©2025 League of Conservation Voters
2016
190
235
8
Issues
Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) offered an amendment to H.R. 5538, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, which would strike a rider in the underlying bill preventing the Department of the Interior from finalizing the Stream Protection Rule. This critical rule will reduce the health and environmental impacts of destructive coal mining practices and help to better protect the drinking water of mining communities currently at risk of contamination from the dumping of toxic mining pollution. As one of the most damaging industrial activities in our nation, mountaintop removal mining has destroyed more than 2,000 miles of streams and over 500 mountains in Central Appalachia while also jeopardizing the health of nearby communities. The Stream Protection Rule will finally update federal rules that fall woefully short of preventing serious harm to the communities living in the shadow of mining operations. On July 12, the House rejected the Beyer amendment by a vote of 190-235 (House roll call vote 421). YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters