On the recordApril 17, 2013
I want to thank the gentleman from Kentucky for hosting this discussion about the importance of coal, and for all those who are going to participate in this discussion this evening. When President Obama was seeking the office he now holds, he visited San Francisco and he attended a meeting in San Francisco. And at that meeting he made the comment that if he was elected President, you could still build a coal plant in America, but he would bankrupt the industry. And guess what? He and his administration have made it very clear, despite their comments that they support all of the above in energy policy to produce electricity, they've made it very clear that they do not support the use of coal. The gentleman from Kentucky mentioned earlier that over 205 coal- burning plants have closed in this country in recent years. And this President's EPA recently came out with a rule proposal relating to greenhouse gas emissions, and that when they finalize that rule--they were supposed to have finalized it on April 13 and they did not do it-- but when they finalize it, it will be impossible to build a new coal- powered plant in America because the technology is not available to meet the emissions standards required by EPA. Now, let's think about that for a moment. We would be the only country in the world in which you would not be able to build a coal- powered plant to produce electricity. And we know that in China, they're building more and more every day, every week, every month.…
