Washington DC  (CSi)  U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today joined the president at the White House for the signing ceremony of a bill she helped introduce and pass earlier this month undoing the previous administration’s Stream Protection Rule.

Proposed and finalized last year, the updated Stream Protection Rule was originally intended to address Appalachian mining practices, but the final rule was applicable to the entire country and showed little understanding of the mining practices of the lignite industry or the geography of North Dakota. For more than a year, Heitkamp had worked to fix or roll back the rule so North Dakota’s lignite coal industry wouldn’t be held back by unworkable federal policies.

 

“It’s a privilege to see a bill I helped introduce—especially one that’s so important for North Dakota—get signed into law at the White House,” said Heitkamp. “Anyone familiar with North Dakota’s mining practices and top notch reclamation could tell you that the Stream Protection Rule didn’t make sense for our lignite coal workers and industry. That’s why, last month, I helped introduce a bipartisan resolution to undo the rule. This one-size-fits-all rule was designed by the previous administration to curb Appalachian runoff, but showed no understanding for North Dakota’s unique geography—and it would have crippled our coal industry, which powers homes and businesses across the state and supports good-paying energy industry jobs. As always, I’m proud to stand up for commonsense energy policies that support North Dakota’s diverse energy mix and the jobs that our energy resources help create.”

 

In May 2016, Heitkamp toured Beulah’s Freedom Mine with a top U.S. Department of the Interior official to make sure the agency understood how the Stream Protection Rule would negatively impact the state’s coal mining industry, and to press the agency to fix its draft rule to guarantee coal has a viable path forward in the state. Janice Schneider, Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, came to the state to hear about concerns that lignite mining leaders and North Dakota officials have with the Office of Surface Mining’s (OSM) draft rule. Schneider oversees OSM and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which Heitkamp criticized last January for its freeze on federal coal leasing.

 

Prior to Schneider’s visit, Heitkamp urged the U.S. Department of the Interior to remain actively engaged with North Dakota’s coal industry in making fixes to its draft Stream Protection Rule.

 

Heitkamp has long worked to guarantee coal remains a vital component of North Dakota’s energy mix, most recently introducing a bill with broad bipartisan support to extend a key tax credit that incentivizes the development and use of carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies and processes.

 

Heitkamp brought EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to North Dakota in February 2014 so the Administrator could hear about the impacts of EPA regulations from North Dakotans. Heitkamp has also brought Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to North Dakota in August 2014 to push the U.S. Department of Energy for more investment in clean coal technology.