Today, President Donald J. Trump signed H.J. Res 38 (Reps. Bill Johnson, R-OH, Evan Jenkins, R-WV, and David McKinley, R-WV), a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act related to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s (OSM) final Stream Protection Rule (SPR). Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) released the following statement:

“Allowing this rule to be implemented would have been irresponsible, devastating for American jobs and an unnecessary threat to state economies and affordable energy. I want to thank President Trump for signing one of the first invocations of the CRA in two decades to halt this egregious job-killing regulation.”

“President Trump made a promise to coal miners and their families during his campaign, and today he fulfilled that promise. I was honored to be by his side at the White House as he signed my resolution. Working together, we are protecting coal jobs by preventing this Obama-era rule from taking effect – and importantly – preventing the issuance of any similar rule in the future,” Johnson said.

“This is a great day for West Virginia jobs, West Virginia miners and West Virginia energy. I was honored to join President Trump as he signed our legislation into law. Thanks to his support, we have stopped this job-killing rule once and for all and saved one third of all coal jobs in this country. I deeply appreciate the president’s support of this bill and our coal miners, and this is just the first of many solutions we have to create and protect jobs for all Americans,” Jenkins stated.

“Over the last eight years, few industries have been under attack from Washington the way the coal industry has. Because of the war on coal waged by the Obama administration, over 240 coal fired plants have closed and 83,000 people have lost their jobs,” McKinley said. “Today’s signing is a major victory for West Virginia and coal miners all across the country.”

Background Information:

Beginning in the 112th Congress, the House Committee on Natural Resources has led oversight efforts of the SPR. The Committee held 13 hearings on the SPR’s development and its finalization. 

In addition, the House passed three bills opposing the rewrite of the SPR:  H.R. 1644 in the 114th, H.R. 2824 in the 113th, and H.R. 3409 in the 112th.

The states, which regulate 97 percent of the coal mines in the U.S., were shut out of the SPR’s rule-writing process, before OSM issued the final rule on December 19, 2016.

The House passed H.J. Res 38 on February 1, 2017 by a vote of 228-194. The Senate passed the same bill on February 2, 2017 by a vote of 54-45.

Click here for additional information on the SPR.