Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) voted in favor of the Preventing Government Waste and Protecting Coal Mining Jobs in America Act (H.R.2824), of which he is a co-sponsor.
Gosar Votes to Save Coal Mining Jobs, Prevent Waste 'The Obama Administration's love affair with unnecessary regulation is costing jobs and wasting hard-earned taxpayer money'
Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) voted in favor of the Preventing Government Waste and Protecting Coal Mining Jobs in America Act (H.R.2824), of which he is a co-sponsor. This legislation would save coal mining jobs and prevent government waste by putting an end to the Obama Administration's efforts to develop new coal regulations that would destroy jobs and waste taxpayer money on a faulty rule-making process. H.R.2824 passed the House by a vote of 229 to 192.
After the vote, Rep. Gosar said, "Mining is a vital industry in Arizona, as it is in many states throughout our nation. In Arizona, coal mining alone supports approximately 4,000 jobs. The loss of these jobs would devastate families in rural communities where mining is a prevalent part of the economy."
"The Obama Administration's love affair with unnecessary regulation is costing jobs and wasting hard-earned taxpayer money on the development of economically catastrophic regulations," Rep. Gosar continued. "This legislation will shield coal mining jobs and taxpayer money from attacks by Obama Administration regulations. It’s time for the Obama Administration to focus on creating jobs, not choking them off through burdensome regulations."
BACKGROUND
The Obama Administration’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) revised the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule, a coal mining regulation that received five years of public comment and environmental review. The Administration agreed to revise the rule at the behest of an environmental group and subsequently wasted millions of taxpayer dollars by hiring contractors to unnecessarily rewrite the rule. It also fired these contractors after media reports revealed that the new rule would eliminate 7,000 jobs and damage the economies of 22 states. Finally, the Administration attempted to hide the true economic cost of the new rule by manipulating data and is now refusing to answer questions about the rewrite.
