Providing for Consideration of House Joint Resolution 118, Disapproving Rule Relating to Waiver and Expenditure Authority with Respect to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program; Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3409, Stop the War on Coal Act of 2012; and Providing for Proceedings During the Period from September 22, 2012, Through November 12, 2012
Floor Speech
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Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gen tle lady.
Republicans are saying that there is a war on coal. They even named this bill the End the War on Coal Act. But the only battle coal is losing is in the free market to natural gas, to wind, to solar.
Just 4 years ago, coal generated 51 percent of our electricity. Now it is down to 35 percent of our electricity. Have the lights gone off? No. And that's because coal has been replaced in the free market by natural gas, which has risen from 21 percent to 30 percent of all electrical generation in our country. And by the way, the same thing is true for wind. Wind has gone from 1 percent of electrical generation to 4 percent of electrical generation.
That's your answer. That's what's happening. The marketplace has moved to natural gas--another fossil fuel, by the way--and wind. And why have they done so? Natural gas is cheaper than coal. It's more plentiful now because of fracking technologies. And the market has moved.
What is happening? What is happening is that natural gas prices have gone down 66 percent in the last 4 years. That is the shift from coal over to natural gas. That's the arithmetic. You're a consumer, you see a product, it does the same thing as the other product, and it's dropped 66 percent in price. The arithmetic says I go and get that product if it's going to ensure that my home is heated, that my air conditioning goes on. It's just arithmetic. Coal is losing to natural gas.
So when the Republicans say there is a war on coal, in a market sense, yes, there is a war. In the same sense that when we started carrying BlackBerries, it was a war on the black rotary-dial phone; in the same sense that when we started using Macs and PCs, it was a war on typewriters; in the same sense that the horseless carriage was a war on horses; in the same sense that refrigerators were a war on salted meats; in the same sense that the telegraph was a war on carrier pigeons.
These aren't wars. It's innovation. It's competition. It's natural gas versus coal. All we're saying as Democrats is let the free market work. You're here saying, No, protectionism. Protectionism against the natural gas industry winning this battle in the marketplace. By the way, natural gas is also winning the battle in the marketplace against home heating oil. Tens of thousands of people are shifting from home heating oil over to natural gas. Why? It's cheaper. The same thing is true in the production of petrochemicals and fertilizers. Industries are moving away from oil as the component part of moving over to natural gas. Why is that? It is cheaper. It's across-the-board.
Do you understand this, Republicans? It's arithmetic. It's simple. It's easy to understand. It's not the policies of the Obama administration. If you want to blame someone, blame Adam Smith for the ruthless, Darwinian, paranoia-inducing market system that we've adopted where utilities and private citizens and the petrochemical industry move toward a product which is cheaper, more available here in the United States, a domestic industry that is here.
Instead, this is a Republican Congress which has 302 anti-environmental votes, which they've cast in just a year and 8 months. That's 302 anti-environmental votes. That's what they're all about. This whole thing is an excuse to lower the protection against pollution coming from coal that damages the health of children, the health of our environment all across our country, when they're just losing a battle to natural gas in the marketplace.
They get an F on Medicare this Congress, F on tax breaks, F on jobs, F on urgent priorities, F on women, and an F on environment. It's just an excuse because they don't like what is going on in the marketplace. And it's a shame because they tout themselves as that party. Simultaneously, you know what they do? They're killing
the wind tax break--killing it because it's up to 4 percent of electricity and keeping the exact same amount in for ExxonMobil and the oil companies to produce oil. Now how can you call that a plan of all-of-the-above?
All of this tilts the playing field, tilts the competition in the marketplace. You can't give tax breaks to oil and take them away from wind and say you're all-of-the-above. You can't say you want to tilt the playing field toward coal as natural gas is winning in the marketplace and say you're in favor of all-of-the-above. You are not. You are not.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I ask for a ``no'' vote on this rule and a ``no'' vote on these bills as they come to the floor of the House. It is anti-market policy on steroids as they bring it out here on the House floor.
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