Political Quotes

“I think the gentleman's information is incorrect. It is a $21 million project. We have put in $12 million. It will take roughly $9 million to finish. Twenty percent is being provided by the State of Illinois and by private sources. I am sure the gentleman is not aware of the fact, but if we close down the project, if we stop now, if we do not spend another penny to finish it, the $8 million or $9 million to finish it, it will cost us $3.1 million to close down the project. Here is what we are faced with. We either spend $8 million to finish the project, do the research and see if it helps, or we spend $3 million to close it down. Mr. Chairman, I am sure the gentleman from California faces his own challenges in his State and we will be addressing some of those. We face a challenge in the Midwest because of the Clean Air Act. We have abundant coal resources which cannot be used under the Clean Air Act. We are desperately, desperately trying to find ways to use these coal resources to reduce our dependence on foreign energy. This research project, the result of a competitive bid through the Department of Energy, is an effort to find an environmentally safe way to produce form coke to help the steel industry. We have seen the coal industry in my home State of Illinois decline dramatically in the last few years. We have gone from 20,000 plus coal miners to 7,000 or 8,000. We are trying to find responsible ways to use this resource.”