SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Friday, June 1, 2012
10:00 a.m.

• Official Hearing Transcript
• Press Release - Obama Administration Skips Hearing to Explain Unprecedented Action Against Coal Mining that Costs Jobs, American Energy Production (6/1/2012)

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON:

• "Obama Administration’s Actions Against the Spruce Coal Mine: Canceled Permits, Lawsuits and Lost Jobs"

OPENING STATEMENTS:

The Honorable Doug Lamborn
Chairman

The Honorable Doc Hastings
Full Committee Chairman

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY:

Panel I

The Honorable Lisa P. Jackson*
Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency

The Honorable Joseph Pizarchik*
Director
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

The Honorable Jo-Ellen Darcy*
Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works)
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Panel II

Senator Art Kirkendoll
West Virginia State Senate

The Honorable Karen Harbert
President & CEO
Institute for 21st Century Energy
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Ross Eisenberg
Vice President, Energy and Resources Policy
National Association of Manufacturers
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Maria Gunnoe
Boone County, WV Organizer
(Truth in Testimony Form)

* Invited witness declined to testify.

BACKGROUND:

In January 2011, the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the unprecedented step of retroactively revoking a coal mining permit after it had already been issued and approved following a 10 year environmental review process. In March 2012, a Federal District Court rejected the Obama Administration’s unprecedented move saying the EPA exceeded its legal authority to reject the permit and resorted to “magical thinking” to apply the Clean Water Act to block the mining project, which could create over 250 jobs in the region. In May 2012, the EPA filed papers to appeal the judge’s ruling and continue their “magical” process to revoke an already issued coal permit.