House accepts more GOP amendments to coal bill en route to passage

• Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), to require the secretary of Transportation to submit a report to Congress estimating the number of jobs, the fatalities and injuries and the cost to the economy caused by the new emission standards for vehicles manufactured after 2017. The amendment would also require that the secretary be prohibited from consulting with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the California Air Resources Board to complete the report. Passed 242-168.

{mosads}• David McKinley (R-W.Va.), to bar the EPA from retroactively vetoing discharge permits issued under the Clean Water Act. Passed 247-163.

• Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), to give power to the states to revoke any existing federal implementation plan (FIP) with regard to the regulation of visibility (air pollutants that cause or contribute to the impairment of visibility). In revoking the FIP, the state must propose a state implementation plan (SIP) to regulate visibility within two years. The amendment would also give the states a minimum of five years to become compliant with federal standards if they choose to accept the FIP, allowing businesses time to plan for the changes. Passed 228-183.

• Rep.  Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), to limit the authority of the EPA to issue federal implementation plans for the Navajo Generating Station, located near Page, Ariz. Passed 226-181.

Amendments that were rejected were from:

• Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), to allow the secretary of the Interior to promulgate rules under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, if the “rule would reduce the prevalence of pulmonary diseases, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease or reduce the prevalence of birth defects or reproductive problems in pregnant women or children.” Failed 174-229.

• Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), to strike the language that would repeal EPA’s scientific finding that carbon pollution endangers the public health and welfare. Failed 178-229.

• Markey, to allow the EPA to issue regulations under the Clean Air Act if it is determined that such regulations would reduce U.S. demand for oil. Failed 164-246.

• Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), to eliminate the bill’s permit streamlining provisions regarding the Clean Water Act. Failed 164-247.

• Markey, to create a federal renewable electricity and energy efficiency standard. Failed 160-250.

• Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), to require EPA and the Department of Transportation to submit a report to Congress within six months on the health, environmental and public-health impacts of fugitive coal dust. Failed 168-243.