Volume 160, No. 133 covering the 2nd Session of the 113th Congress (2013 - 2014) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“KENTUCKY COAL JOBS” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S5652-S5653 on Sept. 17, 2014.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
KENTUCKY COAL JOBS
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is no secret that the Obama administration policies have been extraordinarily harmful to job creation and retention. From the perspective of my home State of Kentucky, there is no greater example of the ill-effects of these policies than the President's war on coal.
Given the unhealthy economy, the Senate should be regularly debating and voting on measures to overturn antijobs policies and pass bipartisan reforms to help grow our economy. But under the current majority, that, sadly, is not the case. The majority leader instead has refused to permit any amendments on preserving coal and coal-fired power all year long--none whatsoever; no votes at all--even though the Obama administration's anticoal rules not only adversely affect States with Republican Senators, such as Kentucky, but States represented by Democratic Members as well.
The Senate's failure to address coal is reflective of the Chamber's dysfunction. While the House is passing bipartisan jobs bills, Senate Democrats' priorities are show votes.
Let's review where we are and how we got here.
In 2008 Candidate Obama said:
If somebody wants to build a coal power plant, they can--it's just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.
I have to say he has been true to his word. Americans have seen a barrage of regulations and redtape from the President's Environmental Protection Agency, strangling the coal industry--one of my home State's most important sources of jobs and economic development. Kentucky miners and thousands more from the Commonwealth whose jobs rely on mining are feeling the pain from the President's efforts.
The regulations and lack of certainty in the coal industry that this administration has caused have contributed to a loss of 7,000 Kentucky jobs in that industry since President Obama took office--7,000 lost jobs. That tells me the overregulation this administration's EPA keeps piling on is contributing in a major way to the job decline in my home State.
Those of us who represent coal States have made numerous attempts to rein in EPA, but the majority leader and fellow Democrats here in Washington have blocked us at every turn.
Last September I introduced the Saving Coal Jobs Act. The bill would have ended the abuse of the permitting process by the EPA by requiring the Agency to approve or veto mining permit applications within 270 days of their submission. It was simply a time limit to make a decision. This legislation is necessary because the EPA's tactic of choice is to sit on permits, effectively killing them. My bill also included language prohibiting any new carbon emission standards on new or existing powerplants as mandated by Federal agencies without the approval of Congress. After all, Congress, not the executive branch, is supposed to write our Nation's laws.
Unfortunately, what happened when I introduced this legislation is something that has become all-too familiar. When I made a motion to proceed to the bill, it was blocked by the majority leader.
In April I offered my Saving Coal Jobs Act as an amendment to the then-pending unemployment insurance bill before the Senate. This motion was blocked by the majority leader as well.
In May I again offered the Saving Coal Jobs Act as an amendment to the then-pending energy efficiency bill. Once again it was blocked by the Senate majority leader.
A few days later in May I offered legislation to stop the EPA from moving forward with its anti-coal jobs carbon regulations. My amendment, introduced along with Senators Vitter and Hoeven, would have halted the administration from moving forward with new regulations on coal-fired powerplants until the technology required to comply with the regulations is commercially viable, which currently it is not. Once again this commonsense measure on behalf of Kentucky coal miners and their families and jobs was blocked by the majority leader, and that bill was originally sponsored by a colleague on the other side of the aisle, on the Democratic side. It fared no better under the majority leader than do Republican procoal bills.
Moreover, the majority leader is not just blocking procoal legislation on the Senate floor, he is also willing to shut down the committee process for fear of procoal amendments having the votes to pass. In June, he had the Senate Democrats prevent the Energy and Water Appropriations bill from being marked up when they learned I had the votes for my amendment reining in government regulations on coal-fired powerplants. So once it was clear the votes might be there in committee, they shut down the committee process.
Earlier this year, the President's EPA announced new regulations it wanted to enact on existing powerplants that would be a dagger to the heart of my State's middle class and constitute the single worst blow to Kentucky's economy in modern times. The proposed EPA regulations on existing powerplants would kill jobs and raise utility rates across the State while making the transmission of electricity less reliable. The regulations would adversely affect Kentucky powerplants that account for literally thousands of Kentucky jobs.
These regulations are why this June I introduced the Coal Country Protection Act--legislation to block the President's proposed regulations on carbon emissions from existing powerplants if those regulations eliminate jobs, cost our economy dollars, increase electricity prices or jeopardize electricity reliability.
Those requirements are just common sense. Yet once again the majority leader refused to allow a vote on my legislation.
The importance of my Coal Country Protection Act is reflected in the findings of a recent Government Accountability Office, or GAO, study. My colleague Senator Murkowski from Alaska requested this study which found that as a result of EPA's existing and proposed regulations, the number of coal-fired powerplants closing across the country is even higher--even higher--than what was originally estimated by the GAO in 2012.
These coal plant retirements are largely due to EPA redtape. Current proposed regulations, from carbon regulations to proposed lower ozone standards, will only make this number increase if they move forward.
These shutdowns mean higher electricity prices. Sadly, EPA bureaucrats don't understand or don't care about how the abundance of coal in Kentucky permits the State to benefit from relatively low energy rates which make our businesses more competitive and make it easier to attract jobs. As we saw during last winter's cold snap, our country needs coal and ready access to it. Coal allows us to generate affordable power when there is an uptick in electricity use combined with spikes in natural gas prices. But as the EPA uses the administrative fiat to terminate existing and future coal-fired powerplants, there will be less coal when we need it the most--when we need a source of affordable power. Families throughout the country who rely on coal for electricity could find themselves in a tough spot in the near future with the current administration in office.
Those are the facts about this administration's war on coal, but let me provide a more vivid picture about Kentucky coal itself.
Kentuckians have been mining coal for generations. Kentucky coal helped power the Industrial Revolution that transformed our economy into the largest and most prosperous in the world. Kentucky coal has even contributed to the struggle to defend our Nation in times of war. Kentucky's coal miners have done so much for our Nation. The Senate should not be turning its back on them now.
Jimmy Rose of Pineville, KY, is well known to many as the voice of coal country. Jimmy is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who served in Iraq, a former coal miner, and a finalist from the television show
``America's Got Talent.'' He is famous for his song ``Coal Keeps the Lights On.'' I think Jimmy put it best when he said, ``Coal keeps the bills paid, the clothes on the backs, and shoes on the feet.''
I am not going to stand idly by while this administration and this EPA try to wipe out the lifeblood of my home State. The Senate was created to be a deliberative body, one that would debate and legislate on the great issues of the day. Instead, the Senate, as it is currently run, does all it can to avoid important subjects such as the war on coal.
It doesn't have to be that way. The Senate can still reclaim its mantle as a body of vigorous debate and legislative achievement, and the Kentucky coal miner can still do an honest day's hard work for good pay, because after this administration is out of office, the coal will still be in the ground. After this administration leaves office, the coal will still be in the ground.
So I am going to fight for that Kentucky coal miner to hold on to our State's birthright. This war on coal is not over, not by a long shot.
____________________
Alerts Sign-up