September 18, 2012

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative,

The House of Representatives will soon consider H.R. 3409, the Stop the War on Coal Act, sponsored by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio). The legislation is a compilation of previously introduced bills that are aimed at protecting American jobs and supporting domestic energy production. On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I strongly urge you to support this legislation.

• Title I: The Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act, originally authored by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new rules or regulations that will adversely impact U.S. coal mining employment and the economy.

• Title II: The Energy Tax Prevention Act, originally authored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), would prevent the Obama administration from imposing costly greenhouse gas regulations and would permanently prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from imposing a national energy tax under the Clean Air Act.

• Title III: The Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act, originally authored by Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.), would increase transparency in the cost evaluation of the EPA’s rules by requiring an interagency committee to analyze the cumulative economic impacts of certain environmental regulations.

• Title IV: The Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, originally authored by Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.), would offer an alternative to the EPA’s plan to regulate coal ash by providing for consistent state regulatory authority over coal ash under Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.

• Title V: The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act, originally authored by Rep John Mica (R-Fla.), would prevent the EPA from setting water quality standards and would instead preserve this power for each individual state. The bill would also limit the EPA’s ability to veto permits it has previously approved, and for which there have been no violations.

I urge you to vote support the Stop the War on Coal Act to preserve thousands of jobs and help to rein in EPA’s heavy-handed regulatory agenda. All votes on H.R. 3409 will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2012 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW