Evan Jenkins
In an effort to protect coal mining jobs in their home states, U.S. Reps. Evan Jenkins (R-WV), Jim Renacci (R-OH) and Bill Shuster (R-PA) vowed to overturn the Obama administration’s final Stream Protection Rule (SPR) under the new administration.
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement released the final rule as an update to 33-year-old regulations that would require mining companies to avoid mining practices that pollute streams and drinking water, increase flood risk and threaten forests.
“By issuing this rule in the final weeks in office, the Obama administration is making one last-ditch effort to push its anti-coal agenda on the American people,” Jenkins said. “We cannot afford to have any more job-killing regulations crippling our state, our economy and our families. I will lead the charge in Congress in stopping this rule and fighting for West Virginia’s jobs.”
The final rule, Renacci said, would signal the end of coal production in Ohio and the Appalachian region, as well as the end of thousands of good-paying jobs in those communities. Ohio’s coal industry directly and indirectly employs about 33,000 people.
“As a member of the Congressional Coal Caucus, I have consistently been opposed to the SPR and the Obama administration’s blatant disregard for the countless families it will impact,” Renacci said.
Renacci said he would work with other members of Congress and with President-elect Trump in his first 100 days in office to repeal this rule and other regulations issued by Obama late in his term.
“The SPR will qualify for repeal under the Congressional Review Act – an oversight tool Congress may use to overturn a rule issued by a federal agency,” Renacci said. “As was made clear in the presidential election results, Ohioans are tired of the administration’s relentless executive overreach.”
Shuster said the administration’s “war on coal” has hit the Pennsylvania region hard, and its “latest power grab” would continue to grow government and kill jobs.
“This rule is misguided and wrong for this nation,” Shuster said. “I will work with my House colleagues and the Trump administration on turning back this rule and many others from the outgoing administration that stifle our coal and natural gas industry and hold back economic growth in our coal mining communities across Southwestern Pennsylvania and the entire country.”