Rep. Jenkins to White House: Stop Stream Buffer Zone Rule

Statement

During a call with the White House, U.S. Representative Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.) urged the administration to reconsider a new regulation that would cost West Virginia even more coal jobs.

Rep. Jenkins spoke with the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Howard Shelanski about the harm the proposed stream buffer zone rule would cause to West Virginia, including the loss of more coal jobs in hard-hit coal communities.

"Not only would the stream buffer zone rule halt countless coal mines, it also represents this administration's ideologically-driven agenda that ignores the will of Congress and the voices of the states. I called Administrator Shelanski to make sure he personally heard how this rule will hurt West Virginia, and I asked him to reconsider this proposal and its many flaws. West Virginia has lost tens of thousands of coal mining jobs in just the past few years, and this rule threatens more. The White House has a chance to make this right -- they just have to make that choice," Rep. Jenkins said.

OSM has failed to re-engage with the states in a meaningful and transparent way - as they were mandated to do in legislation we passed in December 2015. I relayed to Administrator Shelanski the devastating economic impact the rule would have in West Virginia and requested he take a hard look at OSM's proposal and its many flaws.

The stream buffer zone rule is currently being drafted by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, which has repeatedly failed to work with the states to get their feedback on this rule. Congress passed legislation in December 2015 requiring the office to re-engage with the states.

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