Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 3797, the Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act, or the SENSE Act.

Mr. Chairman, coal refuse is an aboveground waste product of coal mining that can pose a number of environmental and safety threats to our country. To address these threats, specialized power plants, known as coal refuse-to-energy plants, were developed to recycle their waste product while generating affordable, reliable electricity to the American people.

Yet, the EPA has continually written rules and regulations that will ultimately shut down these specialized plants.

The Agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and their Mercury and Air Toxics Standards include certain emission limits that are just not achievable for coal refuse-to-energy plants.

These EPA regulations will cost and result in billions of dollars in environmental cleanup. This could all be prevented by refuse-to-energy plants.

That is why H.R. 3797 is so important. It will provide targeted modifications to the EPA rules as they apply to coal refuse-to-energy plants.

There are no major initiatives. There are no new laws being created. We are only making target modifications to EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and their Mercury and Air Toxics Standards so Americans can receive safe, affordable energy, keep their jobs, and have a cleaner environment.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3797 so that we can make sure that we continue to create more jobs while making our environment cleaner.

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