is powhatan point, ohio, on the ohio river and this morning "washington journal" is live from murray energy's transloading center there at powhato n point. we're talking about the impacts and regulations and joining us now from powhatan point is bill johnson, republican, 6th district runs along the ohio river and eastern ohio. congressman, good morning to you. want to ask you about coal miners' health benefits. we are coming off a week in which the omnibus spending bill included provisions to support coal miners and health benefits. why is the federal government involved in health benefits for coal miners? >> well, we have to be. you know, these were benefits that were promised to these coal miners. the coal industry as you heard mr. murray talk about just a little bit ago has kept the lights on in america, provided heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. it's the least we can do to make sure that they get the benefit that is they've earned from the career that they've put in to and the coal mining industry and the coal miners protection act very, very important leg

joining us from powhatan point. special line for coal miners and family members, 202-748-8000 is that number. f you are in the eastern or central time zone, 202-748-8001. mountain or specific time zone, 202-748-8002. been go to nancy, who has wait nothing washington this morning. good morning. caller: hi. thank you. thanks mr. nick mullins, fascinating listening to you. i have a lot of questions for you. you tell us can in the y're putting streams, especially with the s thatck of the regulation trump rolled back? know, keep clean water what about retraining even just f miners, cleaning up, you know, if we and the coal mines there wer plants, could not be clean up jobs, as well as could be that they retrained for? i'm all for people having support jobs that their families, some point we have to realize our planet, our at stake.is host: mr. nick mullins. guest: excellent questions the first ess question, some things going into the water is heavy metals. that you mine, especially surface mining, taking the large chunks

ed and regulated -- later today, we take you live to powhatan point, ohio. to the murray entergy corporation, the ohio valley trans loading center. before we do that, we are joined here in our capitol hill studio by manuel quinones, deputy editor of environment and energy news. let's talk about the rock itself. what are the main types of coal that our mind in united states -- that are mined in the united states? guest: you have endocyte coal in pennsylvania -- anthracite coal in pennsylvania. then you have a type of coal it is moregnite -- brown, has less energy. it is still used, especially in north dakota. there is a plant in mississippi that now wants to use lignite coal. it ranges. host: you talk about the ranges of coal. what kind of mines are there in the united states? guest: many people assume all coal plants -- many are used to make iron and steel. mines are for that etal -- how much countries are developing how much steel we need to make buildings. host: manuel quinones is our first guest this morning. special phone lines today. we want to hear you

joining us now from powhatan point is bill

is powhatan point, ohio. it is on the ohio river. this morning, "washington journal" is live from murray energy translating center at powhatan point. about talking with guests the coal industry, its impacts, and its regulation. joining us now from powhatan whose sixill johnson, district runs along ohio. i want to ask you about coal miners health benefits. we are coming off a week in which the on the this spending bill-- omnibus spending included provisions on health benefits. wisely government involved in health benefits for coal miners -- why is the government involved in health benefits for coal miners? guest: we have to be. these were benefits promised to call miners. the coal industry, as you heard mr. murray talk about, has kept the lights on and heating in the winter and air-conditioning in the summer. it's the least we can do to make sure they can get the benefits they have earned from the career that they put into in the coal mining industry. the coal miners protection a ct, very important legislation, and i was glad to see w

joining us from powhatan point. special line for coal miners and family members, 202-748-8000 is that number. f you are in the eastern or central time zone, 202-748-8001. mountain or specific time zone, 202-748-8002. been go to nancy, who has wait nothing washington this morning. good morning. caller: hi. thank you. thanks mr. nick mullins, fascinating listening to you. i have a lot of questions for you. you tell us can in the y're putting streams, especially with the s thatck of the regulation trump rolled back? know, keep clean water what about retraining even just f miners, cleaning up, you know, if we and the coal mines there wer plants, could not be clean up jobs, as well as could be that they retrained for? i'm all for people having support jobs that their families, some point we have to realize our planet, our at stake.is host: mr. nick mullins. guest: excellent questions the first ess question, some things going into the water is heavy metals. that you mine, especially surface mining, taking the large chunks

there is a shot of powhatan point, ohio.howing you the facility we will be live from for most of this morning. murray energy one of the largest independent operators of coal mines in the united states. mines -- we will be talking about the mining industry and its impact on the environment and the people who work in the mining industry. we want to hear your calls as we do that. we will start at about 7:30 and go until 10:00 this morning. until we do that, we are focusing on this hearing yesterday on capitol hill. saying she believes that former national security adviser michael flynn was compromised by russia, revealing details of the meeting she had with white house lawyers, talking about michael flynn and the information that she had as the former head of the justice department. let us know what you think. james in texas. line for independents. caller: good morning. thank you, c-span. i'm encouraged by the fact that a lot of the comments have demonstrated that there is a lot of dissatisfaction with those inside the beltway.

up with kevin hughes out at powhatan point to about his work in the coal mines. guest: i'm general manager of the ohio county coal company, murray. from years this may. host: why did you get into it? in western jobs up, i lvania where i grew ot out of school and got married, started a family and the mining industry has been very good to me and my family. host: is it something generational family? guest: no, my father was a steel worker. i'm first generation. ost: what is a day in your job like? guest: as general manager, meetings on production and safety, we work on plans for the forward, deal with any kind of labor issues, several things, working with agencies on violations and/or safety aspects of that, also. host: how is coal mined in your mind? miner we use continuous development, we set up the panels with continuous miners take it out with mining. in : how many people work your mine. guest: 348 union people, 120 salary people. has that changed over the past eight year? guest: there was a time when workers, e more coal that is for sure. a larger work group at

host: we are at your powhatan point transfer center. does murrayes energy operate and how many employees do you have? guest: we have 17 mines. 2015, we had 8400 employees, but because of the actions of barack obama and the democrats, we got down to 5000 employees. we are back up to 6500 employees now under president trump, who has done a wonderful job so far for reliable low-cost electricity and for coal miners. we hope to get back to where we were eventually. host: and what kind of mines does murray energy operate? mines or underground open pit mines? guest: no, i have all underground mines. that is environmentally the most acceptable way to mine coal. we are typically underground 1000 feet and people don't know that we are down there mining coal. energy corporation is exclusively an underground mining company in the united ines.s with our 17 m we do do some surface mining and colombia, south america. we do it as the most environmentally acceptable way to do it. the public don't even know that i have thousands of employees right under

is powhatan point, ohio, on the ohio river and this morning "washington journal" is live from murray energy's transloading center there at powhato n point. we're talking about the impacts and regulations and joining us now from powhatan point is bill johnson, republican, 6th district runs along the ohio river and eastern ohio. congressman, good morning to you. want to ask you about coal miners' health benefits. we are coming off a week in which the omnibus spending bill included provisions to support coal miners and health benefits. why is the federal government involved in health benefits for coal miners? >> well, we have to be. you know, these were benefits that were promised to these coal miners. the coal industry as you heard mr. murray talk about just a little bit ago has kept the lights on in america,

we lived down in powhatan, i don't know what to say to these people. you have to live this life to know what it does for you. my brothers are called minors. i have one that just retired after putting his, he was 17 when he went into the coal mine. now he is 56 years old. that should tell people. we need the jobs for the people around there. so please, just keep what you are doing and let the people know how important this is. and it is not as bad as what the democrats are saying. even some republicans say this. without this coal mine there would be no west virginia, there will be no ohio. >> thank you for the call. and sharing your story.mr. murray let's give you a chance to respond to june.>> june is absolutely correct.these people in these areas, the miners have thought the worst for this country. our very dedicated hard-working people that just want to work in honor and dignity. i respect them so much. that is why i built my headquarters right where you are. in the coalfields among these people. but more importantly, where the industry that is holdi

. >> "the washington journal" continues its focus on the coal industry this morning from powhatan point, ohio. it's murray energy's transloading facility there and joining us on site now is vivian stockman, serves as vice director of ohio valley environmental coalition. ms. stockman, tell our viewers a little bit about your group and its work. >> well, ohio valley environmental coalition or ovec is based in what was known as the coal port city of huntington, west virginia, just on the other side of the river here down river near kentucky. we have been -- we are celebrating our third year right now. we started as just a living room group, a bunch of citizens got together when basf corporation was going to bring all of its toxic waste from north america to a low income community near huntington and people got together and became a multi-year battle but eventually basf corporation decided it wasn't going to burn or dump all of its waste in our neighborhood. so that's what we started with and over the years we have gone in to assorted campaigns. when people have brought different pollution

. >> washington journal will be live tomorrow in powhatan point, ohio. moves30,000 tons of coal are here every day. barges deliver coal to power plants up and down the ohio river. as far as 400 miles away. the spotlight on the coal industry, we travel to ohio and west virginia to talk his current and former industry employs about the life of a coal miner and what a day on the job is like in the coal business. >> god gave you your senses. as long as you use those, you can be safe. i was young when i went in there and i did some goofy things, but i've been safe. the safety laws that they put in place continually grew to a level where it is safe to work in a coal mine. i worked 35 years and i got one scar on the back of my neck. that's all i got out of it. i survived it. scary, but you have other people at your side. i have a deep faith in god. that he was by my side the whole time i was in there. you only get so many heartbeats, and i haven't used them up yet. there was one i know for sure, i cannot remember his name but there were several deaths of the co

program from powhatan point, ohio. special thank you to andrew jones, our drone pilot, they'll healthfully, our cameraman -- [inaudible conversations] the second morning we meet today when men of organization which there is your little we're joined by the expert panel of witnesses general cupper who enjoys nothing more than testifying before congress and is making his second appearance on the hill this week i hope your schedule for a couple more next week. there is a reason because of the esteem of which two are held from the members of congress i would argue this issue deserves your knowledge is the background the dean of the fletcher school at tufts university former commander of which he did an outstanding job it is not his first appearance in former director of the cia with the national security agency as said rogers told the committee earlier this week with the advance threats of cyberspace rector's who were operating with more sophistication and speed and precision those are the words of averell rogers we heard h

programl do it for our from powhatan point, ohio. special thank you to andrew jones, our drone pilot, they'll healthfully, our cameraman -- hellfly, -- hillfly, our cameraman. now we take you to capitol hill. for u.s. ambassadorships, including iowa governor terry branstad. there is also a hearing on john sullivan to be deputy secretary of coverage beginning now. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> we are supportive of the three nominees we have here today. the rest, i think, we will take up, and i strongly urge our colleagues to support governor branstad. i thought he conducted the hearings and cooperated with the committee and is fully qualified. >> i do not think anyone misunderstood why he had been governor 23 years. certainly was able to answer questions. in a way that related to people. we look forward to his service. i will read the names of these nominees and the fore

this morning's "washington journal" is live from the transloading center there at powhatan points.ere talking about the coal industry and regulation. joining us now is congressman bill johnson, republican who sixth district runs along the ohio river. good morning to you. i want to ask you about coal miners health benefits. were coming off a week in which the omnibus spending bill included provisions to support coal miners and the health benefits. why is the federal government health benefits foror coal miners? >> we have to be. these are benefits promised towe these coal miners. the coal industry as you heard mr. murray talk about a little bit ago has kept the lights on in america provided heating in the winter and air-conditioning in the summer. it is the least we can do to make sure they get the benefits they have earned from a career they have put into the coal mining industry. the coal miners protection act very important legislation when i was glad to see that we got that done. from losing their health benefits.rt that was important i think we did the right thing. >> host: alo

your looking at a live shot of powhatan point, ohio. 300 miles northwest of washington, d.c.oal up andstop for down the ohio river. it isuld his mind, how regulated and its impact on the environment and people who work on the industry. mined.it is sally is described how she

host: we are at your powhatan point transfer center. does murrayes energy operate and how many employees do you have? guest: we have 17