Date: 2011-10-06
Speaker: HERRERA BEUTLER (republican)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of this legislation. the underlying legislation. unamended. because its going to protect and grow jobs. both in my region and across the country. My district in southwest Washington is home to thousands of private forest landowners. Whether its a family farm or a private business. such as Weyerhauser. which is one of our regions largest businesses and employers. we have pulp mills. paper mills and an emerging biomass industry. And what do all these things have in common? They all provide tens of thousands of jobs. good familywage jobs to the folks in my region. And theyre all part of the forest products industry that has long been the cornerstone of southwest Washingtons economy. And if we dont pass this underlying bill unamended. they will all shed those thousands of jobs in southwest Washington. How many are we talking about? Well. a recent study shows that about 18 percent of those jobs would be lost. Those who produce pulp and paper would be laid off by this onerous Boiler MACT rule as its written. Those are bluecollar families. Those are familywage jobs. Theyre the ones that would pay the price for this if we do not act now to protect the environment where jobs can grow. Now. the ripple effects in related industries in our region and across the country would be an additional 87.000 jobs lost if we do not act and pass this bill. In a place like Cowlitz County in my district. where more than one out of every 10 moms and dads are out of work. the effect of this rule. if we dont fix it and we dont fix it soon. would further devastate an already devastated economy. In August 89.000 jobs were created. They were added nationwide. So. basically. if we dont move now. were going to wipe out the entire month of Augusts growth. Thats going to put our economy backwards. not forwards. And make no mistake. Mr. Chairman. thats one thing the current majority in the House is about is creating jobs for the men and women at home to make sure they can provide for their families and their kids. their kids college education. their health care and so on and so forth. Its the American Dream. Lets pass this bipartisan piece of legislation today without this amendment. It wont add to the deficit. and its going to preserve those jobs for those folks who are struggling in my home region. southwest Washington. and across the country. Lets give the EPA the time its requested to rewrite the rule in a commonsense way. The great thing about this is our environment and our economy dont have to be mutually exclusive. which is why were taking a balanced approach to changing this rule. Its why I believe and I am assuming thats part of the reason the EPA wants more time to rewrite it. because it had the feedback. Yes. we can innovate and create and reduce. and I support reducing whatever type of emissions were producing as a Nation. We need to go there. but we need to do it in a commonsense way that doesnt just handicap the economy at a time when we need it to grow. So lets give the EPA that time that theyve requested so that facilities like Longview Fibre in Longview. Washington. wont have to lay any more people off. With this legislation. we can protect our environment and protect American jobs. With that. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.