Political Quotes

“here we go again; another nail in the coffin of energy independence. Another nail, in fact, adding to the unemployment rate. If this bill was to become law, mines will be shut down. They will be shut down. And what bothers me the most is we had a bipartisan bill, actually it was passed in 2006, I believe, or 2007, that improved the 1977 Mine Safety Health Act. It was supported by everybody, that side and this side, the administration. And we have not given the time, that's less than a year and a half, given the time for the operators of these mines to even reach that requirement that we said was the right thing to do. Now, it always amazes me. I don't think there's much coal mining in Vallejo or in the Bay Area or in Point Reyes. And I do respect the gentleman from West Virginia because he does have mining. And I've heard from his operators in that area that there's a very difficult thought process going forth with this bill. Can they operate? Because in this bill, they stop the ability for belt air, which, in fact, was put in for safety purposes, supported by the people who understand this, for diluting methane and dust levels, and this bill prohibits that. How is that improving the life of our miners? It is not. And more than that, I want to remind people. As bad as it may appear, as very much, you know, heart wrenching when there is a death in a mine, we still have the safest mining industry in the world.”