David McKinley

Serious Federal policy proposals must also reflect the global nature of the challenge.

As long as countries like China and India are expanding their dependence on fossil fuels, America will still experience wildfires on the West Coast, droughts and floods in the Midwest, and hurricanes in the East.

If America alone decarbonizes, the impact on the global environment would be virtually immeasurable.

I have been functioning for years now on the fact that climate change is a global issue and requires a global solution.

My district is facing the brunt of the transition away from coal.

Workers from coal communities will be, quote, 'put to work making solar panels.'

The beneficiaries will be China, in terms of exporting the so-called green products, minerals, and Russia and the Middle East in terms of exporting the oil and gas.

The world will use more oil and gas in the future and not less, for the usefully foreseeable future.

Is it fair to say that China would be the one, the top geopolitical and financial beneficiary of such a policy?

These hard-working men and women ... deserve more respect than this.

I look forward to a thoughtful discussion and I yield back.

So, Mr. Chairman, remember, your party controls the House, the Senate, and the White House. You can do almost anything want, but don't forget that 'just because you can, doesn't mean you should.'

I request unanimous consent to enter the following into the record.

What happens to Gillette, Wyoming; Hazard, Kentucky; Cadiz or Welch? What happens to those in the meantime?

There are no solar panel or wind turbine manufacturing plants in Gillette, Wyoming; Hazard, Kentucky; Cadiz, Ohio; or Welch, West Virginia.

Displaced workers, coal miners, can work, quote, 'reclaiming abandoned land mines.'

But if members of this committee naively think that other nations are waiting for America to lead, they're wrong.

Efforts to transform our energy sector should be mindful of the failures of past regulatory overreach and an inability to pivot to renewables.

President Biden wants workers to have alternatives.

Don't forget that, when Joe Biden was a candidate, he said that Executive orders could become an abuse of Presidential Power.

So hopefully our panelists today won't insult us by saying that rejoining the Paris Agreement will solve America's environmental dilemma.

Mr. Chairman, these new Executive orders will increase the divide between big cities and rural areas, not foster unity.

Based on these experiences, neither a President nor a Congress should ever put a regulation in place before a bipartisan transition plan has been adopted.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Now, unlike New York--and that's a key thing--unlike New York's Governor, who ignored the vulnerable in their long-term facility and recommendations of his public health experts, West Virginia prioritized its long-term care residents and…