Dan Coats: “I thank my colleague from West Virginia, Senator Manchin, for joining with me to produce a bipartisan, commonsense…”

“I thank my colleague from West Virginia, Senator Manchin, for joining with me to produce a bipartisan, commonsense solution that is supported by both industry and labor, a piece of legislation that will ensure that the provision established through the Clean Air Act relative to the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, mercury, and other emissions will not be reduced and eliminated. We do nothing to stop the progress that has been made over many years in regard to cleaning up our air. We should be proud as Americans that we have taken the steps necessary to produce a cleaner environment, to eliminate toxic pollutants in the air. Over $100 billion has been spent by industry to retrofit their energy-producing plants with equipment that reduces and eliminates these pollutants. So we are not here today to advocate in favor of pumping more toxins into the air. We are here today to say we need a reasonable provision in place that would allow these industries to continue to spend the billions of dollars they are spending and do it in a timely manner so that we can reach the goal established through the Clean Air Act and other regulations. But I think this current regulation we had a vote on--the Paul resolution--less than an hour ago, which came close to passing, now sets the stage for this particular provision, which the Senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, and I have cosponsored.…”