Alan Lowenthal: “We heard a very passionate plea that this amendment of mine would hurt jobs, would hurt schools, would kill coal. It is…”

“We heard a very passionate plea that this amendment of mine would hurt jobs, would hurt schools, would kill coal. It is just the opposite. As I pointed out, the CBO's report just indicated that production would not go down. In fact, the largest impact upon production, the dominant factor that controls production, is the price of crude oil and natural gas, not the royalty rates. I also would like to remind those on the other side of the aisle that States like Montana already at the State level and also on private property charge much higher than we are asking at the Federal level. I would agree to the same charge that Montana charges residents for its own oil and gas and coal production. Mr. Chairman, I request an ``aye'' vote on this very reasonable amendment that really brings money back to both States and also to the Federal Treasury. I yield back the balance of my time.”