Heidi Heitkamp : Heitkamp Helps Introduce Bipartisan Resolution Undoing Stream Protection Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp joined a bipartisan group of 29 senators-including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell-in introducing a resolution to undo 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 has worked to fix or roll back the rule so North Dakota's lignite coal industry isn't held back by these unworkable federal policies.

'The Stream Protection Rule is expansive and wrongheaded-and it won't work for North Dakota,' said Heitkamp. 'That's why I helped introduce a resolution with a bipartisan group of senators to undo this rule and stop it from harming North Dakota's lignite coal industry, which powers homes and businesses across our state and region. North Dakota already does a great job with reclamation after mining our lignite coal, and this one-size-fits-all rule didn't take our mining and reclamation practices into account. Federal policies should support North Dakota's diverse energy mix to guarantee good jobs and affordable, reliable power.'

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 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 that 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.