e.p.a. we all are committed to a clean air that allows for healthful living in america, but we also want to use common sense, particularly at this time, when our economy is struggling. and so when you issue new regulations that create additional obstacles for job creation, that is a major problem. i noticed today for example in "the hill" magazine, senate democrats buck obama on jobs plan. so they have the same concerns that we do. so today we are bringing to the floor h.r. 2681, referred to as the cement sector regulatory relief act, which basically says to e.p.a. about their recently issued cement regulatory items, we want you to go back and revisit this bill because evidence shows that 20,000 jobs are add jeopardy, 18% of cement plants in america may very well be closed because of this regulation. so we are simply asking e.p.a. in this legislation to go back, revisit this rule, issue a final rule within 15 months after the passage of this legislation, give the affected industry up to five

e.p.a. has become the symbol, the center of the debate over the role of the government. it's a sad commentary for this chamber that an industry that prefers to invest in the political process rather than in saving lives by reducing harmful emissions is in fact winning the debate. . in fact the coal consuming industries that have assaulted the e.p.a. were invited early on during the obama administration to sit down and draft a compliance option. the administration had hoped to craft a deal similar to the historic deal they made with the auto industry on fuel efficiency and tailpipe emissions. an article by carol davenport in the september 22 issue of "the national journal" referenced this meeting, but unlike the auto industry, the coal consuming industries refused to negotiate. instead, and let me quote from the article, they, in quotes, banded together with the republican party to strategize and the mid term elections offered the perfect battleground. they elected tea party candidates crusad

e.p.a. and other bureaucracies. without our action, e.p.a. threatens to impose new rules that would devastate american jobs, raise the cost of electricity for homeowners and businesses and drive american businesses out of existence and overseas. that's unacceptable. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? mr. cohen: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. thomas jefferson originally penned the declaration of independence that all members were created equal. but it was dr. martin luther king and civil rights workers that made those words ring true. it took almost 200 years for that to happen. on sunday in this nation's capitol dr. king will be honored with a monument on the mall. it should be considered a monument to all the civil rights workers, the sit-ins, the freedom riders,

e.p.a. this is not some inflated statistic designed for shock value or any other reason that we know that the clean air act has human value. since 1990 e.p.a. has set knew marek emission emissions for more than 100 industry source categories. this has been a major success, reducing emissions of carcinogens and other highly toxic chemicals by 1.7 million tons each year. each of e.p.a.'s proposed rules would save thousands of more lives each year. another example we're dealing with today pertains to the e.p.a.'s proposed rule regarding toxic emissions from cement kilns. they need to meet regulations for emissions. this is projected to save 2,500 lives annually. it will prevent 17,000 asthma attacks and over 1,700 hospital and emergency room visits and 130,000 days of missed work. any rule that saves lives is a matter of public health. we're dealing with skyrocketing rates of deaths due to asthma and sometimes debilitating cases of asthma due to particulate being pumped in the air. nearly 60% o

>> when e.p.a. says that a new scrubber is needed, someone has to engineer the scrubber, to build it, install it, maintain it, operate it. those are american jobs. >> stephen: tell me one thing the e.p.a. needs to do now. >> they need to regulate mercury. mercury is a neurotoxin. it's bad for our brains. it's bad for our children's brains. >> stephen: what? what? no. we put those in thermometers and put those in our children's mouth. your logic eats itself. what are you talking about? the china are eating our lunch right now because they don't have environmental regulations, and they can build factories without worrying about the costs of extra scrubbers or extra safety for their workers. why do you want to hobble american factories? why do you want to bind the feet of american factory owners? >> you've been to china, right? >> stephen: i've been to china many times. >> and you've breathed the air? >> no, i bring my own tank. >> that's... we'll give every american their own tank. >> stephen: okay. w

e.p.a. to revise its rules on remissions. toxic emission from industrial boilers and incinerators. just under 20 amendments are pending. votes at 6:30. they'll begin debate on the trade agreements with colombia, panama, and south korea. the south korean president will address a juent meeting of congress later this week. and we'll cover that. now to the house here on c-span. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father con oy. -- conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. eternal god we give you thanks for giving us another day. on this day, we ask your bressing on the men and women, citizens all, whose votes have populated this people's house. each member of this house has been given the sacred duty of representing them. o lord, we pray that those with whom our representatives met in this past long weekend in their home districts be blessed with peace and an assurance that they have been listened to. we ask your blessing now on the member

last year e.p.a. got several citizens' requests from garfield county and the citizens were saying gosh my drinking water might be contaminated by this practice or the air we breathe might be affected e.p.a. can you look into it e.p.a. should of. myself and another staff person we had prepared the letters and we were we were ready to write to the colorado oil and gas commission that we felt that this practice cause imminent substantial risk to public drinking water source and that e.p.a. was going to take over the investigation however as soon as we got that to our political appointee supervisors they canceled that investigation so e.p.a. did not investigate legitimate complaints from citizens in garfield county. if you lived in or in a rural residential area and you were in a low lying area your house was in a low lying area that could accumulate these gases when they come off the tank battery and so forth you may be breathing those for twelve hours a day one of the concerns of the agency with respect

e.p.a. regulatory relief act , h.r. 2250, accomplishes this goal by taking a sensible middle ground, balanced approach and i would like at this time to thank mr. butterfield of north carolina as well as mr. griffith of virginia for their sponsorship of this bipartisan bill. a study conducted by ihs global insight, a respected research company, found that the rules that we are talking about today would impose total cost of over $14 billion and put at risk 230,000 jobs in america at a time when we already have a .1 unemployment rate. -- 9.1 unemployment rate. my home state of kentucky under the analysis would face estimated costs of $183 million and 2,930 potential jobs losses. 25 other states are hit even harder. that includes at least 10,000 jobs estimated for north carolina losing, indiana, ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, south carolina, and virginia. as well as over 5,000 job losses for minnesota, wisconsin, alabama, tennessee, iowa, new york, illinois, maine, georgia, florida, louisiana, an

can you look into it e.p.a. should've. myself in another staff person we had prepared the letters and we were we were ready to write to the colorado oil and gas commission that we felt that this practice cause im innocent stands for a risk to public drinking water source and the e.p.a. was going to take over the investigation however soon as we got back to our political point the supervisors they canceled that investigation so e.p.a. did not investigate a legitimate complaints from citizens and are focused on it. if you live in or in a rural residential area and you're in a low lying area your house was in the low lying area they could accumulate these gases when they come off the tank battery and so forth you may be breathing those for twelve hours a day and one of the concerns of the agency with respect to one of the gas industry is how much volatile organic carbon how much volatile gases come from the industry especially from storage of oil or storage of gas. last summer in an effort to track down how much volatile orga

congress took the report from e.p.a. saying that fracking did not present a wrist along with other information and they exempted hydraulic fracking from regulation on the safe drinking water act that leaves you and i as american public in this position we cannot know. but the industry injects in our land we it is exempt from being reported. down the colorado river about nine miles to the west of silt is the town of rifled . three. m. . this is only looted one was. this is before. any problems before with the rifle this is where the ninety three women are like one hundred years. it's been there was fifteen years i'm i'm fifty four she's fifty nine says james three she's changed so much. that it's just a touch of the traditional state actor. in one thousand nine hundred ninety three chris and stephen baldwin decided to leave california to move to colorado we both got laid off from our work because we both volunteered to be laid off because we wanted to get out of california and move the colorado where it was beautiful and

e.p.a.'s mercury and air toxic cleanup standards for industrial boilers and incinerators. opponents of these cleanup standards argue that they cost too much and will lead to job losses. i don't agree with that assessment. over the past 40 years, the clean air act has fueled american innovation and has created jobs and it's made the united states a leader in the multibillion-dollar environmental technology sector. mr. chairman, the health benefits of e.p.a. safeguards are not in dispute and that's why those stats should be included as part of that bill. for decades industrial boilers and incinerators have been some of the largest pollution emitters in the united states. they're responsible for some of the most dangerous air pollutants we have in this nation including mercury, lead and cancer-causing dioxinning and that's why e.p.a. took action last year to require that industrial boilers and incinerators cut their emissions and simply follow the clean air act. but instead of supporting e.p.a.'

well there are an e.p.a. regulations as we all know but the e.p.a. has been so weak in it was an article the other day that they have been in this new house of representatives controlled by the republicans i think it's almost fifty votes to further weaken the e.p.a. so you have a weakened d.p.a. you have very low standards any efforts to strengthen the standards are absolutely dismissed and rolled back and in fact they're trying to weaken already weaken standards and so we have scientists talking blogging and working to let the world know that the e.p.a. standards do not make you safe enough and so some of this is allowed to continue but it's political pressure it's money in politics it's primal life that officials and it brings the whole system face to face it's if you will the one percent that the ninety nine percenters are talking about here are the one percent here are those cope brothers who are controlling and distorting our democracy and these people in arkansas are paying a terrible price for robert it seems from from watching your documentar

closure and place is consistent with e.p.a. policy. there is an e.p.a. policy that says landfills of this nature and of this size for 2 acres can be easily closed in place. ok. so, why was the preferred alternative identified instead of full excavation. i am sure everybody is wondering that. leaving it in place or closing it properly in place reduces the short-term risks sooner. would remove the soil hot spots that prevent the most risk. the areas with the biggest potential to impact people or wildlife, we are taking them out. they are not staying behind. we will safely contain the landfill with proven technology. landfills are closed all the time with this technology. it will prevent fewer short-term risks to workers and the local community. another thing i should point out is that digging up the landfill would result in numerous years of hauling contaminated materials through the community. it would be noisy and smelly and a lot of traffic. what are the next steps? after the public comments are received on november 21st the navy will look at all of the

furthermore, an e.p.a. commib analysis found no independent -- economic analysis found no change due to the cement rules. 10 underutilized plants would go idle temporarily while waiting for economic conditions to improve. however, if we can get the economy back on track and restore demand for cements then those plants would not have to go idle? we need to focus on creating customers. i heard that from my colleagues say that's what he hears from business persons. i hear the same, that they need demand and that they need customers. . we need to make it easier for them to do that and not easier for the suppliers to pollute. you know what's a great way to create more demand for concrete? invest in infrastructure projects that use concrete for roads and bridges. the very same proposals called for in the president's jobs act. if republicans are so concerned with the concrete plant shutting down, you should work toward helping these businesses sell more concrete. making it ease your for them to pollute does not pr

the e.p.a. numbers is i don't think e.p.a. or anybody else has the prerogative to make a decision about how many people are going to die at a certain time. and that said, it does not mean, however, that one person is not going to die. and it does not mean that one person is not going to have asthma. and my position is one death could be avoided is too many and one asthma attack, if you've been around children who have it, is too many if they could be avoided. in light of these estimates, the bills appear to be nothing more than another attempt to purge any government intervention related to keeping our air clean and environment safe. consider that these regulations, the republicans say are destroying jobs, have not even gone into effect. the boiler mact rule dealing with industrial boilers as i, along with my colleagues to e.p.a., are currently in an administrative stay while the e.p.a. reviews industry provided data. and that's why we sent the letter during that period of time to ask them to please consider the diversity as i

the e.p.a. administrator finds it will create more than 1,000 job the real reason, though, that we are opposed to this amendment is that under the clean air act, boilers already have three years to comply and incinerators have five years to comply. we want boilers and incinerators to have a minimum of five years to comply. we think that this -- that that provides certainty. it certainly reflects the testimony and our concern from witnesses who testified at all of the hearings that they in many instances need five years. the e.p.a. administrator may allow it to go longer than that if he or she chooses to do so but i don't believe that regulation creates jobs. and i think most of the testimony would indicate that there are more jobs at risk a as a direct result of these regulations and for that reason, i would oppose this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question son the amendment offered by the gentleman from minnesota. those in favor say a

in fact, e.p.a.'s analysis demonstrates that for every year this rule will be in effect, it would prevent up to 320,000 missed work or school days. during the debate on my amendment last week, the majority conceded, which i appreciated, that the amendment would do no harm. because the majority thought that the language was already in the bill. that it would be duplicative and unnecessary. the reality is that there's nothing in the underlying legislation that requires the administrator to consider illness-related absences from work when setting a compliance date. now indeed it should have been there there and i can understand why the other side thought it was in there because it should have been in there but it wasn't and that's why offer this amendment. this factor is critical in that any establishment of a compliance date that does not consider the health of the work force is inadequate. as the majority stated a last week, the e.p.a. already knows how many days will be missed. so my amendment will no

as e.p.a. administrator admitted before our committee it would have no effect on the overall release of gases. also of note what happened to the e.d.a.'s vow in 2009 that the agency would commit to high standards of transparency, because i'm quoting now, the success of our environmental efforts depends on earning and maintaining the trust of the public we serve or obama adviser john hold revenue's promise -- holdren's promise they would make decisions based on the best science possible because the public must be able to trust the science and scientific process in forming the decisions. given what has come to light in the report, it appears that the obama e.p.a. cannot be trusted on the most consequential decision in an agency they've ever made. i have already called upon the committees in the senate, this would be my committee, on which i am the ranking member, the environment and public works committee, to have an investigation. my gosh, and i.g. report. i don't ever recall in the years i've b

it brought the e.p.a. to the scene because of what could be in the cloud of smoke that has spread for miles, say nothing to what happened on and in the ground. nbc's jay gray is outside the plant for us. jay, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the fire has been burning and continues to burn at this point. started mid-morning. firefighters say it's at least 85% contained at this point. they believe now that a chemical reaction likely sparked the blaze. for several hours flames swallowed parts of the magnablend plant. 85 people were evacuated. when you see the intense flames it's hard to believe there were no serious injuries. a company website indicates magna blend manufacturers about 200 chemical products for services ranging from oil field services to industrial cleaning. that website says some of the products are considered hazardous. at one point chemicals poured from the building moving a river of fire toward the train tracks and tankers filled with highly flammable fuel. fire teams were a

and that's just what the obama e.p.a. regulations intend to do. the e.p.a. is moving forward with an unprecedented number of rules for coal-fired plants and industrial boilers that have now become known as the -- the infamous train wreck for the incredible hard -- harm that they will do to our economy. they're set to destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs and significantly raise energy prices for families, businesses, and farmers, basically anyone who drives a car or flips a switch. the president himself has now publicly acknowledged this, and when he stopped the agency from tightening the national empty ient air quality for oh zone, his statement couldn't have been more clear. the e.p.a. creates uncertainty that stifle job creation. and just last week the e.p.a. also pulled back on its plan to tighten regulation on farm dust undoubtedly due to bipartisan concern that it would cause great harm to our farmers. i -- you know, with all these regulations, i've given this speech on the floor and i'm not going to repeat it tonight, about what it costs, all the regu

and three e.p.a.owed up on our property shortly after we started and said we couldn't be building there because it's wetlands so we said ok, prove to us it's wetlands. they said well, it's in the wetland inventory. well, if you pull it up on the wetlands inventory with the coordinates that the e.p.a. gave us, it's not in the wetlands inventory. >> this has gone through the court process. the ninth circuit sided with the e.p.a. and now it's going to the supreme court. >> that's correct. in january, i believe. they'll be hearing it. >> i know you are there today because you want other people to know this could happen to them as well. an amazing story. michael and chantal sackett fighting the e.p.a. over their personal property. thanks for sharing your story with us. keep us abreast as to what happens. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> and we did reach out to the other side for a statement from the e.p.a., we were directed to the doj's office of public affairs and they said they couldn't comment due to pend

h.r. 250, a bill we will have, e.p.a. regulatory act, sponsored by representative griffin of virginia, will provide a legislative stay of four interrelated rules issued by the e.p.a. in march of this year. the legislation would also provide the e.p.a. with at least 15 months to repropose and achieve rules that do not destroy rules and provide employers with extended compliance periods. sound familiar? it's basically the same thing. hold up. what you are doing could cost 200,000 jobs and billions of dollars in extra costs. take another look at it. take a look at the jobs in a possibly double-dip recession that is coming up and say is that what we want to do? do we want the potential of losing 200,000 jobs or more because we aren't willing to take another look and see if there is not a better idea to make this thing clean? what's another 15 months when you are being told these kind of economic ramifications are fair? well -- and, by the way, give us four years to put them in place once you come up with reasonable rules. thi

in that decision, e.p.a. came to the court and said, we need additional time to come out with new rules. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the house is not in order. will members please take your conversations off the floor. the gentleman is recognized. mr. whitfield: in that court decision, e.p.a. made the argument they needed additional time to come forth with a more balanced approach on a boilermac rule. our legislation, h r. 2250, does nothing that. p.a. did not ask the court to do as far as extending time. our legislation is a balanced approach, particularly at this time of a weakened economy and job, unemployment rate of 9.1% and our economy continues to struggle. it's imperative we have a balanced regulation that considers jobs, yes, but also considers health care and the benefits of the regulation and the impact that has on health care. we've had extensive hearings on this legislation. we've had representatives from hospitals, we've had representatives from universities, representat

e.p.a.'s headquarter staffers were fully engaged as well. the e.p.a. national pesticide program worked quickly to develop new methods necessary to wipe out the anthrax. scientists worked primarily out of the annapolis' national pesticides lab which is located just 20 miles away in fort meade, maryland. it was not just e.p.a. employees who answered the call to duty. capitol police were the first ones to respond, and they continued to provide protection to legislative branch employees as well as the emergency responders and the public. the department of defense lent its expertise. as the cleanup progressed, thousands of tests were taken and then sent to fort dietrich in frederick, maryland, where chemical weapons specialists analyzed samples and reported results to the emergency command center. defense department personnel were also engaged in the actual deacon tam -- decontamination efforts. the photos i brought to the floor today show some of these emergency responders wearing specialized protective gear, working on the decontamination of senator dasch

the e.p.a. blocked the companies that are trying to start these resource development companies every step of the way. >> you're compliant with some agencies and out of compliance acupunccure isn't just for people anymore.it's for pets too!certified animal acupuncturist tom ingengo joins us to show us howwit's &pdone.--piglet, french &pbulldog -- what types of panmals can benefit from animals can -- what types of animals can benefit from 3 ponditions uncture?--what - are usually treated with pet acuuuncture?-- how does one become an animal acupuncturist? --who can ecome an animal acupuncturist??-how long until owners/pets seeeresults?--how does acupunctuue work?--does it hurt?--how often, or how many treatmmnts will a pet need?-- does the needleepet need?treatments will a how many treatments will a pet need?-- does theeneedle have any medicine on/in it? --are there anyy sidd effects?-- how do yoo find the acupuncture points? --what are meriddanss acupunctuue poiits? poonts? we'll check back in wi

no, it wasn't the e.p.a.'s regulations.f fact, they tried to come into texas after we cleaned up our air and take it over. what they'll do is kill a bunch of jobs and won't clean up the air at all. we lowered our ozone levels by 27% during the decade of the 2000's, and we lowered our nitrogen oxide levels. that's what we need to be working on. so, allow the states to be flexible, and i will assure you, those of us that actually breathe that air and our children that breathe that air, we'll make the right decisions. we don't need a centralized, all-knowing, one side fits all federal government telling us how to run our states, even when it comes to issues as important as air quality, because we're doing a good job in texas. you may rebutt. >> thank you, governor. you're very kind to let me rebutt. >> yes, sir. >> it's been said that climate change is not subtle science. you agree with that? >> i agree that we should be skeptics about those who say that there is incontrovertible evidence that global, manmade warming is happen

into a ship, stole the cargo from the ship's owners and just threw it overboard, not to mention the e.p.a. fines and the damage it would do to your indian costume? [laughter] the tea party namesake, you're named after the most celebrated act of theft and vandalism of private property in our nation's history and you can't stomach a little park camping? [laughter] but if there is one criticism that nearly everyone, even their supporters seemed to share, it was this: >> when you look at the message, though, what is it these protesters are trying the get across because it doesn't necessarily seem a very cohesive one. >> it seems like they have to crystallize their message. >> the message is muddled. >> did you just call the protesters muddled? [laughter] but i watch a lot of movies. this guy brings up a good point. we cannot expect a bunch of disenfranchised park dwellers to come up with a coherent solution to our nation's economic woes. we have a political ruling class to do that. >> congress demanding answers on what caused the economic meltdown. >> a bipartisan group of senators known as t