National Coal Council Reestablishment Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3015. This bill would require the Department of Energy to reestablish the National Coal Council, something that President Trump already did 3 months ago.

It goes further than that. House Republicans don't just want to reestablish the National Coal Council. They want it to play by different rules than the 27 other advisory councils that the Department of Energy maintains by making it permanent.

Of course, they offer no justification as to why this council and only this council is special. There isn't one.

I also want to point out that among DOE's other 27 advisory councils, not a single one is focused on clean energy. There is no solar council, no wind council, no battery council, and not even a geothermal energy council. All of those could be very useful.

Instead of using their floor time to prompt the Department to develop a council for some of our cheaper, cleaner energy, Republicans are focused on giving coal special treatment. Frankly, it is ridiculous. I think it is a waste of time.

Mr. Speaker, the country is in turmoil. We are facing a national healthcare crisis. Republicans are actively taking healthcare away from millions of Americans. Meanwhile, millions more are about to watch their healthcare premiums skyrocket and their local hospitals close, not to mention the astronomical cost of living that is rising more and more each day, thanks to Trump's tariffs.

Rather than addressing one of these real crises, Republicans have us wasting time on a bill that would order the DOE to do something it has already done.

Republicans could be using the floor time to ensure millions of Americans don't get priced out of their healthcare plans. They are not doing that.

Republicans could use floor time to rein in Trump's tariffs, which are projected to cost hardworking families thousands of dollars each year. They are not going to do that.

Republicans could use floor time to pass an energy policy that would bring electricity bills down. Clearly, they are not doing that.

The reason is simple. Republicans care more about signaling their love of coal than they care about fighting for hardworking families struggling to make ends meet. They don't care about the hardworking families who are trying to make ends meet. They are just signaling that they love coal.

That is particularly shameful when we consider coal consumption has declined by nearly two-thirds since its peak in 2007. Instead of celebrating the newer sources of cleaner and cheaper energy, Republicans are frantically trying to turn back the clock and ignore Americans' pleas for real and meaningful help in the process.

Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to this bill and to this massive waste of time. It is completely meaningless. I hope they will do something else.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, once again, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor), who is our ranking member of the Energy Subcommittee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Matsui), who is the ranking member of our Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard my colleagues on the other side talk about how long it takes to bring energy plants or energy sources online. I have heard about the suggestion that the Democrats are trying to close fossil fuel plants.

President Trump is a President who, in the 8 months now since he has been President, has proceeded to try to cut off almost any source of clean energy. Just a few weeks ago, he announced that he was going to stop the offshore wind projects that were over 90 percent constructed in Rhode Island. He has done the same throughout the eastern seaboard.

I think it was the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie) who said that it takes a long time to build these energy facilities, and either the gentleman or one of the other Republicans today said that Republicans favor all of the above, which means that the majority favors fossil fuels, would like to see clean energy, and would like to see nuclear energy, presumably.

Mr. Speaker, that is not what we are getting. That is not what we are getting from the Trump administration. That is not what we are getting with these bills. Everything favors fossil fuels. Every effort is being made by this President to cut off clean energy, not only windmills but also solar, et cetera.

The bottom line is that everything is being done to prioritize dirty fuels, in particular, whether it is coal, oil, or whatever it is, at the expense of clean energy.

Clean energy is cheaper. Even if my colleagues didn't believe that, we need more energy, regardless of the source. Why would Republicans want to just cut off offshore windmills in Rhode Island that are over 90 percent complete? It makes no sense unless they are trying to favor the oil and gas and the fossil fuel interests.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans say that they want to save the coal industry. Secretary Wright recently implied that he doesn't want a single fossil fuel plant to close.

This is ridiculous for several reasons, the most important being that keeping these plants open is more expensive than building new sources of clean energy. The proof is really in the pudding here. The Trump Department of Energy recently forced two fossil fuel plants that were days away from retiring to remain open and is directly forcing homeowners hundreds of miles away from these plants to pay to keep the plants online.

The Consumers coal plant in Michigan was slated to close and save Michigan residents $600 million on their power bills, but Donald Trump pulled the rug out from everyone and, instead, is increasing families' power bills.

The administration pulled the same trick with the Eddystone oil and gas plant in Pennsylvania, where two units that were nearly 60 years old were set to expire. Pennsylvania's grid operator determined that taking the plants out of service would not impact grid reliability, but President Trump didn't care. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission chairman noted that ``the price tag for consumers could grow quickly.''

Consumers aren't getting a say in this process. President Trump dictates that a coal plant stays online, and homeowners have to pay for it.

A recent study by Grid Strategies found that, if the administration refused to let a single fossil fuel plant close, Americans would be on the hook for $6 billion per year and increased costs by the end of the Trump administration.

Republicans' obsession with coal is going to cost Americans billions of dollars and pollute our air and water for nothing except some additional cash for Republicans' friends in the coal industry. It is really a rotten deal for the average American.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to say in opposition to this bill that Republicans claim that the National Coal Council is so important that it demands floor time in the House of Representatives, even though the President has already reestablished it. We could be passing legislation to lower energy costs or avoid a spike in health insurance premiums instead.

If Republicans believed that the National Coal Council is such a priority, then surely the Trump administration does, as well. Yet, the Trump administration has let the National Coal Council languish for 3 months. They reestablished it back in June. It hasn't met. No one has been appointed to lead the council. Remember, those positions don't require a Senate confirmation or even consultation with the Office of Presidential Personnel.

There are no meetings scheduled. It should at least have some members if Republicans think that it is important. Unfortunately, none of those things has happened.

If you look on the website for the National Coal Council, it says that all of this is coming soon: members, meetings, or whatever. That is like the neighborhood coffee shop not quite ready to open to visitors. They put up a ``coming soon'' sign.

The reality is that all of this is a charade. Republicans can try to sell to donors that they are rescuing the coal industry, but in fact, they are doing nothing, not even with the National Coal Council.

It is not like it was that great under the previous Trump administration, either. The National Coal Council operated in the previous Trump administration as some kind of bizarre organization that was intertwined with a trade association that went by the same name, funded by private contributions from companies that made up the real government coal council.

It got so bad that a Federal judge found that the shadowy trade association was the alter ego of the real coal council, with no clear lines of separation between the Federal entity and its mirror image.

Official Coal Council events were funded by the trade association. At a meeting of the government's Coal Council, a speaker called upon members to become dues-paying members of the trade association.

You can't make this stuff up. You really can't. This idea that the National Coal Council will be important and that anyone really cares about it is just a joke. The Trump administration obviously doesn't think the National Coal Council is important. The last time it existed, it didn't even seem to do anything.

I don't understand the point of advancing a bill to reconstitute it without adding guardrails to prohibit the mixing of industry priorities with legitimate research. This is what the court pointed out to us.

I only mention these things because I am trying to emphasize that this bill is a complete waste of time and a disservice to our constituents that we are even here talking about it.

Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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