Nick Rahall: “I thank my dear colleague from New Jersey for yielding me the time. Mr. Chairman, I do rise in support of the pending…”

“I thank my dear colleague from New Jersey for yielding me the time. Mr. Chairman, I do rise in support of the pending legislation, H.R. 2824; and to my good friend, the chairman of the committee, Doc Hastings, I commend him for bringing this bill to the floor of the House. As he knows, I am the only Member left in this body that served on the original conference committee that wrote H.R. 2, which was enacted as the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, otherwise known as SMCRA. Due to the nature of my congressional district and my years of service on the Natural Resources Committee, I am very familiar with SMCRA and what it requires. This law has numerous performance standards governing the coal surface mining and reclamation process. These standards govern everything from the handling of excess spoil to the period for which successful revegetation must take place prior to bond release. One fundamental aspect of the performance standards is that the mine area be reclaimed to its approximate original contour, with one exception. The law is clear, and it provides for an exception from the approximate original contour requirement in the case of mountaintop removal operations if certain conditions are met. A stream buffer zone rule is not included among the many SMCRA performance standards. Such a rule was not contemplated by the conferees on H.R. 2 back in 1977. This rule was a manifestation of the bureaucracy.…”