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US Representatives speak out against proposed environmental regulations

December 17, 2015

Us Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ) has spoken out against proposed environmental regulations and criticised it for the potential effects it would have on the coal industry. He indicated that the measures put forward by the Office of Natural Resources Revenie (ONRR) would have an impact on the valuation of federal onshore oil, natural gas and coal royalties.

"The Office of Natural Resources Revenue's proposed rule is a bureaucratic nightmare that will make it impossible to produce coal on federal lands, including tribal land," Gosar stated. "If implemented, this fundamentally flawed new regulation will kill jobs, result in an unconstitutional tax on coal exports and bankrupt even more American energy companies."

Gossar and US Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) have both criticised proposed changes to the Stream Protection Rule at a Department of the Interior (DOI).

The Stream Protection Rule was created in 1979 to protect year-round springs located near mines through the creation of buffer zones. The DOI's proposed updates to the rule may make it stricter and create a wider margin between streams and mining operations. Some estimates say it could cost up to 280 000 jobs and adversely affect the economy.

"The Department of the Interior's new stream buffer zone rule is even more troubling and will negatively affect both surface and underground coal mines," Gosar commented. "This terrible new regulation is projected to sterilide between 27% and 64% of recoverable reserves. The associated decline in annual coal production will have a direct impact on employment and risks killing between 112 757 and 280 809 mining-related jobs."

"Coal miners are not made-up stats, they are real people," Palmer said. "The DOI needs to come to Alabama and talk to some of the coal mining families, particularly the kids, who are facing the prospect of Christmas with no presents; or young people who are withdrawing from college. Instead, the Department of the Interior has frozen out states and industry in the rule-making process."