Rand Paul votes against Senate bill that would support coal research

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was one of only 12 votes against an energy bill that would authorize $3 billion over five years for the development of coal technologies.

The Senate approved the Energy Policy Modernization Act on Wednesday with 85 yes votes, including one from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

On Tuesday, the Senate had rejected an amendment to the bill by Paul that would have cut taxes for individuals and corporations and waived certain environmental regulations and wage requirements in areas with high unemployment.

Paul offered his amendment as a boost for eastern Kentucky, where some counties have double-digit jobless rates. The region has lost thousands of coal jobs in the past several years, largely due to a boom in natural gas, a decline in the price of coal, a reduced demand for electricity and new environmental regulations.

In a floor speech Tuesday, Paul urged his colleagues to support his amendment, called the Economic Freedom Zones Act.

“Many of us believe that we would have a better chance with poverty if we would lower taxes in these areas, lessen regulation, and instead of sending the money to Washington, leave it where the poverty is,” he said.

The amendment was voted down 33-64.

Kentucky is the nation’s third-leading coal producer, behind West Virginia and Wyoming, and ahead of Pennsylvania and Illinois. Of senators from those five states, only two – Paul and Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey – voted against the energy legislation.

Kelsey Cooper, a spokeswoman for Paul, said that no one had done more to defend coal against President Barack Obama’s energy policies and promote Kentucky jobs.

“Unfortunately this bill does nothing to roll back the onerous Obama regulations that are strangling our coal industry and continues to promote coal’s competitors and uneconomic green jobs,” she said. “What we really need is a government that stops picking winners and losers and gets out of the way of the energy market.”

Cathy Lindsey, a spokeswoman for Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, a Democrat who’s running for the Senate in Kentucky this year, said Paul had “voted against Kentucky jobs.”

McConnell and other senators, she added, “voted to support Kentucky’s economy.”

“Senator Paul didn’t,” Lindsey said, “and it’s time we replace him with someone who will.”

The bill that passed Wednesday would make the development of carbon capture and storage technology a priority for the Department of Energy “to ensure the continued use of the abundant, domestic coal resources of the United States.”

Its coal provisions were offered by Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat.

“My measures ensure that we are investing in the necessary research development and advanced technologies to address the preservation of low-cost electricity, clean coal production, cost-effective energy practices and carbon emissions reduction,” Manchin said in a statement.

The energy bill also includes other provisions that would help Kentucky:

▪  A permanent authorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supports public access and maintenance of sites such as Mammoth Cave National Park, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, the Daniel Boone National Forest and the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

▪  A measure from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, that would encourage state fish and wildlife agencies to develop new shooting ranges with additional funds from a federal excise tax on firearms sales.

The House of Representatives passed its version of the energy legislation in December. Now both chambers will work on a final bill in a conference committee.

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Rand Paul votes against Senate bill that would support coal research."