Exporting Wyoming Coal Overseas Takes An Important Step

Jun 19, 2013 -- Congressional Documents and Publications/ContentWorks

In written testimony submitted Tuesday to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Army Corp of Engineers announced the department will not undertake a full programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on permit applications for coal exports at ports in Washington and Oregon. Anti-coal groups, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and various elected officials had requested that the entire lifecycle of coal - from extraction, to transport, to eventual usage in Asia - be considered in the EIS covering a single port project. Today's announcement rejects that unreasonable request, choosing instead to manageably evaluate the port's specific impact only.

The announcement is welcome news for Wyoming's hard working coal miners and their families who have been under siege from the Administration's regulations aimed at making coal more expensive here at home. In a letter to the Army Corp of Engineers dated last June, Rep. Lummis and former Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) along with 56 fellow members of the House, urged the department to resist the proposed environmental reviews for coal exports.

"Finally the coal industry catches a break," U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo) said. "The battle against the anti-coal agenda in this country has given rise to some incredible claims and rhetoric. It's great to hear the Army Corp of Engineers exercising good judgment and speaking some common sense. Agreeing to a review proposed by the EPA is unrealistic, expensive and unreasonable. International exports of coal strengthen the U.S. economy, add much needed high paying-jobs, and is the key toward providing affordable electricity to the nearly 2 billion people in the world who have no electricity at all."

Read this original document at: http://lummis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=339459

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