President Obama claims to support Republicans’ all-of-the-above energy policy when it’s politically expedient, but his rhetoric is belied by his administration’s relentless regulatory campaign against coal-fired energy.  This week, the House will take action on the Stop the War on Coal Act, a legislative response to the Obama administration’s anti-coal agenda that is shutting down American energy producers and costing thousands of jobs.  Here’s an overview of the bill: 

• The Energy Tax Prevention Act (H.R. 910), part of Republicans’ Pledge to America, would prevent the Obama administration from imposing a backdoor national energy tax that would put an estimated 1.4 million jobs at risk, drastically increase energy costs, and “send the economy into a permanent recession.”
• The Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act (H.R. 3409) “will protect American jobs and support U.S. energy production by prohibiting the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new rules or regulations that will adversely impact mining jobs and our economy,” the House Natural Resources Committee reports.  The committee is conducting an extensive investigation into the Obama administration’s decision to re-write a rule that has undergone five years of environmental review and public comment, replacing it with a new rule – brokered with special interest groups - that would cost 7,000 American jobs.  H.R. 3409 will put a stop to the new rule, while the committee’s effort to hold the administration accountable for the impact of its excessive new regulation continues. 
• The Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act (H.R. 2401), part of the American Energy Initiative, requires a study of the cumulative impacts of several Obama administration energy regulations on jobs, energy prices, and electric reliability, and puts a stop to two of the most potentially damaging new Obama administration rules on coal-fired energy producers.
• The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (H.R. 2018), a Republican jobs plan bill, restores “the long-standing balance between federal and state partners in regulating the nation’s waters,” says House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL).  The bill restricts the administration’s “ability to second-guess or delay a state’s permitting and water quality certification decisions” once the state’s program has been federally approved, helping to mitigate the threat of far-reaching new Obama administration regulations that are creating uncertainty for America’s  farmers, miners and other job creators.  
• The Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act (H.R. 2273) is bipartisan legislation that would “provide for the safe management and disposal of coal ash in a way that preserves jobs and encourages recycling,” according to the House Energy & Commerce Committee.  The bill provides an alternative to the Obama administration’s plan to regulate coal ash that would put more than 300,000 jobs at risk and raise costs on coal-fired energy producers, American families and small businesses.  

The House has already passed numerous bills under the American Energy Initiative to rein in the Obama administration’s excessive regulations that are blocking more American energy production and costing jobs.  The Democratic-led Senate has failed to act on these bills, along with several others that would help address high energy costs and put Americans back to work.  Senate Democrats should take up the Stop the War on Coal Act once it passes the House this week, and the 38 other bipartisan, House-passed jobs bills that are languishing on their doorstep. 

Learn more and follow the progress of the American Energy Initiative by “liking” it Facebook.