Frank Pallone: “In closing, I just want to comment on two issues that keep coming up on the Republican side. One is this notion, which I…”

“In closing, I just want to comment on two issues that keep coming up on the Republican side. One is this notion, which I think the GOP Whip Scalise talked about, of the President's war on coal. Nothing could be further from the truth. I agree that the transition away from coal is contributing to job losses in the coal industry, but setting aside these rules will not alter this trend. There are too many other changes occurring in the power sector that are impacting these workers. Technologies--including distributed generation, smart grid, energy storage, energy efficiency, microgrids, and combined heat and power systems--are maturing and being incorporated at a faster pace. In some areas, they call into question the old grid model that was dominated by large, centralized generation. Concern for these displaced energy workers should be motivating us to do something to help these people and their communities to transition to other good-paying jobs in new industries. Setting aside this rule is not going to replace the job security that they had in the past. Instead of wasting time trying to hold back progress and ignore climate change, we should be working together to address this challenge. This rule moves us forward, and it represents our Nation's commitment to addressing a serious global problem that we helped to create. I constantly hear this about job losses.…”