On the recordJune 20, 2012
I rise today as a signer of the discharge petition for S.J. Res. 37, the Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval for the Environmental Protection Agency's Utility MACT rule. I support this measure with all my heart. I urge my colleagues and my fellow citizens who are listening to this debate today to recognize that the EPA's Utility MACT rule is not just about curtailing mercury emissions from powerplants. At the heart of the Utility MACT rule is an effort to shut down our Nation's coal-mines and coal-fired powerplants. When President Obama was a United States Senator, he was the deciding vote on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to kill the Clear Skies bill which would have reduced mercury emissions in the United States by 70 percent. Let's be clear about why the liberals on that committee voted against this mercury reduction measure. They did so because they wanted to hold that issue aside and use it to help pass a nationwide climate bill, the biggest anticoal legislation ever considered by Congress. In other words, killing coal mining jobs and shutting down coal-fired powerplants took priority over real and significant reductions in mercury emissions and any health benefits that would have come with those reductions. The EPA's Utility MACT rule was carefully written to ensure that most of its mercury reductions will come from the forced shutdown of coal mines and coal-fired powerplants.…
