Cord Byrd: “Yes. I thank my friend for his excellent contribution to the colloquy. Many times, as he has said, we have discussed…”

“Yes. I thank my friend for his excellent contribution to the colloquy. Many times, as he has said, we have discussed this matter. He understands the background from which I came--which is a similar background to that from which he came--the coal mining; in his case, gold mining; in my case, coal mining. Sometimes we refer to it as ``black gold.'' This coal has provided the livelihood for thousands of miners over the years, who have risked their lives to go into those coal mines. So research, I have believed during the years I have been on the Senate Appropriations Committee--42 years--is the answer to many of the things, research. And through research, mining has been made more safe. We have fewer and fewer miners being killed annually than we have had in the past. It has been a very bloody--a very bloody--employment and a very bloody industry, if you go back over the years. So we have improved the safety. We are helping to clean up the environment. We are understanding ways in which coal may be mined more cheaply. And that is the result of the moneys that have been appropriated through this Subcommittee on Interior. As I have already indicated, I have appropriated, I have been the source of the appropriations of millions of dollars for clean coal technology.…”