Heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. Its the least we can do to make sure that they get the benefit that is theyve earned from the career that theyve put in to and the coal Mining Industry and the coal miners protection act very, very important legislation and i was glad to see that we finally got that done. We kept about 22,000 coal miners from losing their Health Benefits. And that was very important. I think we did the right thing. And along with that legislation and another piece of legislation that you supported was the effort to repeal the stream protection rule. Can you explain what that was and your involvement in that effort . 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 this time, it was called the stream buffer zone rule. They changed the name of it so that it would become a political hot button and ill 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 and congress. But they just simply would not listen. And so, when we had the opportunity to roll that rule back under the congressional review act, i was very, very happy to lead that charge but had a lot of help of other members of the house and the senate that made sure that we got that done because like i said it had nothing to do with keeping streams clean. I mean, we have got lots of federal laws and state laws already on the books. Keep in mind that the states regulate about 97 or 97 of the regulatory work that happens in the coal industry is done by the states today. You dont need the federal government stepping in to something thats a gross overreach that would virtually shut down underground coal mining in america and thats what that rule would have done had it been left to stand. Congressman bill johnson, a republican from ohio, our guest until 9 00 taking your calls and questions. Remember a special line for coal miners and family members. 2027488000 is that number. Well start with michael calling in from pennsylvania. Michael, good morning. Caller yeah, good morning. And thank you for taking my call. I grew up in a small coal mining town. Has a Somerset County area and i was a coal miner myself. And every about seems like every five to ten years they put a mandate on power plants to clean, to better clean their coal to where today its so efficient that they say whenever they go into those big smokestacks they take a skid steer bobcat in there and get very little ash on the bottom of the floor. Its very clean burning and that but i believe that this country was made and we protected even the world through the use of coal and steel making. Its a vital part of our history and our heritage. And if you do research on solar panels, to get the material, still have to mine the coal and the silica and earths crust to make solar panels and has to be heated up to 2,500 degrees to melt down to make krystaline to make the solar panels and so toxic they dont make them in the United States. They make them in Foreign Countries so we ship our coal overseas and then they make them over there and when they cut them into the square panels the dust is toxic and harmful to human beings. All right, michael. Got your point. Congressman johnson, ill let you jump in. You know, hes right. Hes right. Look. We have got basically three forms of energy that provides the base load of our National Utility grid. Our National Energy grid. Its 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 i serve with in the house, believes in a true all of the above energy policy. Now, president obama said that when he was in office, but thats not what his policies reflected. And he makes a good point. You know, and i heard mr. Murray talk about this a little earlier, what happened in europe. I have traveled to europe, also. And ive talked to some of the Energy Leaders in europe about why they are returning to a higher profile or higher mix of Coal Fired Energy in their Energy Profiles. And its because they are unwilling to pay the exorbitantly high prices for energy that their residential and commercial customers have been forced to pay. And so, europe has learned the tough lesson of what it does to a nation when you shut down your Coal Fired Energy because coal is still the most affordable, reliable form of energy on the planet and we need it along with natural gas and along with Nuclear Energy to provide our base load. But hes right. A lot of the components for solar energy are made overseas. And we need those jobs created here at home. How do we do that . Keep our coal industry going. Because we have over the years we have done a lot of work, even the epa has said so themselves. Lowering par tick lat matter in the atmosphere here in the United States. Were doing our part. We have learned how to use coal responsibly and environmentally soundly. And we should continue to do so. For our radio listeners, we have been showing viewers a chart from the Energy Information administration from share of Electricity Generation by source. The forecasts for 2016 coal would be 32 . Natural gas 33 . Nuclear 19 . Hydroelectric power 6 . And then nonhydro renewables, solar and wind, 8 . To that line for coal miners and family members, bob, henderson, kentucky. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thanks for taking my call. I was born and raised in Eastern Kentucky and nothing but coal mining over there. Its in the mountains and i now live in western kentucky and coal mining has stopped here in western kentucky because high sulfur coal and it doesnt have a third of the btus that the low sulfur coal does that they have already mined out in Eastern Kentucky. And my dad retired from the coal mine. I had two brothers retire from the coal mine. And i had two or three brothers that worked in the coal mine but they got out of the coal mine and left and went to michigan to get work. And coal, you know i love the coal miners and that but coal is not good for the atmosphere and 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 they the government is providing that. But you know, i had 20 years in a factory in michigan and they shut it down, shipped the business to Foreign Countries to manufacture their stuff cheaper. And no didnt somebody step forward to help me with my benefits. Thank you for the call. Congressman johnson . He made a comment about coal not being good for the atmosphere. We have come a long, long way, a long way, some of the cleanest coal fired power plants in the world are right here along the ohio river. The cardinal plant not too far from here at one point was considered the cleanest burning coal fired power plant in the world. And so, i would i would disagree that Coal Fired Energy is bad for the atmosphere. I mean, im certain that you can use it irresponsibly as the chinese do. They dont go to the extremes that we do here in america to make sure that our atmosphere is 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 and coal country that have to breathe it and drink it. So, we are concerned about the atmosphere, too, and we want Coal Companies and coal fired power plants to do it environmentally responsibly and i believe theyre doing that today and i believe theyll continue to get even better at it in the future. Congressman johnson, we have shown our viewers this chart. It is coal jobs over the last five quarters in this country. The chart from last week showing that coal mining jobs dropped 8 in the First Quarter of 2017 compared to the First Quarter of 2016. Are you expecting some sort of great comeback in coal jobs . And if so, when . Well, its going to be a phaseup. Its not going to happen overnight. But now that the president , president trump, has brought down, again, the two twin pillars of his president obamas war on coal, the stream protection rule that he set aside and then the halting of the Clean Power Plan, i think youre going to begin to see the coal industry revive. Now, how long is it going to take us to get back to where we are or we were before president obama . I dont know how long thats 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 6th district where i live, pennsylvania, West Virginia and kentucky. And had the Clean Power Plan not been stopped youre talking about thousands of more jobs and higher skyrocketing utility rates. So i think youre going to see coal jobs stabilize and then begin to trickle back up. Former new york i dont know how long it takes. Former new york city mayor bloomberg in washington post, the fact is putting coal miners back to work is no more possible than from a business standpoint than telegraph operators back to work taking morse code or Eastman Kodak employees back for film rolls. Politicians who ignore the market realities and make promises to Coal Communities they cant keep are engaging in something worse than a con, telling the communities in effect, the best hope they have and the children have is trapped in a dying industry that will poison them. Well, that is clearly an ideological point of view. Hes ignoring the fact you read off of that chart a few minutes ago that still a third of americas power is provided by the coal industry and many states like here in ohio, its much higher than that. Coal fired Energy Provides the ability to keep our lights on, to keep our air conditioners on in the summertime. Our heaters on in the wintertime. So, clearly, bloombergs statement is an ideological statement intended to frighten and to scare people away from the coal industry. Its not going to work and europe is already showing that. Like i said, europe is going back to a higher mix of coal in their Energy Profile because theyve learned that if youre going to have a sustainable economy and Robust Manufacturing you got to have energy to be able to provide power to those manufacturing facilities. Where does that power come from . Comes from the base load of your energy grid. In america, thats coal, thats natural gas, thats nuclear. And the other forms of energy, solar provides energy when the sun shines. Wind Energy Provides energy when the wind blows. And so we need coal. We need natural gas. We need nuke cler but coals going to be here for a long time. Dawn is in auburn, new york. Good morning. Caller good morning. Good morning, senator johnson. I have a comment that i dont think anybody brings up, is what caused Global Warming during the ice age. It wasnt people using fossil fuel. And id like someone to talk about it. Thank you so much. Bye. What would you like them to talk about, dawn . Well, i can tell you, i wasnt around during the ice age but i can guarantee you we were not burning coal in the ice age so i think she makes a good point. To line for coal miners and family me believes, bill maher is in cumberland city, tennessee. Good morning. Caller good morning. Go ahead, sir. Caller anyway, i was born in virginia in southwestern part. My dad worked the coal mines 45 years and i can remember as a kid you couldnt even when it snowed, you couldnt even where we burnled coal, you couldnt hardly pick up some snow because of soot and stuff. And, two, the river up there, all the fish died in it. And they just now got it back to where the fish will live in it. And about all the mines shut down, and they tore the stipples down. They had shaft mines because they put in natural gas and murray was saying that gas wells only last ten years. Well, thems been there over ten years now. And they get the gas off of the coal so theyre not they tore them down so theyre not going to go back and put them up. The oil company owns all that stuff. Natural gas is a lot cheaper and to me i listened to murray. Hes a big blow george. And anyway, i live right at a coal fired power plant. And on a day when it is clear and the sky is blue youll see these clouds coming from that stack. Sloping away from it. Bill, thanks for sharing your story. Congressman johnson, i want you to pick up on the natural gas comment that is he referred to there and the sustainability of the natural gas industry. Mr. Murray was saying that those wells will only last ten years and that coal will be there longer. Do you agree with that comment by mr. Murray . Im not a geologist. I can tell you that here along the ohio river and the utica shale, we have got according to the experts, we have got more resource under our feet than we know what to do with. Some people say we have more gas and oil under our feet here along the ohio river than saudi arabia does. But thats not the point. The point is that its going to take more than one Energy Source to provide the base load for our energy grid. Coal has been doing it since right after world war i. Maybe even longer than that. During americas industrialization period, it was Coal Fired Energy that provided the energy for america to build and to innovate. Many of the industries that Manufacturing Industries that came about, came about because they were powering their manufacturing operations with Coal Fired Energy. So, look. We can talk all day about how inexpensive natural gas is and that is a market factor. Thats true. But the truth of the matter is we need both natural gas and coal to provide Americas Energy needs. Its not one or the other. Its both. Back to the phones. Well go to dr. Devin calling in from beckly, West Virginia. Good morning. Caller yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you very much for taking my call. I have a an inquiry. The United NationsAtomic Energy commission has spent a great deal of a great deal of research particularly in europe, china, germany, japan, et cetera, to convert the gas that is produced by the coal industry so fertilizers and feed material. The United States, we have much superior technology. The Atomic Energy commissions program uses the electron beam to convert the flue gas into fertiliz fertilizer. We have much Cheaper Technology to use this in a much superior way. So, can we discuss in a creative way without finding fault from this group or the other group concentrate on research and development and demand a better program, not only for the United States but the world everywhere . Thanks for bringing it up. Congressman johnson, is that something youve been following . Well, im not sure i could make out exactly everything the caller said but i did hear a lot of it. Technology, there is no question, has played a role in the coal industry and the natural gas industry. And in the Nuclear Industry here in america and across the globe. Weve learned how to burn coal more efficiently and cleaner and we will continue to do that. Weve learned how to harvest natural gas more efficiently and transport it not only to markets but to gas fired power plants. Nuclear energy is becoming more modular, smaller. America is the country of innovation. Were 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. And as Technology Improves and it seems like every week were seeing another advancement in technology, im certain that as we move forward were going to continue to find ways to provide the energy to our National Energy grid in a more efficient way, more environmentally clean and sound way. And i think you are going to see coal and natural gas be here for a listening time. A few minutes left with congressman bill johnson of 6th district of ohio where the cspan cameras are this morning there at the Powhatan Point transloading facility on the ohio river. Its just about 20 miles south of wheeling, West Virginia, on the other side of the ohio river. 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. Rose is on the line for coal miners and family me believe