The Impacts of Coal

Floor Speech

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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.

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.

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