AABE Energy News: October 2012 | House Passes Coal Legislation

October 2012 Newsletter
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A Message from the President

After almost a year in my current position, I have been reflecting on all that it has taken for this association to reach the stature that we enjoy. With the presidential election only weeks away, energy has become one of the key issues discussed by the candidates.

Today, the national conversation around energy today does include the impact on Africans Americans. And while we are glad that the conversation is now taking place, what we should be mindful of is who is framing those conversations if it is not AABE.

We should ask: with the "Browning of America", the spending power and economic impact of African Americans and the rising number of African American energy professionals, are we as the AABE asserting ourselves as the industry experts and are we being recognized as the valuable resource for legislators, industry and community stakeholders?

What I have come to realize in just my short time is that AABE is doing the right things to properly position itself to realize its mission and be the framers for the national conversations about Blacks and energy.

With warmest regards,

Arnetta McRae
AABE President and CEO

H.R. 3409 Passes the House

U.S. Capitol Building

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the "Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act" (H.R. 3409) by a vote of 233-175. Nineteen Democrats voted in support of the legislation and 13 Republicans voted in opposition. Click here for the updated results.

The legislation sponsored by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) is a re-packaging of legislation supported by the National Mining Association (NMA) and previously passed out of the House, including provisions to streamline Clean Water Act oversight of mines, block greenhouse gas regulations and prevent EPA from labeling coal ash as hazardous. Another section is meant to block the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) from moving forward with its stream buffer zone rule.

All amendments offered on the floor of the House to weaken the bill were defeated, including an amendment by 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 that failed by a vote of 168-243. A measure by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) to create a national renewable electricity and energy efficiency standard failed by a vote of 160-250. An amendment authored by Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) that prohibits the EPA from retroactively vetoing a Section 404 permit under the Clean Water Act passed by a vote of 247-163.

In addition to direct lobbying efforts, NMA ran aggressive online and grassroots advocacy efforts and extensive use of social media outreach in support of the legislation leading up to today’s vote.

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