On the recordJune 20, 2012
I thank the gentleman from West Virginia for yielding, my good friend, and I commend him for his dogged determination on this issue and for his patience and persistence. I certainly rise in support of this motion to instruct. This gentleman from West Virginia was, after all, the Democratic floor manager of the House bill which got us into conference with the Senate. It accepted the amendment offered by Mr. McKinley, which passed by a voice vote on April 18. {time} 1610 This amendment, known as the ``coal ash provision,'' is an important provision; and I, like many others, do not want to see it derail the entire transportation bill in its entirety. But I think if this body were to follow the instructions of the House, both in this motion and in the previous motion adopted by Mr. Walz of Minnesota, which instructed conferees to report back by June 22, then I believe we would have a transportation bill that this Nation would benefit from and our American workers would benefit. Since 1980, the EPA has struggled to figure out whether coal ash should be regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and, if so, in what fashion. As of this date, 32 years later, no EPA regulation is in place. The Agency had its shot, and now it's time to move on. The provision by the House is aimed at the States bolstering their programs governing the regulation of coal ash and includes enforcement actions if they fail to do so.…
