Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Floor Speech

FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2011

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Mr. GRIFFITH of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, amendment 109 is a timeout on the EPA. The EPA and its guidelines for the water quality coming out of mines issued on April 1, 2010, came up with a conductivity test, a test which did not go through the Administrative Procedures Act, a test which is relying on science which is not yet fully accounted for or reliable. In fact, in the document, in 31 pages, they use words like ``expect'' and ``anticipate'' what the science will be on 27 of those 31 pages.

Mr. Chairman, President Johnson had a war on poverty. There are some in my district and in Appalachia who believe that President Obama and his EPA have a war for poverty in the Appalachian region.

That conductivity test is so severe that the distilled water would pass, the Deer Park would pass, the Fiji is just barely going to make it outside of the zone of question, but Evian water that you purchase to drink would not pass. Perrier water that you purchase to drink would not pass. It's not good enough. And Pellegrino is not good enough either.

There is a bumper sticker that is very popular now in my district. It says if you think coal is ugly, wait until you see poverty. There are some who believe--and I think that there are some in Washington who think--that southwest Virginia and other parts of Appalachia should just be a giant park for rich folks to visit, and that those of us who live there, the folks in Washington think, ought to be happy to have the jobs changing the sheets for the rich folks.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is not good enough and this amendment should pass, and we should put a stop to this regulation.

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Mr. GRIFFITH of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, this amendment will not bring jobs. It will take our $60,000-a-year-plus jobs and give us either unemployment or part-time jobs at minimum wage, and what's interesting is, the data that we do have shows that there's a greater biodiversity after mountaintop mining than there was before.

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Mr. GRIFFITH of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, again, this, if not passed, will bring us unemployment, not a good economy. Thank you.

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