The U.S. House Energy & Mineral Resources Subcommittee of the Natural Resources Committee held a field hearing Monday, September 26 here in Charleston, West Virginia. The hearing focused on the Obama Administration’s attempts to rewrite the Stream Buffer Zone rule and potential damage this would cause to the nation’s coal industry.
Jason Bostic, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, testified at the hearing, which was held at the Kanawha County Courthouse. Bostic told committee members that the OSM and federal EPA are engaged in an assault on coal that usurps the lawmaking powers of the Congress and upsets the Constitutional balance between the three branches of government.
Governor Tomblin also spoke to the Committee. "All told, more than 63,000 West Virginians work in jobs provided by the coal industry. That is 63,000 families," Governor Tomblin said. "Think about it for a moment -that means approximately 250,000 people in a state with less than two million citizens are supported, in one way or another, by the mining of coal."
In his testimony, Governor Tomblin pointed out that the draft environmental impact statement that OSM is considering projects approximately a 30 percent decrease in surface mine coal production in the Appalachian basin; an estimated worst-case-scenario loss of 10,000 jobs; an approximate 13 percent loss in severance tax; and an estimated 11 percent decrease in income taxes.
"West Virginia coal miners, the bravest workers in the world, should be confident about their future, enjoying the fruits of their hard work, building new homes, and saving for their children's education and their own retirement," Tomblin said. "They should not be worrying about an overbearing federal bureaucracy that threatens the very backbone of their lives."
He said, "You must restore balance to the relationship of the states and the federal government. You must demand an end to legislation by regulation."