District runs along ohio. I want to ask you about coal Miners Health benefits. We are coming off a week in which the on the this spending bill omnibus spending included provisions on Health Benefits. Wisely government involved in Health Benefits for coal miners why is the government involved in Health Benefits for coal miners . Guest we have to be. These were benefits promised to call miners. The coal industry, as you heard mr. Murray talk about, has kept the lights on and heating in the winter and airconditioning in the summer. Its the least we can do to make sure they can get the benefits they have earned from the career that they put into in the coal mining industry. The coal miners protection a ct, very important legislation, and i was glad to see we got that done. We kept about 22,000 coal miners from losing their Health Benefits coul and that was very important. I think we did the right thing. Host another piece of legislation you supported was the effort to repeal the stream protection rule. Can you explain what that was in your involvement in that effort . Guest absolutely i can. When i first came to congress in 2011, i became aware of what the interior department, the office of Surface Mining and reclamation, was trying to do with the rule known as the stream protection rule. At that time, it was called the stream buffer zone rule. They changed the name of it so it become a political hot button. I will explain that in just a minute, but it was one of the twin pillars of president obamas war on coal because it attacked the coal industry from the production side. It had nothing to do with protecting streams. It was a gross overreach of federal authority. We had pointed that out to them. We had hearing after hearing after hearing on the Natural Resources committee in congress, but they just simply would not listen. Ton we had the opportunity roll that rule back under the congressional review act, i was very, very happy to leave that charge. I had a lot of help from other members of the house and the senate that made sure we got that done. Because like i said, and had nothing to do with keeping streams claim. Clean. We have lots of federal laws and state laws already on the books. Keep in mind that the states or 97 of the 97 regulatory work that happens in the coal industry is done by the states today. You dont need the federal government stepping into something that is a gross overreach that would virtually shut down underground coal mining in america. And thats what that rule would have done if had been left to stand. Host our guest is taking your calls and your questions. We have a special line for coal miners and family members at 202 7488000. Congressman johnson, we will start with michael calling in from boswell, pennsylvania. Caller good morning and thank you for taking my call. I grew up in boswell, a small coal mining town. I was a coal miner myself. It seems like every five to 10 years they put a mandate on power plants to claim better clean their coal. It is so efficient that they say whenever they go into those big smokestacks they get very little ash. Its very clean burning. Waslieve that this country made and we protected even the world through the use of coal. Its a vital part of our history and our heritage. If you do research on solar materials,get the you have to mine the coal and is crushed tot make solar panels. It has to be heated up to 2500 degrees to make crystalline to make the solar panels. They are so toxic that they dont make them and the united states. They make them in Foreign Countries, so we ship our coal overseas. They make them over there. When they cut them into the square panels, the dust is toxic and harmful to human beings. Host michael, got your point. Congressman johnson, ive let you jump in. Guest hes right. Weve got basically three forms of energy that provides the base load of our natural utility National Energy grid. It is coal, natural gas, and nuclear. You cant provide the base load of our energy grid with solar or wind or alternative fuels. I believe, as do most of my colleagues that i serve within the house, believe and in all the above energy policy. President obama said that when he was in office, but that is not what his policy reflected. I heard mr. Murray talk about this a little earlier. Ive traveled to europe also. Ive talked to some of the Energy Leaders in europe about why they are returning to a higher profile or higher mix of coalfired energy in their Energy Profiles. It is because they are unwilling to pay the exorbitantly high that theirenergy residential and commercial customers have been forced to pay. Europe has learned the tough lesson of what it does to a nation when you shut down your coalfired energy, because is still the most affordable, reliable former angie on the planet and we need it along with natural gas and Nuclear Energy to provider baseload. But he is right. A lot of the components for solar energy are made overseas. We need those jobs created here at home. How do we do that . Keep our coal industry going. Over the years, we have done a lot of work. Even the epa has said so particular lowering matter in the atmosphere here the united states. We are doing our part. We have learned how to use coal responsibly and environmentally soundly. And we should continue to do so. Host for our radio listeners, we have been showing viewers this chart showing the annual share of total u. S. Electricity generation by source. 2017 iscast for natural gas at 32 and nuclear and 19 and hydroelectric power at 6 and on Hydro Renewables at 8 . Eia. Is a chart from the eia. Gov is the website to check it out. Bob henderson, kentucky, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. I was born and raised in eastern kentucky. It was nothing but coal mining over there. Its in the mountains. I now live in western kentucky. Call mining has stopped here in western kentucky because all they have is high sulfur coal. It doesnt have a third of the btus that low sulfur coal does that they have already mined out in eastern kentucky. My dad retired from coal mining. I had two brothers retire from the coal mine. Brothers thathree worked in a coal mine, but they got out of coal mining and left and went to michigan to get work. You know, i love the coal miners, but coal is not good for the atmosphere. Everybody knows it. Look at china. You cant see in the daytime over there because of the pollution from the coal. And on the miners benefits, im glad they do it. Im glad that the government is providing that, but you know, i had 20 years in a factory in michigan. Shippedt it down and the business to Foreign Countries to manufacture their stuff cheaper. To helptepped forward me with my benefits. Host thanks for the call. Congressman johnson . Guest he made a comment about coal not being good for the atmosphere. We have come a long, long way, a long way, some of th. Some of the cleanest coalfired power plants in the world are right here along the ohio river. The cardinal plant was considered the cleanest burning coal fired power plant in the world. That coalfired energy is bad for the atmosphere. Im certain that you can use it irresponsibly as the chinese do. They dont go to the extremes that we do in america to make sure that our atmospheres clean. By the way, nobody cares more about the air that we breathe and the water that we drink than those here along the ohio river in coal country that have to breathe it and drink it. So we are concerned about the atmosphere, too, and we want Coal Companies and power plants to do it environmentally responsibly, and i believe they are doing that today and i believe they will continue to get better at it in the future. Host we have shown our viewers this chart. It is coal jobs over the last five quarters in this country. Shows that coal mining jobs dropped about 8 in the First Quarter of 2017 compared to the First Quarter of 2016. Are you expecting some sort of great conduct come back and coal jobs, and if so, when . Guest is going to be a phase up. Its not going to happen overnight. Now that President Trump has brought down again the two twin of president obamas war on coal, the stream protection rule that he set aside and then the halting of the Clean Power Plan, i think you are going to begin to see the coal industry revived. How long is it going to take us back to where we were before president obama . I dont know how long its going to be. I dont have a crystal ball. But i can tell you that if we had not stopped the stream protection rule, youre talking about upwards of 70,000 jobs lost in the united states. Many of them along the ohio river in places like the six district where i live, pennsylvania, west virginia, and kentucky. And had the Clean Power Plan not been stopped, youre talking andt thousands of more jobs higher skyrocketing utility rates. I think you are going to see coal jobs stabilize and then begin to trickle back up. I just dont know how long its going to take. Host former new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg had a column recently in the washington post. Putting, the fact that coal miners is no more possible from a business standpoint than putting telegraph operators back orwork and taking morts code putting Eastman Kodak employees back to work manufacturing film roles. Politicians to ignore these marketing realities and making promise to call committees that they cant keep are engaged in something worse than a con. There telling there telling those communities in effect the best hope they have and that their children have is to be trapped in a dying industry that will poison them. Guest that is an ideological point of view. You read from that chart that a third of americas power is provided by the coal industry in many states like here in ohio. Its much higher than that. Coal Energy Provides the ability to keep our lights on and airconditioners on in the summertime. Bloombergs statement is an ideological statement intended to frighten and scare people away from the coal industry. Its not going to work. Europe is already showing that. Like i said, europe is going back to a higher mix of coal in their Energy Profile because they learned if you are going to have a sustainable economy and robust manufacturing, you have got to have energy to be able to provide power to those manufacturing facilities. Where does that power come from . They comes from the baseload of your energy grid could in america it comes from the baseload of your energy grid. In america, thats coal, natural gas, and nuclear. Energyergy provides wind when the wind blows. We need coal. We need nuclear, but coal will be here for a long time. Host don is in new york. Caller good morning, senator johnson. I have a comment that i dont think anybody brings up. What caused Global Warming during the ice age . It was not people using fossil fuel. I would like someone to talk about it. Thank you so much. Bye. Host what would you like them to talk about . Guest i can tell you. I was not around during the ice age, but i can guarantee you we were not turning cold during the ice age. I think she makes a good point. Host the line for coal miners and their family members, bill is in cumberland city, tennessee. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead, sir. Caller i was born in virginia in the southwestern part. My dad was a coal miner for 45 years. I remember as a kid that you couldnt even when it snowed, you couldnt hardly go out and pick up some snow because of soot. The river up there, all the fish died in. It. The just got now back to where the fish will live in it. About all the mines, they shut down the shaft mines because they put in natural gas. It has been over 10 years now. Coal. Et the gas off back andot going to go put no temples up. The oil company owns all that stuff and natural gas is a lot cheaper. I listened to murray. Is a big he is a big blow george. Coalfiredt at a power plant. On a day when it is clear and the sky is blue, you will see these clouds coming from that stack floating away from it. Host thanks for sharing your story. Congressman johnson, i want you to take up on the natural gas andents that he referred to the sustainability of the Natural Gas Industry. Mr. Murray was saying that the wells will only last 10 years and that coal will be there longer. Do you agree with that comment by mr. Murray . Guest im not a geologist. I can tell you that along the that we have got, according to the experts, we have got more resources under our feet that we know what to do with. Some people say weve got more gas and oil under our feet along the ohio river than saudi arabia does. The point. Not the point is that its going to take more than one Energy Source to provide the baseload for our energy grid. Since been doing it coal has been doing it since right after world war i, maybe longer than that. During americas industrialization period, it was coalfired energy that allowed america to build and innovate many of industries that came about because they were powering their manufacturing operations with coalfired energy. Aboutwe can talk all day how inexpensive natural gas is. That is a market factor. Thats true. The truth of the matter is we need both natural gas and coal to provide Americas Energy needs. It is not one or the other. Its both. Host back to the phones. We would go to dr. Devon coming in from west virginia. Caller yes, sir. Thank you very much for taking my call. I have an inquiry. The united nationss Atomic Energy commission has spent a research, of particularly in europe, poland, china, germany, japan. Gas to convert the flue that is produced by the coal industry to fertilizers and to feed material. , we have muchtes superior technology. The Atomic Energy commissions program uses the electron beam to convert the flue gas into fertilizer. Withve it much Cheaper Technology to use this in a much superior way. Discuss in a creative the findings from this group or the other group and concentrate on research and development and make a better program, not only for the united states, but for the world everywhere . Host thanks for bringing it up. Is that something you have been following . Guest im not sure i can make out exactly everything the caller said. But i did hear a lot of it. Technology, there is no question. It has played a role in the coal industry and the Natural Gas Industry and the Nuclear Industry here in america and across the globe. We learned how to burn coal more efficiently and cleaner. And we will continue to do that. We have learned how to harvest natural gas more efficiently and transported not only to markets but to gasfired power plants. Nuclear energy is becoming more modular, smaller. America is the country of innovation. We are the worlds problem solvers. Much of the innovation, much of the conveniences that people around the world enjoy today came from right here in america. , ands Technology Improves it seems like every week we are seeing another advancement in technology, i am certain that as we move forward, we are going to continue to find ways to provide the energy to our National Energy grid and a more efficient way, more environmentally clean and sound way, and i think you will see coal and natural gas be here for a long time. Host just a few minutes left with congressman bill johnson, republican from the sixth district of ohio. You represent the district where our cspan cameras are this morning at the Powhatan Point translating facility on the ohio river. It is just about 20 miles south of wheeling, west virginia. Showing you some pictures now of the power stations run by the american Electricity Company on the other side of the ohio river from Powhatan Point. Roses on the line for coal miners and family members of coal miners from humble, tennessee. Caller good morning. I want to know what they are going to do when they get on the television and talk about all this stuff and what they say is not true. Its about money. Its not about people and the coal miners. What about them . Are they going to walk away from them like they did before and leave them as some of the poorest people in the world . Host congressman . Guest i think we demonstrated in the house and the senate with the omnibus bill signed here recently that we are concerned about making sure that those miners are not left out. We sold the Health Benefits problem with 1. 3 billion over 10 years to make sure that 22,000 mineworkers were not stripped of their Health Benefits, and we are going to continue to work that issue to try to resolve the pension problem. Its a bigger issue, but its a problem that needs to be addressed. The intent is not to leave anybody out. Thats not the way america does business. Host but had to rockaway, jersey lets head to rockaway, new jersey. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I noticed that a lot of people are very quick to regulate the coal industry and they say emissions is the reason. That i asked them, what if americans had to turn off their lights for five hours per day to save emissions . They often say no. I find that a lot of people are quick to regulate something thats foreign to them. When it comes down to themselves , they are not so willing to commit to turn their lights off or sacrificing their own comfort and cheap electricity. Host got your point. Congressman johnson come our lastminute. Guest isnt it amazing how that works whether its balancing a budget or cutting spending, which we so desperately need to do in washington, d c . Onryone seems to be all board for making big changes until that change affects them. One of the conversations i like to have that i often enjoy having is when those who say we ou
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