Today, the House passed H.J. Res 38 sponsored by Reps. Bill Johnson (R-OH), Evan Jenkins (R-WV) and David McKinley (R-WV). This is a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act related to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s (OSM) final Stream Protection Rule (SPR).

The resolution will ensure that the Rule has no force or effect, and that OSM cannot issue a rule that is substantially the same without subsequent authorization from Congress.

“What we’re doing is the right thing. Poor procedure produced a poor rule and it will result in poor policy. At best this rule is redundant. It’s clearly unnecessary and has the potential to hurt people nefariously when it does not need to do so,” Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) said.

“After seven years of this politically-motivated rewrite, the previous administration issued this final rule as they were leaving town – well after the American people, particularly those men and women in coal country, had sent a clear message to Washington, D.C.: politically-motivated attacks on the livelihoods of those who keep our lights on will not stand,” Rep. Johnson stated.

“With this vote, Congress is rejecting President Obama’s anti-coal legacy and defending our coal miners and their families. By stopping this job-killing rule, we are protecting tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. I am proud to join with my colleagues in the House and the Senate in standing up for American jobs, American energy and the American people,” Rep. Jenkins said.

“[T]his rule would shut down additional coal mines and 78,000 men and women miners would lose their jobs,” Rep. McKinley stated. “This war on coal has got to stop […]. It is time to give families in the coal fields all across America a chance to get relief from the unelected bureaucrats in Washington.”

“Today’s rejection of the Obama Administration’s Stream Protection Rule, a blatant attack on the coal industry, has been a long time coming. I am heartened to see the beginning of the end for this misguided regulation,” Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Chairman Paul Gosar said. “Blocking this fundamentally-flawed rule gets us one step closer to putting people back to work.”

Background Information:

Beginning in the 112th Congress, the House Committee on Natural Resources has led oversight efforts of the SPR. The Committee held 13 hearings on the SPR’s development and its finalization. 

In addition, the House passed three bills opposing the rewrite of the SPR:  H.R. 1644 in the 114th, H.R. 2824 in the 113th, and H.R. 3409 in the 112th.

The states, which regulate 97 percent of the coal mines in the U.S., were shut out of the SPR’s rule-writing process, before OSM issued the final rule on December 19, 2016.

Click here for additional information on the SPR.