WASHINGTON – Anthracite coal from eastern Pennsylvania may continue being shipped to U.S. military bases in Germany after the state’s congressmen painted its use as a matter of national security – instead of a boondoggle for taxpayers,

Taxpayer advocates have long derided a more than 40-year requirement, won by Pennsylvania’s delegation, that the bases be heated in part with the state’s anthracite coal.

A pair of California lawmakers last year finally mustered enough votes to eliminate the requirement from a federal defense spending bill.

That did not end the debate.

In May, proponents of Pennsylvania’s coal pushed through a requirement that the bases use “energy sourced domestically within the United States.”

The California lawmakers – Democrat Jared Huffman and Republican Tom McClintock – last week got that provision taken out of a defense appropriations bill.

“I do not support the war on coal waged by this administration and my friends on the left. I do support the war on waste,” McClintock said in a statement.

However, the House also approved an amendment to the bill by Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., forbidding the purchase of Russian energy.

The measure does not explicitly require the use of Pennsylvania coal, but Russian sources are the main competitors to heat the air bases, said Michael Clark, a lobbyist for Kaiserslautern, the German public utility that heats Air Force and Army bases in the area.

Barletta’s amendment painted the issue as one of preserving national security.

The measure still needs Senate approval. With Congress seemingly in turmoil, as evidenced by Wednesday’s sit-in protest over gun legislation in the House, Clark said it’s difficult to tell what will end up passing.

But for eastern Pennsylvania coal companies that have supplied the bases, there’s now a glimmer of hope. According to the utility, those companies are Reading Anthracite Coal in Pottsville; Blaschak Coal Corporation in Mahanoy City; Hazleton Shaft Corporation; and Coal Contractors in Hazleton.

The group Taxpayers for Common Sense has been attacking the idea of sending Pennsylvania coal to Germany, saying it cost taxpayers $17 million last year.

Clark said the impact of the program is overstated. He said it costs $1.6 million.

The utility’s plant uses a combination of mostly-Russian natural gas, Middle Eastern oil bituminous coal from Columbia and the Pennsylvania anthracite.

The coal from Pennsylvania represents about one-tenth of the total, according to the utility.

Clark acknowledged that buying coal from Russia would be cheaper, saving the equivalent of $83 per ton.

According to the taxpayers group, five Pennsylvania congressmen in 1961 convinced the Pentagon to buy coal from their state and ship it to boilers at the bases in Germany.

Sens. Joseph Clark, a Democrat, and Hugh Scott, a Republican – as well as Reps. Ivor Fenton and William Scranton, Republicans, and Rep. Daniel Flood, a Democrat – pushed the requirement to prop up the state’s struggling industry.

In 1972, the Pentagon planned to save money by shifting to oil heat, but Flood, then the second-ranking Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee, inserted language into the budget to block the conversion.

At the program’s peak, the Defense Department paid $20 million a year on 500,000 tons of anthracite coal, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Clark and some former military leaders argued that buying Russian energy would put the United States in a vulnerable position.

The utility couldn’t simply shift to other energy sources should Russia drive up the price, he said.

Barletta’s less-direct amendment for Pennsylvania coal won support on national security grounds.

“Time and again, we have seen Vladimir Putin use Russian energy to assert his political will over the rest of the world,” he said in as statement. “I think we can all agree that we don’t want our American servicemen and women to be left out in the cold.”

Kery Murakami is the Washington, D.C. reporter for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at kmurakami@cnhi.com