For Additional Information:
John Grasser (202) 463-2651
Karen Batra (202) 463-2651

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2, 2001

STATEMENT OF JACK N. GERARD, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL MINING ASSOCIATION, ON PASSAGE OF HOUSE ENERGY BILL, H.R. 4

"This is the right thing at the right time. It's a positive step toward averting the next national crisis -- an energy crisis -- and it gets America back on track toward the development of a comprehensive energy plan.

"Recent power shortages and skyrocketing gasoline prices are merely the tip of the energy crisis iceberg. It's a case of too little supply and too much requirement. Without energy at the right time, in the right places and at the right prices, everything either slows down or goes down.

"H.R. 4 will avert this scenario, help restore the supply necessary to meet America's demands, and help strengthen our economy and energy security. It will ensure electricity that is affordable, reliable and increasingly clean and electricity that makes maximum use of our nation's most abundant domestic energy resource, coal."