mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. -- those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule 20, this five-minute vote on the motion to recommit will be followed by a five-minute vote on pass and of h.r. 1459 if ordered and agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal if ordered. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the .s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this volt the yeas are 193, the nays are 227. the m

mr. rahall. the chair: the gentleman from west virginia is recognized for three minutes. mr. rahall: i thank my dear colleague from new jersey for ielding me the time. mr. chairman, i do rise in support of end the legislation. and to my good friend, the chairman of the committee, doc hastings, i commend for bringing this bill to the floor of the house. as he knows, i was -- i'm the only member left in this body that served on the original conference committee that wrote h.r. 2, which was enacted as a surface mining control and reclamation act of 1977. otherwise known as smcra. due fat nature of my congressional district -- due to the nature of my congressional district, i am very familiar with smcra and what it requires. this law has numerous performance standards governing the coal surface mining and reclamation process. these standards govern everything from the handling of excess oil to the period for successful revengetation prior to bond releels. one fundamental aspect of the performance standards is that area be reclaimed to its president original contour with one except

mr. rahall. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. rahall: thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the ranking member yielding me this time, especially since we do not see eye to eye on this particular piece of legislation. we do see eye to eye on numerous other issues before the congress and the american people, such as protecting the health and safety of our nation's coal miners and our american workers, and indeed, we all, both sides of the aisle, share the common goal of wanting to provide clean water, clean air, and health and safety for our families each and every day of the year. in that sense, we all have that common ground. there is a fear, though, in the coal fields today and i really wish the distinguished majority whip on that side of the aisle had mentioned my home state of west virginia, one of the largest coal producing states in the country, when he mentioned and was going district by district about the various people going to be affected by these proposed regulations. but i do rise in support of h.r. 3826 as a co-sponsor and i comment my coal