TODAY, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Congressman Doc Hastings, War on Coal, Inspector General, OSM, Stream Buffer Zone Rule, Photo by Dave HarbourHastings (NGP Photo) delivered the following opening statement at today’s Full Committee oversight hearing on “Obama Administration’s War on Coal: The Recent Report by the Office of the Inspector General.” 

“We’re here today to discuss the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General’s new report on the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s (OSM) rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule.

By now, everyone on this Committee is very familiar with this rewrite, and it has been the subject of Committee oversight and investigation for well over two years.  In short….The Administration has spent millions of dollars, in secret, working on a new regulation that will put thousands of Americans out of work and increase electricity costs.  It’s one of the most covert, but destructive tactics in President Obama’s war on coal. 

Fairbanks News Miner Op-Ed by Diane Blumer (NGP Photo).  

Diane Blumer, Commissioner, Labor, Alaska economy, Photo by Dave Harbour, News MinerThe Parnell administration remains committed to growing opportunity for Alaskans. As we look ahead to 2014, our economists forecast Alaska adding 1,500 jobs — 2,400 new private sector jobs, diminished some by a decline of 900 government jobs.

Alaska added more than 1,500 jobs through the first half of 2013, and Alaska is one of a handful of states that has recovered all of the jobs lost during the recent recession. Alaska’s unemployment rate was below the national rate for 61 consecutive months as of November.