Alex Mooney: “I thank Congressman Bill Johnson for inviting me to speak this evening. Ladies and gentlemen, this is it. This is one of…”

“I thank Congressman Bill Johnson for inviting me to speak this evening. Ladies and gentlemen, this is it. This is one of the last chances to save the coal industry in my State of West Virginia. There is no time to hesitate. We have to act now. That is why I am proud to have introduced my bill, H.R. 1644, the STREAM Act. In the 8 years since President Obama took office, our unemployment rate in West Virginia went from the fifth lowest to the highest unemployment rate in the country. This is a direct result of the Obama administration's continued war on coal, which is a war on West Virginia's economy. Three months ago, the Office of Surface Mining, under the Department of the Interior, released its latest set of regulations that will cripple the coal industry not only across the country, but especially in West Virginia. Understand that the EPA, or the Environmental Protection Agency, already overregulates the coal industry. And now the Department of Interior, under this President, is doubling down and doubly overregulating the coal industry. Even more ridiculous is the heart of this rulemaking, which is to fundamentally change the definition of a stream to include temporary puddles of water. Temporary ``streams'' are essentially ditches that fill with water after it rains. A recent study from the National Mining Association estimates that these new proposed rules will kill as many as 77,000 coal jobs across the country.…”