.

                              {time}  1900

  Why in the world would we go away from this workhorse of America's 
power system? That is one of the reasons we reintroduced the Coal 
Country Protection Act; that is H.R. 2637.
  It is just a commonsense bill that would stop any EPA regulations 
from affecting America's power plants until four outcomes are achieved: 
number one, no job losses; number two, no loss in GDP or economic 
growth; number three, no higher electric rates; and, number four, no 
interruption in the reliable delivery of electrical energy. These are 
pretty commonsense goals.
  Now, who would be able to verify that or who would certify? Well, the 
Secretary of Labor could do it; the Congressional Budget Office could 
do it; the Energy Information Administration could do it; the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission could do it, and the North American 
Electric Reliability Corporation could do it.
  You said about time. It is about time, but it is time not just for 
the coal country people to stand up and fight for coal; it is time for 
the whole country to stand up and fight for coal. It is well past the 
midnight hour.
  As we continue to shut down mines and lose jobs and shut down 
communities and raise people's electric rates and then people at home 
sit back and wonder: What are they doing in Washington? Why do they 
continue to hurt us at every turn?
  The answer is the people making some of this policy have never done 
what you have done; they have never walked in your shoes; they have 
never had to do what we have done in coal country to protect electric 
power.
  Why in the world would we do this now at a time when the country is 
looking for jobs, at a time when the country is looking for less 
dependence on foreign nations for energy? Why now? Why, Mr. President? 
Why continue to push in the direction you have been pushing?
  The bottom line is this is just not about coal country; this is about 
our whole country.
  Mr. McKinley, I would like to thank you for fighting this fight. The 
5 years we have been here together, this has been something we fought 
to go every day in every way and will continue to do.
  It is time now for the people in America to also be heard. Please do 
not sit in silence and suffer in silence when your voices need to be 
heard. We need to have everybody standing up for coal, standing up for 
the production of electricity that is affordable and reliable, and we 
just need to look at where we are going and say: My goodness, the 
people we sent to represent us, the people we sent to protect us, it is 
time for them to stand up and do exactly what they took a pledge to do.
  I thank you for all your efforts. I thank my colleagues for being 
here tonight. This is something we will never give up on, we will never 
walk away from. It has come to our shoulders. We can't ever walk away 
from it because it is not an option.
  Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, I think one of the biggest shortcomings 
here is I don't think other Members of Congress and I don't think the 
American public understand the magnitude of this industry. That is why 
I started off with that chart, to show you that between the coal and 
the coal-fired electrical plants, it is larger than the automobile 
industry.
  Now, just walk with me, just imagine that if we told the automobile 
industry that they had to cut back one-third of their capacity of cars, 
but that is okay, they are going to say, because what we do is people 
will ride bikes or they will take the train or the bus. That is not our 
culture in America. They would fight back, too.
  You and I are fighting--and the rest of these people that represent 
our coal fields. We have enjoyed the cost of electricity coming from 
low cost because of coal. In America, all across, we showed 49 of the 
50 States burn coal--49--and this administration wants to stop that, 
wants to cut back.
  I would say, if you are going to cut back the coal industry, then 
look at the automobile industry as well; if you are going to go after 
one huge component of our economy, go after the automobile industry as 
well with it.

[[Page 13063]]

  Thank you very much for what you said.
  We talked about a lot. Now, let's continue on.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Gibbs).
  I think Congressman Gibbs from Ohio, I think you had some remarks you 
wanted to make.
  Mr. GIBBS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for holding this 
Special Order on this very important topic.
  In the very near future, this affects every Ohioan across the 
country, but very soon, the EPA is expected to release its Clean Power 
Plan. This is just another burdensome regulatory scheme that will 
increase energy costs.
  The Energy Information Administration--that is the government agency 
dedicated to the impartial analysis of data--reported it will cause the 
price of electricity rates to rise for consumers.
  Ohio families are already stretching their budgets as much as they 
can, struggling to make ends meet. Raising their monthly electric bills 
is just going to make their struggle worse.
  Earlier this month, the House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act, as 
you know, to stop the implementation of a clean power plan while the 
courts address the legal challenges to the plan and give Ohioans a 
break from the EPA's heavy-handed regulations.
  Sadly, the EPA's refusal to listen to the public and industry input 
is not without precedent. When considering the redefinition of waters 
of the United States rule, the agencies did not take into account the 
opinions of their State partners. Within hours, 27 States and countless 
organizations filed lawsuits challenging the rule.
  Additionally, at the end of June, the Supreme Court found that the 
EPA failed to consider compliance costs when proposing new rules for 
power plants.
  If the EPA continues to push forward with this plan, it will only 
hurt those who want reliable, affordable energy. It is time to set 
aside partisan agendas.
  I encourage the EPA to start from scratch and work with the 
stakeholders and industry partners to create a commonsense plan that 
strengthens our energy infrastructure and safeguards our environment.
  Again, Congressman McKinley, I thank you for holding this Special 
Order today--and Mr. Speaker--because this affects a large region of 
our country. I know you talked about, what, 400 coal-fired plants 
across the country.
  This is important to our economy, and you have to have reliable and 
affordable energy for businesses to grow and create jobs. This Clean 
Power Plan is going to lay around and strangle our businesses and put 
people out of work across the Midwest and across my State in Ohio.
  I thank you for doing this tonight.
  Mr. McKINLEY. Thank you very much. Thank you for bringing up the 
Ratepayer Protection Act because, as you know, after we followed the 
MATS rule, after the Supreme Court ruled that unconstitutional, you 
didn't hear the President complain because they had effectively 
accomplished everything they wanted before that rule.
  I am afraid that is why the importance of this Ratepayer Protection 
Act is because, if we continue to shut down our coal power plants and 
deprive our communities of taxpayer moneys to run our schools, then 
that winds up--if it is ruled unconstitutional later on, then how do we 
recover the moneys that we have lost? Can we reopen a school that was 
closed because a community lost its operation? Do we recover? How do we 
recover that? That is why it is important.
  I am really glad you brought up the Ratepayer Protection Act because 
we need to make sure that the courts have ruled before the action is 
taken. You and I are going to be paying more for our utility bills as a 
result of that if and until it is ruled unconstitutional. We know it is 
coming; they know it is coming. Thank you for bringing that up.
  Our next remarks we have are from one of our--I can't say one of our 
newest Members, but he is a Member from Kentucky that has been very 
outspoken. I appreciate very much Congressman Barr from Kentucky.
  Can you share some thoughts tonight?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr).
  Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman, my colleague 
and friend, from West Virginia for his leadership in the Congressional 
Coal Caucus, to my colleagues from Pennsylvania and Ohio, and all over 
the country representing coal-producing States where good people--men 
and women--working in the coal mines literally power America.
  They come from an industry--they work in the coal mines; they support 
the coal miners--an industry that provides affordable and reliable 
energy that powers the American economy and has been the backbone of 
the American economy.
  Instead of celebrating that industry, instead of applauding the 
heroic work that these men and women do, day in and day out, 
underground and above ground, what is the response of the Federal 
Government over the last 6 years? It has been to singularly punish this 
industry.
  I can't think of an administration from either party in the history 
of the United States that has singled out a single industry with the 
level of vindictiveness, frankly, and targeted a single industry and 
literally bankrupted many of these companies.
  I don't understand it for a variety of reasons, but let me just share 
with you a little bit about the coal industry in Kentucky. We could 
very well be the poster child for demonstrating the tremendous negative 
impact and the consequences of this heartless, aggressive, anticoal 
policy from the EPA and from this administration's regulatory policy.
  Since 2009, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has lost more than 8,000 
coal mining jobs throughout our State. For every one coal mining job, 
three additional jobs are directly tied to every coal mining job. This 
is a direct result of the administration's war on coal.
  Sure, there are competitive pressures from natural gas, and we 
celebrate the fracking boom and the result of discoveries in natural 
gas, but I can tell you what the coal industry says. It is not cheap 
natural gas that is the cause of these lost jobs; it is the fact that 
the Federal Government has put its heavy hand of regulatory power on 
the scales to make this industry noncompetitive.
  Just to give you a sample of the problem, in the first quarter of 
2015 alone, Kentucky's coal employment numbers dropped another 10\1/2\ 
percent.
  What does that mean in total? Coal production in Kentucky has 
decreased to its lowest level since 1963. In 2015, production levels 
are currently half of what they were just two decades ago; yet demand 
for energy in the United States has suddenly increased.
  There are more than just statistics, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to 
talking about the face of the war on coal. Many of my colleagues have 
shared these stories about what this really means, what all of these 
regulations really mean in the real world. It is not statistics on a 
page; it is not about coal production percentages on decline.
  What it is really about, it is about Sally, the young woman in Wolfe 
County, Kentucky, that I met with tears in her eyes at the end of a 
townhall meeting.
  She came to me as her Congressman and she said: Do they know what 
they are doing to our family? My husband lost his job because the coal 
mining employer that he works for didn't get a permit, and so now, he 
is out of work. Don't those people in Washington understand that I have 
got kids? We are going back to school; it is August, and I can't afford 
shoes for my kids. I had to go to Walmart and buy them flip-flops, just 
so they wouldn't be embarrassed to go back to school.
  Now, I want the regulators in Washington, D.C., to come back to 
Kentucky, to eastern Kentucky, and meet Sally and look Sally in the eye 
and ask her to describe to them what the impact of this war on coal is 
for her.
  What about Robert? Robert the coal miner from Wolfe County, Kentucky, 
in my district, he gets up at 3 a.m. every morning to commute an hour 
to go to work in the coal mines just to put food on the table.

[[Page 13064]]

  Or what about James, who looks at me with an incredible expression 
and says: Andy, don't they understand what they are doing? They are 
putting people out of work. They are making life harder on the American 
people. Surely, these are the people who say they are fighting for the 
working man. I am the working man. Congressman, what are they thinking?
  Then you talk about Chris, Chris who says: Congressman, I don't know 
much about politics; I don't really care much about politics, but if 
you can go save my job, I am for you. Can't the politicians in 
Washington fight for people just to go to work and provide for their 
families? These are paychecks that these people depend on.
  Finally, it is Curtis, Curtis who said to me that his father crawled 
on his belly for decades to take care of his family, and because of his 
father's hard work, he had opportunities.
  This is more than statistics. This is about real people who have been 
victimized by bureaucrats in Washington who are out of touch--if the 
bureaucrats in Washington would at least just go to these places--West 
Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky--and look these people in the 
eye and ask them what they think about their policies.
  Worst of all, it is all done in the name of the environment. We all 
love the environment. These coal miners love the environment. They come 
from a beautiful part of the country, in Appalachia.
  It is not about not wanting to help the environment or environmental 
stewardship, but what is so sad is that these regulations aren't going 
to do a darn thing about global carbon emissions.
  The Clean Power Plan rule that this administration has proposed would 
reduce global carbon emissions by less than 1 percent--for what, $8 
billion in additional annual cost to our economy and thousands of 
American families without paychecks.
  This is wrong. The Congress of the United States is right to stand up 
for these families. The Congress of the United States is right to stand 
up for jobs.
  That is why I support all of the legislative work done by this House 
by these good Members--the STREAM Act from my colleague and friend from 
West Virginia; the coal residuals bill that the gentleman, the 
chairman, has championed and done a great job in supporting, my 
colleague, Ed Whitfield, the chairman of the Energy Subcommittee on the 
Ratepayer Protection Act; the REINS Act, which we just voted for and 
passed out of this House, which would stop all of these costly 
regulations.

                              {time}  1915

  Mr. Speaker, it is time for us to stand up for American jobs, for 
American energy, and for American-produced coal power. I thank the 
gentleman for his leadership.
  Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman touched on something that I 
don't know that our listeners or even the other Members of Congress 
quite grasp, but the gentleman touched on it in one statement he made. 
It is the claim that CO2 emissions of the world are the 
target of our global warming issue.
  I will just accept, for discussion purposes, that that is the basis 
of their war on coal, this ideological fight that we are involved in. I 
will use the United Nations' statistics--not the Republican caucus', 
not the coal country's numbers, but the United Nations'.
  They say: Congressman Barr, if you were to stop all coal-fired 
capacity in every school, church, hospital, power station--if we were 
to stop all burning of coal in America in total so that there became no 
coal being consumed in America--you would reduce the CO2 
emissions of the world by two-tenths of 1 percent.
  Mr. BARR. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. McKINLEY. I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.
  Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I would also make this point that this is the 
United States of America.
  In the United States of America, we solve problems through 
entrepreneurship, free enterprise, and innovation. We put a man on the 
Moon because we are Americans. We believe in freedom, and we believe in 
innovation.
  If there is a problem with carbon emissions and climate change, then 
we should solve the problem the American way, through fossil energy 
research. What we should not do is supply a Soviet-style, command-and-
control solution from Washington, which will not solve the problem.
  What we need to be doing is exporting American technology to China 
and India and other countries that have inferior electricity-generating 
capabilities.
  Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to touch base again before 
we go to our last speaker.
  Again, these are all of the rules. This is the overwhelming number of 
rules that we are trying to deal with in America in dealing with fossil 
fuels, from ozone to new source performance standards. I could go on.
  There is the regional haze and the greenhouse gas tailoring rule. We 
have to deal with those. Let me show the impact as already predicted is 
going to happen. It is that we are going to see higher utility bills. 
If we want to see that, just keep doing it because that is exactly what 
is going to happen.
  This chart has been produced that shows, just in West Virginia 7 
years ago--let's just say for discussion--you had a $100 bill for your 
monthly electric. Now, because of all of the rules, we are at $160. 
That is a 60 percent increase in the cost of utilities. Some might 
argue it is because of the cost of coal. No. The cost of coal has 
dropped.
  The point here is that the power plants--the utilities--are having to 
put excessive money into the production of electricity to meet some of 
those rules that we talked about over there. It is coming out of our 
pockets. Someone is paying for that. You and I are paying for that.
  In addition, we are already 60 percent up. Look at Arizona. They are 
suggesting that the increased cost in Arizona is going to go up 40 
percent; in the State of Washington, 37 percent; in California, 24 
percent. All we have to ask is: Is this what the consumers want?
  Let me show you another chart here.
  This talks about where coal is being used. Now, this administration 
has been very effective in shutting it off. You have heard the horror 
stories of what has happened in Kentucky. I have heard of some of it in 
West Virginia. In Ohio, it is the same story--in Indiana, in Illinois. 
The impact it is having on our industry is destructive. They are 
destroying the industry. The industry is on its knees now.
  But what about overseas?
  The International Energy Agency has already indicated that they have 
a voracious appetite for coal elsewhere outside of America. No one else 
is following the administration's lead on this idea of this war on 
coal.
  They are still burning coal. They are burning coal every which way 
they can. Whether it is in China or in India--wherever they are--they 
are using coal. As a matter of fact, from the year 2000 to 2013, they 
increased their appetite for coal by 70 percent; but in America, we 
dropped. It is important to understand where this fight is and what we 
have to do to fight for the individuals.
  Mr. Speaker, as we start to wrap up our discussion tonight about coal 
and its impact, about the Clean Power Plan and the effective 
regulations, I yield to the gentleman from the Second District of West 
Virginia (Mr. Mooney), one of our newest Congressmen.
  Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman 
McKinley for his leadership on this issue and in our great State of 
West Virginia. I thank Congressman Barr for his great comments and for 
his telling some personal stories about how this affects real Americans 
from different States.
  Mr. Speaker, our great country is blessed with abundant natural 
resources. Unfortunately, President Obama has made a campaign 
commitment to destroy coal as a domestic energy source, and he is 
intent on fulfilling that promise.
  Just 2 weeks ago, the Office of Surface Mining, under the Department 
of the Interior, released its latest set of

[[Page 13065]]

rules and regulations that will cripple the coal industry not only in 
West Virginia, but across the country. These new rules and regulations 
are over 2,500 pages in length.
  If you do not know exactly what that looks like, here it is, ladies 
and gentlemen. It is six folders full of new regulations--2,500 pages. 
This is what it looks like, okay? The Department of the Interior has 
given us 60 days to go through this. It is a lot of work. At the very 
least, a 120-day extension is needed beyond the current 60-day comment 
period.
  I have already joined Chairman Bishop of the Natural Resources 
Committee, on which I serve, and 43 Members of Congress in sending a 
letter to the Obama administration, requesting a 120-day extension of 
the comment period for the recently announced job-killing stream buffer 
zone regulation right here.
  My hard-working staff and I of the Second District of West Virginia 
have been going through this very hard over the last several days since 
it came out. We have been trying to look at all of the ridiculous 
regulations in this bill, and we have come across a couple of things 
that, I think, are worth pointing out so far.
  For instance, on page 1201 of the proposed regulation, it reads:

       Ensure that electric power transmission lines and other 
     transmission facilities that are used for or are incidental 
     to surface mining activities on the permit area are designed 
     and constructed to minimize electrocution hazards to raptors 
     and other alien species with large wingspans.

  The Office of Surface Mining is worried about protecting raptors and 
other birds from electrocution, so they have created a special 
regulation just to prevent that from happening. That is right. Here it 
is--required. We found on page 1201, buried within thousands of pages 
of regulations, that coal companies are to build special power lines to 
prevent ``raptors from getting zapped.''
  I wonder if the environmentalists have the same concerns for their 
own projects. According to the Smithsonian, somewhere between 140,000 
and 328,000 birds die each year from flying into wind turbines.
  On page 1100 exactly, we have even more new rules here. It reads:

       You may not conduct any surface mining activity that is 
     likely to jeopardize the continued existence of threatened or 
     endangered species listed by the Secretary or proposed for 
     listing by the Secretary or that is likely to result in the 
     destruction or adverse modification of designated critical 
     habitat in violation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

  That is a long sentence with a lot of ``ors.'' This absurd regulation 
would prohibit mining near animals that the Director of the Interior 
has simply proposed for listing as endangered or as threatened.
  It would be one thing to prevent mining operations around animals 
that are actually endangered, but this regulation goes far, far beyond 
protecting endangered species. This is a stunning regulatory power grab 
that an environmental extremist Secretary will use to put miners out of 
business.
  Even more ridiculous is just the heart of this rulemaking, which is 
to fundamentally change the definition of a ``stream'' to include 
temporary streams. Temporary streams are, essentially, ditches that 
fill up with water when it rains, and the water goes away quickly. They 
are calling them ``streams'' now.
  A recent study from the National Center for Mining estimates that 
these rules will destroy as many as 80,000 coal jobs across the 
country. My colleague Congressman Andy Barr put some names to those 
stories of individuals who are losing their jobs. He just referred to 
them in his remarks, and I appreciate that.
  These are hard-working American taxpayers who are simply trying to 
provide for their families; and these idealistic, extremist regulations 
are putting them out of work. It is harming families not only in our 
States of West Virginia and Kentucky, but across the country. These new 
regulations would be catastrophic to the coal industry and to all of 
the hard-working American families who depend on coal to keep their 
energy costs low.
  The economy of the Appalachian Region and West Virginia, in 
particular, are uniquely threatened by these regulations because of our 
mountainous topography and abundance of small streams.
  Industry estimates say this administrative action could mean 45 to 79 
percent of the coal reserves in the Appalachia would no longer be 
usable. The damage from such a critical blow to the industry would 
create a ripple of hardship in our State.
  I think my colleague Congressman McKinley mentioned this already, but 
over 90 percent of the energy consumed in West Virginia is produced by 
coal power, and distress in the coal industry will raise home energy 
prices and business energy costs for everybody. Low-income folks are 
going to struggle with this.
  Furthermore, approximately 60 percent of West Virginia State business 
tax revenue is derived from coal revenues. A significant decrease in 
these revenues would put a severe financial strain on the State budget, 
and it could potentially hurt crucial services in our State, like 
public schools, State-funded health clinics, and the funding of our law 
enforcement agencies.
  I want to continue to work with my colleagues on the Natural 
Resources Committee, and I thank my colleague from West Virginia and my 
colleague from Kentucky for cosponsoring my bill, H.R. 1644. It is also 
known as the STREAM Act.
  I want to first move it swiftly through committee before any real 
damage can be done by this harmful new rule. It is time that the 
administration wakes up and realizes that their regulations are hurting 
hard-working American taxpayers for no good reason.

                              {time}  1930

  Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments on 
that and for bringing up also the Clean Power Plan as we were wrapping 
up with that.
  Because I am intrigued--and maybe the rest of the Members should be 
as well--with the idea that is being promoted by the senior Senator 
from Kentucky, which is maybe we should not be so quick to jump on the 
Clean Power Plan.
  The President may very well be overturned on this constitutionally. 
But if the States implement this voluntarily and impact our schools, 
our communities, our environment, our health care, our hospitals, by 
shutting down, we won't be able to recover from that.
  So the Senator has come up with an intriguing concept, and that is 
just say no. It kind of reminds me of Barbara Bush a few years ago.
  As a result of that, we already have several States that are either 
saying no or are deeply and seriously considering saying no.
  States like Oklahoma, Indiana, Wisconsin, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, 
and Mississippi are not going to jump on this legislation just yet.
  The rule, they are coming from the administration because they have 
seen the strategy here, which is just to use a bullying tactic, push it 
through, knowing full well 5 or 6 years from now it is going to be 
overturned in the courts. But we will never get our jobs back.
  Those individuals that you were talking about, Congressman Barr, 
those individuals that came up to you, they are not going to have a 
job.
  They will have left Kentucky. They will have gone someplace else to 
try to find something else. They are going to be uprooted from their 
communities.
  No, we have to fight. This is the fight now.
  I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr).
  Mr. BARR. I agree with you 100 percent.
  I would just mention, too, it is not just about the coal mining jobs 
and the coal miners who will lose their jobs.
  My district is mainly not a mining district. My district mainly is 
known for thoroughbred horses and bourbon distilleries and cattle, in 
addition to the University of Kentucky and the City of Lexington, but 
we do border the coal industry.
  What I do know about those senior citizens on fixed incomes or low-
income folks who live in those noncoal-

[[Page 13066]]

producing counties in my district is that their electricity bills are 
going to double or triple if this Clean Power Plan goes into effect.
  I have talked to the utilities. Over 90 percent of the electricity in 
Kentucky comes from coal. Coal keeps the lights on. Coal provides 
affordable energy.
  The estimates from the utilities is that, in a single year, folks who 
live below the poverty line are going to see their electricity bills 
increase by two times, maybe three times, and that is simply something 
that they can't afford.
  So this is an assault on low-income Americans, not just coal-mining 
families, but, also, fixed-income seniors and other low-income 
Americans.
  Mr. McKINLEY. I do appreciate the gentleman's additional comments.
  So as we leave here tonight, let's make sure that we go back over 
what we have talked about.
  We have talked about the impact on coal. We have talked about the 
individuals, as you just referred to on their electric bills. We see 
the drama that is going to play out over this.
  We have seen the numbers of regulations that are coming forth with 
this, with these bullying tactics, this hostility toward coal. We have 
seen this last result, the Clean Power Plan. These have to stop. 
America needs to wake up.
  This is something that is happening, but we have the ability here to 
reach out and try to communicate to more people across West Virginia 
and the Nation, in Kentucky and Illinois, to Montana, to California, to 
demonstrate to them that you are already using coal. You are getting 
the advantages of coal.
  Work with us to get the clean coal technology so that we can cut down 
our emissions. The idea of shutting off coal is short-sighted, and the 
rest of the world isn't following.
  Someone said about leadership: You know, if no one is following you, 
then all you are doing is a man taking a walk.
  So we have to find people that can lead. We have groups that are 
willing to take this on and fight for coal, fight for the jobs and the 
people that are affected by this.
  So I thank you all for coming out here tonight.
  I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

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