{H7725} The SPEAKER pro tempore.  Under a previous order of the House,
the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. HOLLEBECK) is recognized for 5 minutes.

    H7725 Mr. HOLLENBECK.Mr. Speaker, due to official business I was unable to
be present last week for rollcall vote 450 the conference report on H.R. 2.  Had
I been present, I would have voted in favor of the report.

    H7725 The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 is the
culmination of a 5-year effort to produce a workable and effective strip mining 
law.  The environmental costs of this delay have been enormous, destroying the
beauty and productivity of some of this country's most beautiful and fertile
land.

    H7725 This legislation recognizes that the ravages and desecration of coal
strip mining constitute a nationwide problem.  In setting performance standards 
to control the conditions under which strip mining will occur, H.R. 2 is
written in anticipation of the increasing use of strip mining as a method of
extracting coal, particularly in the West.

    H7725 Unfortunately, H.R. 2 came too late for these standards to protect a
large portion of our land in the East.  There the damage has already been done, 
with half of the 1.3 million acres of stripmined land still to be reclaimed.
For this reason, a special fund is established in H.R. 2 to help pay for
reclamation.

    H7725 The enormous problems dealt with in H.R. 2 are even more crucial in
light of the President's inclusion of an increased use of coal in his energy
program.  The Office of Energy Policy and Planning estimates that by 1985 the
administration's plan to convert factories and power plants to coal will involve
the burning of an additional 200 million tons a year.  A recently released White
House document indicates that the President's proposal could result in the
contamination of the atmosphere with 10 million tons of sulfer dioxide and 600
million tons of carbon dioxide annually.  The nitrogen oxides released each year
would equal those released by the exhausts of this country's 110 million cars.
With these potential dangers from the increased burning of coal, we simply
cannot afford to exercise anything less than the most prudent control on its
extraction.

    {H7726} Although the bill which has been sent to the President is not quite 
as strong as the one passed by the House in April, it is good legislation, and I
am pleased that President Carter has indicated his intention to sign it.