West Virginia Blue
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(Reposted in case you missed it the first time. - promoted by Clem Guttata)
By Clem Guttata
Coal CEOs get political representation, what about the rest of us?
Logan County Commission President Art Kirkendoll requested a meeting and he got it. Michael Browning reported (emphasis mine):
Kirkendoll has asked Gov. Joe Manchin for a meeting with him, commission presidents from Lincoln, Boone, Mingo and Kanawha counties, the EPA, the Division of Environmental Protection, Congressman Nick Rahall, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, representatives from U.S. senators Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller's offices and officials from the coal industry.
Today at 3 p.m., the group will meet privately in the governor's office to discuss coal's future and the economic impact it has on the state and nation.
"This meeting was way overdue to have all the major coal producers' officials together with the EPA and the DEP, the congressional people and the commission presidents from the five major coal-producing counties that spend the money and try to create activities on coal tax," Kirkendoll said. "Everybody that has a stake in what we do will be there. Instead of each of us writing letters, I wanted to get us all together - the people who are investing their money, who are spending the money, the people who are making laws and making the rules - so that we can ask how do we a qualify permits that are solid and work. I sent the governor a letter and he thought it was a great idea so he put the meeting together."
Kirkendoll doesn't think anyone downstream has a stake in coal mining. He doesn't think it matters that we drink the same water, breath the same air, or--point of fact--actually pay for the electricity that makes that coal valuable.
...the list of expected attendees includes Massey Energy President Don Blankenship, CONSOL Energy CEO Brett Harvey and International Coal Group President Ben Hatfield. Two members of Congress will be there, as will county commissioners from the state's major coal producing counties, and top officials from a dozen or more other coal companies. It's a big deal to get all those folks in the same room, and it seems like the public ought to know what is said.
With enough twists to fill a pretzel factor, Gov. Manchin and his communications director, Matt Turner, said there was no need to invite potential critics of coal mining practices because:
"the meeting is not about environmental regulations." (AP - via)
"This is not about the environment. This is about the economic plight the (coalfield local government officials) are being put in." (source)
The meeting happened this afternoon outside the Governor's Mansion in a party tent literally bought and paid for by coal industry donors, (I kid you not... you couldn't make this stuff up) and was followed by a press conference.
Nov. 10, 2009 - CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Gov. Joe Manchin, joined by West Virginia elected officials: U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, House Speaker Rick Thompson and various other state leaders, county commissioners, representatives from the coal industry and labor met to discuss the future of coal in West Virginia during a press conference. Photos by: Steven W. Rotsch
West Virginia political leaders promised Tuesday to speak "with one voice" to clarify the Obama administration's proposals to more strictly regulate mountaintop removal coal mining.
Gov. Joe Manchin, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, and Reps. Nick J. Rahall and Shelley Moore Capito said they would join forces to seek a high-level White House meeting to raise coal industry concerns about tougher permit reviews instituted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"It's about the economy of West Virginia," Manchin said at a news conference after a two-hour, closed-door meeting with industry leaders. "We're just trying to find that balance right now."
I'd like someone to ask Gov. Manchin what it is that he's trying to "balance"? As far as I can tell, "balance" is his code word for stopping any tighter environmental regulation enforcement.
Coal company CEOs have been guaranteed a voice in Washington. The Gov. of West Virginia, Sen. Rockefeller, Rep. Rahall and Rep. Capito stood at a podium this afternoon and promised to speak "with one voice" in Washington, DC on their behalf.
The citizens of West Virginia did not elect these officials to represent coal company executives, they serve to represent us all.
What is good for Don Blankenship is not what is good for all of West Virginia. What is good for CONSOL Energy CEO Brett Harvey is not what is good for all of West Virginia (just ask the residents of the Dunkard Creek watershed). What is good for International Coal Group President Ben Hatfield is not what is good for all of West Virginia.
We need political leaders who will lead for all West Virginians, not political followers catering to the needs of coal company CEOs. We need political leaders who will ask not what they can do for coal, but what they can do for West Virginia. We need political leaders who can honor both our heritage and our future.
I'm Regan Bartley. My small business now has 39 stores in the region that employ 250 people. And I need your help.
Every day, over three-fifths of our customers use plastic, and when they do, we're charged a "swipe fee." We understand the principle involved in paying a small fee for this convenience. But with a credit card duopoly the fees have skyrocketed unaccountably, and small business has felt the pinch.
Small businesses are currently plagued with swipe fees. These swipe fees are accrued when customers use a debit or credit card for a purchase. Big banks and credit card companies charge an "interchange cost" on each purchase to process the transaction. Swipe fees can add up quickly, especially for small business owners.
I am one of these small business owners. Whenever someone comes into one of my stores and uses a debit or credit card to make a purchase, I - along with all other business owners - must pay a swipe fee. To add insult to injury, even if the item purchased is just a few dollars, the fee paid out to big banks can actually wipe out any profit I would have made on the purchase.
For most small business owners, swipe fees account for the largest expense right behind payroll and healthcare. The big banks and credit card companies that taxpayers bailed out just a few years ago have had a stronghold on the interchange system, enabling them to charge out-of-control fees that continue increasing. The situation has become increasingly grim for small business owners as these swipe fees have close-to tripled over the past decade.
Last summer, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Legislators took action to alleviate this unfair fee on businesses and passed common-sense swipe fee reform to rein in these excessive fees, and ensure that they are reasonable and proportional to the actual cost of each transaction.
Here's Sen. Jay Rockefeller's statement, emphasis mine:
ROCKEFELLER SAYS NEW REPUBLICAN BUDGET PLAN HURTS HEALTH CARE FOR STRUGGLING FAMILIES & SENIORS
Out-of-touch House Republican Proposal Favors the Wealthy at the Expense of Middle Class Families
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Jay Rockefeller today issued the following statement in response to a House Republican budget plan that calls for vastly scaling back Medicaid and Medicare, which together provide vital health care to children, low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities.
"The House Republican's budget plan shows how out-of-touch they are. They want to give trillions in tax benefits to wealthy corporations that keep profits offshore, while slashing basic health care for children, seniors, and people with disabilities. This is not just foolish - it's cruel. The Republican budget would end Medicare as we know it and prevent millions of Americans from getting affordable health care. It would shift the financial burden on to states and already struggling families all across the country. In West Virginia, nearly 380,000 people were enrolled in Medicare in 2010 and over 320,000 were enrolled in Medicaid. Anybody who has ever struggled to pay for a nursing home, or to care for a sick or aging relative at home, should be watching the Republican's every move - they are gutting your Medicare and Medicaid support and giving the money to big business and the wealthy."
ROCKEFELLER APPLAUDS NEW PLAN TO HELP IMPROVE QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE IN U.S.
Rockefeller Introduced Legislation Calling for National Health Care Strategy-
Provision Was Included in Last Year's Health Care Reform Law
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Senator Jay Rockefeller today provided the following statement on the release of the first national strategy to coordinate local, state, and national efforts to improve the quality of health care in the United States. The Affordable Care Act called for the strategy, which was released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The United States has never before had a common framework for measuring and prioritizing initiatives to improve the quality of care.
The National Quality Strategy will promote quality health care that is focused on the needs of patients, families, and communities. At the same time, the strategy is designed to move the system to work better for doctors and other health care providers - reducing their administrative burdens and helping them collaborate to improve care.
"As we approach the anniversary of the enactment of the health care law, I'm very pleased to see the release of a coordinated plan to improve health care for patients and their families in this country," said Rockefeller. "We have an excellent health care system, but not everybody gets the right care in the right place at the right time. This strategy will help hospitals, doctors and nurses coordinate care, and patients will have an easier time getting the care they need, when they need it. I look forward to following the rollout of this strategy."
"The Affordable Care Act sets America on a path toward a higher quality health care system so we stop doing things that don't work for patients and start doing more of the things that do work," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "American hospitals, doctors, nurses and other health care providers are among the best in the world. With this ground-breaking strategy, we are working with local communities and health care providers to help patients and improve the health of all Americans."
The National Quality Strategy is designed to be an evolving guide for the nation as we continue to move forward with efforts to measure and improve health and health care quality. HHS will continue to work with stakeholders to create specific quantitative goals and measures for each of the priorities outlined in its initial report. In addition, as different communities have various needs and assets, the strategy and HHS will empower them to take different paths to achieving these goals.
The National Quality Strategy will pursue three broad goals. These goals will be used to guide and assess local, state, and national efforts to improve the quality of health care for all Americans.
* Better Care: Improve the overall quality, by making health care more patient-centered, reliable, accessible, and safe.
* Healthy People/Healthy Communities: Improve the health of the U.S. population by supporting proven interventions to address behavioral, social and, environmental determinants of health in addition to delivering higher-quality care.
* Affordable Care: Reduce the cost of quality health care for individuals, families, employers, and government.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) warned the coal industry Friday that it must work to find solutions to the many problems facing the fossil fuel or risk being "left behind."
Rockefeller, an ardent proponent of coal, told attendees at a conference of the West Virginia Coal Association that the industry must not focus all of its attention on blocking upcoming climate regulations. Instead, the industry should work to develop technology to reduce the greenhouse gases emitted during coal-fired power production so that coal can continue to be a competitive source of electricity.
Update: entire speech transcript below
ROCKEFELLER: COAL CAN BE THE CORNERSTONE OF TOMORROW'S ENERGY ECONOMY
Delivers Remarks at Annual West Virginia Coal Association Symposium
Charleston, W.Va.-Senator Jay Rockefeller today delivered remarks at the West Virginia Coal Association's 38th Annual Mining Symposium.
Below is Rockefeller's speech, as prepared for delivery:
Thank you Bill for your introduction, your friendship and your leadership.
You and Chris Hamilton and the entire West Virginia Coal Association give so much of yourselves personally and professionally for our state - and this yearly symposium is a always an important forum. I'm glad to be here again.
To say these are challenging times is an understatement, isn't it?
Intense competition with natural gas, a declining reserve of easily recoverable coal, lukewarm investors on Wall Street, and the over-reach of the EPA on greenhouse gas emissions and permits are upon us all at once - distinct but inter-connected challenges. Taken together, they sometimes feel like an assault on coal from all directions.
I feel it; I know you feel it; and always most troubling to me - our coal miners and coal communities feel it.
We know that this nation cannot and will not prosper without coal, either today or any time in the future. We know that with the help of technology - and the time to fully deploy that technology - we can make coal cleaner than ever before and as clean, or cleaner, than most other sources of abundant, domestic energy.
And we know that Appalachian coal miners are up to any challenge, will face down any danger, and do whatever it takes to provide for their families and contribute as miners to the country they love.
Those three factors - the necessity of energy from coal, the triumph of technology, and the character of our coal miners - make me fundamentally very optimistic about the future of this industry.
Yet that core optimism does not cloud my judgment about the challenges we face. The forces arrayed against us are significant and varied. The coal industry is at a crossroads like never before - change is already upon us. And we have to find a way - urgently -- to grab hold of our own future.
My frank, honest message to you today is that I don't see us doing enough to gear up for the energy economy of tomorrow and I want very much to work with you to accept the reality we face and do more, better, faster to turn it in West Virginia's favor.
The battles of the moment are important. We need to delay the EPA's greenhouse gas regulations, we need to stop EPA from retroactively vetoing permits, and we need to get the permit process as a whole moving again. I'm fully committed to that.
But my greater fear is that we will win some of these battles and yet still lose the war. We must up our game. We have to increase the intensity of our effort to find solutions to coal's challenges - not just fight the issue of the day, and certainly not get bogged down in rhetorical games or bickering over side issues. If we spend even half of our time fighting for the status quo, we will be left behind.
Cap and trade was defeated last year - I know as you do that every single vote in the Senate was critical to that and I made clear I could not support the bills put forth because there was no serious effort in them to advance clean coal or to give the industry the time needed to gain a meaningful foothold for new technology.
It might be tempting just to count the defeat of cap and trade as a win and forget about it, or to keep up the fight on the political front without delving deeper in to the issues. But for West Virginia that would be a grave mistake.
The defeat of cap and trade was a short-term political win but it didn't do anything to address the underlying issues. It bought us time, not certainty, and my view is that we better use it wisely.
Major changes to our energy and climate policies are by no means off the table and broader economic forces in energy industry are starting to eclipse the policy.
The utility industry, the chemical industry, and many other major players in the U.S. business community are still pressing for a price to carbon in some form, or for a new clean energy standard, or both. They insist that unless and until we settle that issue, they cannot move forward with the clean coal investments West Virginia needs.
I worry that if all this drags out too long, those major U.S. industries will turn to another energy source.
Is that a harsh description of reality? Yes. You know I always call it like I see it, even if the news makes us all a little uncomfortable.
But it is also a call to action. The decline of coal is not inevitable - there are just as many factors working for us as against.
We can make coal as indispensable tomorrow as it is today - as long as we don't stand still; as long as we get moving on every front - business, financing, job creation, regulation, legislation -- to build a consensus around better, cleaner and safer coal.
I'm fighting hard to suspend EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions for two years not for the sake of EPA-bashing -- but specifically because we need time to move forward with a major new program on CCS and we need a serious seat at the table for any other proposals on climate change.
Eliminating the EPA or stopping the agency from ever addressing carbon emissions simply won't work. And I promise you that most of the people in Washington who are pressing those ideas want a fight more than they want a solution.
Here in West Virginia, we need solutions. Suspending EPA regulations for two years can pass - it can work - but only with your help, only if we all get behind it in a united push.
I also need your help to push forward the CCS bill - which dedicates $20 billion - to bringing CCS to full-scale, commercial deployment.
CCS may not be the only answer - we're looking at every good idea out there - but its supported by every major stakeholder, its proven, and its being rolled out here in West Virginia.
If we can drive CCS forward over the next few years and take it global, then we will have, in fact, secured coal's future.
Finally, I can't leave here today without raising with you again the imperative of improving mine safety.
Last week I reintroduced my mine safety legislation and I need to ask you as an association to re-engage with me and with Senator Manchin - who also cares deeply about the safety of our miners -- to get it done.
Mining will always be a dangerous occupation. We accept that. But you as an industry and we as Senators share an obligation to do as much as we can to prevent needless accidents and fatalities.
The Upper Big Branch tragedy and the deaths of other miners since then - including a 19-year-old miner who lost his life just last month -- are constant reminders that we must do more.
We worked together after the disasters at Sago and Aracoma to pass very substantial mine safety reforms, but UBB made clear we have more work to do and that remains a top priority for me.
Let me close by saying that I know I am asking all of you to make hard decisions and to find time in your already very busy work days to do even more to help move us toward a better, more secure and much safer future for our state and our miners.
You care as much as I do about the hopes and prosperity of our West Virginia children, and I thank you for that.
You know I always call it like I see it with you, and I thank you for doing the same with me. We don't sugarcoat with each other.
And this is a moment for that honest and constructive dialogue, for working together and for taking a new course. If we do that, I am certain that we can win.
Both West Virginia senators voted the right way on the repeal issue.
Update
From an email:
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) issued the following statement today after he voted in favor of measures repealing the onerous1099 provision that would hurt small businesses.
"I don't think that throwing out the good parts of this bill, like helping seniors afford prescription drugs or ending discrimination against people with preexisting conditions, makes good common sense," Manchin said. "That's why I have repeatedly said that we should make every effort to work together on repairing this bill before we start talking about repealing it."
"In that spirit, I am encouraged tonight that my colleagues put politics aside and started this repair effort by first supporting efforts to repeal the onerous 1099 provision. We should next work on commonsense legislative options to repair the individual mandate."
I got commonsense for you. Make Medicare available to all.
And am I the only one getting tired of Manchin talking about commonsense. I'd prefer he exhibited more of it and talked about it less than instead of the other way around. What did he do? Poll the phrase and test market it?
Thank you to Sens. Rockefeller and Manchin for signing on to filibuster reform efforts in the next Congress. It's evident that something needs to happen. Filibusters do not work like most people think. Some possibilities include:
Among the chief revisions that Democrats say will likely be offered: Senators could not initiate a filibuster of a bill before it reaches the floor unless they first muster 40 votes for it, and they would have to remain on the floor to sustain it. That is a change from current rules, which require the majority leader to file a cloture motion to overcome an anonymous objection to a motion to proceed, and then wait 30 hours for a vote on it.
"There need to be changes to the rules to allow filibusters to be conducted by people who actually want to block legislation instead of people being able to quietly say 'I object' and go home," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
This is important, significant, and a huge step in the right direction.
In Congressional testimony this week the military has made it clear that they are ready for Congress to repeal the discriminatory "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.
An overwhelming amount of the American people, the military, and the service chiefs support ending this terrible system. There's no excuse for Sen. Manchin to not support it.
Call Sen. Manchin today at (202) 224-3954 and tell him to support all our troops by voting to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell.
If you've already called-thanks a lot. Feel free to call again or ask your friends and family to call too. Write it on Facebook. Post it on Twitter. Send a telegram! (Ok, that's a joke).
Sen. Manchin needs to hear from as many voices as possible. Please call (202) 224-3954 today and tell him to vote to repeal this discriminatory policy.
Sincerely,
Stephen Skinner
Fairness WV
If you have time to make more than one call, give Sen. Rockefeller a call, too. DC office: 202-224-6472 or email Sen. Rockefeller.
I really wonder what's happening, subjectively, inside the heads of people who oppose repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell. Do any of them think they're on the right side of history here? That people are going to look back from 2040 and say "if only we'd listened to John McCain thirty years ago?"
So we should just put it down for the record here. In 2010 when faced with the opportunity to follow all of our important allies down the road of equality, a whole bunch of conservative politicians just decided that their ethics doesn't make room for the idea that gay and lesbian Americans are human beings whose interests should count in deliberations. They refused to articulate exactly what it is that they think gay and lesbians Americans are if not free and equal citizens of the United States. But they made it clear through their words and needs that whatever it is gay and lesbians Americans are, it's not free and equal citizens of the country. They're some kind of subordinate class whose interests can and should be sacrificed to the alter of political expedience or knee-jerk prejudice or something else. It's repugnant and despicable.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV): "There's a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: 'Out. Off. End. Goodbye.' It would be a big favor to political discourse; our ability to do our work here in Congress, and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and more importantly, in their future."
Sen. Rockefeller gets it wrong. FOX News is a partisan GOP organization that makes stuff up. MSNBC has the very best truth-teller, Rachel Maddow, anywhere on TV. Olbermann has his moments, too. Sen. Rockefeller should know better than to equate the two networks.
Campaign cash galore. Joe Manchin III, the current frontrunner and expected nominee for the Democratic Party on the Senate Special Election, is raking in some serious campaign cash prior to the election.
Politico recently reported on the hard numbers in regards to campaign donations for Manchin, and the leading GOP candidate John Raese.
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) raked in an impressive $418,000 for his Senate bid so far, although his chief Republican opponent already has a significant bankroll.
The popular governor is the front-runner in the Aug. 28 primary and the Nov. 2 special election for the late Robert Byrd's Senate seat. Public polls show him leading mining company owner John Raese by double digits.
Reports indicate that Raese has put roughly $320,000 of his own money into his campaign. An outrageously high amount, but still not enough to match Manchin's campaign contributions.
Manchin has been significantly helped out by Jay Rockefeller, who Politico claims helped raise nearly $200,000 for Manchin over the course of this campaign that opened only just a few weeks ago.
Manchin seems to already be thinking past the primary to the actual Special Election, his sights are set on that prized Senate seat vacated by the late, great Robert C. Byrd earlier in the summer.
Manchin and Raese, as of right now, seem to be the ones who will be nominated for their respected parties going into the general election. Manchin already holds a significant lead on Raese, but I expect that... given Raese's clear dedication to his campaign.... he will be pulling out all of the stops necessary to try to gain on Manchin's lead. The WVGOP wants to have a (R) in the Senate for West Virginia desperately, and I doubt they'll be afraid to sling a little mud along the way.
On June 10th, we all celebrated the defeat of the Murkowski resolution, which would have gutted the EPA's ability to regulate carbon dioxide pollution. Why we needed to defeat Murkowski was explained well by NRDC Action Fund Executive Director, Peter Lehner, who wrote the following prior to the vote:
EPA's proactive lead in greenhouse gas regulation is a critical aspect of the effort to reduce our rampant, destabilizing, and destructive dependence on foreign and offshore oil. While the endangerment finding does not, in itself, prescribe regulations, it provides the legal basis for critical standards: EPA's proposed CAFE efficiency standard for light-duty vehicles is projected to save over 455 million barrels per year, and an anticipated standard for heavy-duty vehicles will save billions more. Stripping EPA of its authority to implement these protections would increase our nation's dependence on oil and send hundreds of billions of dollars overseas. We cannot afford this big step backward, especially as we watch more oil gush into the Gulf each day.
In the end, the Senate didn't take that "big step backward" on June 10th, as the Murkowski resolution failed by a 47-53 vote. Many of us probably figured that was the end of this issue, and that the Senate would now move on to passing comprehensive, clean energy and climate legislation. Unfortunately, as is often the case in Washington, DC, it isn't that simple (let alone logical).
Today, clean air and public health are once again under an assault that constitutes, essentially, "Murkowski Part II." The Wall Street Journal reported on June 22:
As U.S. Senate lawmakers attempt to determine the fate of energy legislation, an influential Democrat is boosting efforts to suspend a controversial greenhouse-gas rule passed earlier this year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
After introducing a bill to impose a two-year halt on the new EPA rule, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia, is now working to round up supporters for his legislation.
It should go without saying that this is completely unacceptable. As we all know, the public was outraged at Senator Murkowski's Big Oil Bailout bill. They understood that this moved the country backward, not forward, and that it was exactly the wrong way to go given the energy and environmental challenges we face. Through all our efforts, our phone calls and emails (and blog posts and tweets, etc.), we helped to kill Murkowski Part I. Now, unfortunately, Sen. Jay Rockefeller is pushing Murkowski Part II, yet there's far less attention being paid to this effort than to the Murkowski's EPA Castration Resolution Part I. People have a lot of other things on their minds, and they thought this fight was over back in June. But, once they find out that this effort is baaaaack, like a monster in a cheesy horror movie, they are not going to respond positively.
Of course, why would the public - which overwhelmingly supports taking action to promote clean energy and deal with climate change - ever respond positively to a proposal aimed at throwing away one of our key tools to cut pollution and protect public health? And why would they respond positively now of all times, as oil continues to spew into the Gulf of Mexico, as record heat waves scorch the United States, and as climate science is strengthened every day that goes by? Last but not least, why would they support an effort to protect the corporate polluters and not all of us who are being hurt by that pollution?
The bottom line is simple: instead of wasting its time on legislation that will only move the country backwards - towards dirty energy forever - the Senate should be busy passing a bill that moves the country forward towards a bright future of green energy, clean tech jobs, energy security and climate protection. Once our Senators hear that message loud and clear from all of us, Rockefeller's Murkowski Part II will be rejected by the Senate, just as Murkowski Part I was before it.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD (D-W.Va.)
IN OPPOSITION TO "MURKOWSKI DISAPPROVAL RESOLUTION"
"I believe that the measure that we are being asked to vote upon today is extreme. The Murkowski Resolution before us today is being presented to the Senate in a most unusual fashion. A "Disapproval Resolution" limits this great institution's ability to conduct an open and thorough debate. This measure prohibits Senators from offering amendments. For those keeping score at home, in this political climate, it is usually the members of the minority party who are blasting the majority party for not allowing amendments on any and every measure that is brought to the Senate floor for debate. Yet, the Resolution offered by Senator Murkowski, a member of the minority party, with co-sponsors who are mostly members of the minority party, suppresses debate on this very important topic."
"Now, I would be the first one to argue in this chamber that it is the members of the legislative branch who should be setting policy concerning the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. We should be doing that. If we are serious about addressing this issue, all of us in this body should, in a bipartisan manner, debate and move forward as soon as possible on a comprehensive energy policy, including a discussion of climate change issues."
"The Senate owes it to the American people to do something other than hold a political vote on the Murkowski "Disapproval Resolution," which has zero prospects for enactment. Even if it did pass the Senate, the House Leadership has indicated that it would not bring it to the floor for a vote, and the President has issued a veto threat. Even if it did pass, it would not alleviate our well-founded uncertainty about the future."
"Many leaders in Congress and around the Nation have been hard at work for the past several years in designing federal energy legislation that will ensure a better future for America's coal miners and other workers, while also making long-overdue investments in new, high-growth American industries."
"The Congress should be debating a new energy policy that makes the best possible use of our abundant coal reserves while transitioning America into a position less dependent on foreign oil, less beholden to the special interests of giant multi-national corporations, and more responsive and proactive in meeting Americans' desire for cleaner and more abundant sources of energy. I understand that the Senate Democratic Leadership is willing to move forward on an energy bill that includes a clear-cut pre-emption for action by the Environmental Protection Agency."
"I have been working with many of my colleagues to help shape a bill that will be good for the future of coal and the coal industry in my home State of West Virginia. Having a seat at the table and being open to discussions on these matters has enabled me to add provisions relating to clean coal technologies, job creation, and transitions to new jobs to proposed legislation. And I have secured commitments to provide billions of dollars for constructing the next generation of cleaner coal-fired power plants, and am currently negotiating for billions more to support businesses and job creation in the West Virginia region, as well as to improve highways, broadband access, and other critical infrastructure and economic development services for the people, entrepreneurs, and businesses that will make West Virginia stronger in the future. These provisions are beneficial for my home state of West Virginia and for the people of the entire Appalachia region."
"The Murkowski "Disapproval Resolution" overturns the "endangerment finding." This in essence is like voting to assert that there is no climate change or global warming going on, and to dismiss scientific facts that already exist. As I have pointed out before, to deny the mounting science of climate change is to stick our heads in the sand and say "deal me out." West Virginia needs to stay at the table, as should all Senators who have concerns about our energy policy."
"Finally, mark my words, the regulation of greenhouse gasses is approaching, whether done by Congress or by regulation, despite naysayers who rail about the non-existence of climate change."
"This Resolution, I fear, would have a sweeping impact. It could preclude action to reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil. It could delay critical investments in clean coal technologies. That's not a national energy strategy I can or want to support. My vote today against the Murkowski Resolution is a vote for coal's future and my intention to continue to have a seat at the table and a voice for West Virginia in how we legislate our energy future."
For weeks, environmental groups have been pressuring to defeat Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski's resolution to weaken the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Our junior senator was at the heart of such pressure, as he was a key swing vote in deciding whether Murkowski's resolution would gain favor in the senate.
Rockefeller introduced a separate bill that would have more narrowly limited EPA's authority by imposing a two-year time-out on EPA climate rules for stationary sources, but he has said he had trouble advancing the measure.
In other words, the Rockefeller bill would give a two-year grace period for any EPA environmental regulations to take effect. The White House, thankfully, has promised to veto the Murkowski disapproval resolution, should it somehow pass in the senate.
At stake here is Senator Rockefeller's unfortunate stance that the coal industry and other carbon-producing companies should not be regulated at the federal level (e.g., very little or no regulation) and his wrongheaded support of an anti-environmental agenda. Rockefeller needs to rescind his support for the Murkowski amendment and withdraw his alternate, weak bill that stifles the EPA's ability to protect communities from industry-created environmental destruction. Rockefeller's antiquated stance here is anything but progressive, unfortunately.
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