Coal, jobs and gas prices were just a few of the topics discussed during a “telephone town hall meeting” with Congressman Bill Johnson Wednesday evening.

Johnson hosted a conference call during which he called households throughout Lawrence, Monroe, Jefferson, Gallia, Noble, Athens and Scioto counties.

“This is our first telephone town hall,” Johnson told listeners. “I’ve held face-to-face town meetings in seven of the 12 counties that make up the 6th congressional district. I’m looking forward to getting to the remaining counties face-to-face very soon but holding meetings over the phone also gives us a chance to talk and I’m looking forward to that.”

Johnson told residents of three bills that he is co-sponsoring. The first, the Restarting American Leasing Now Act, Johnson said would expand American energy production and increase jobs by requiring the secretary of the interior to conduct oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Virginia.

A second is the Putting the Gulf Back to Work Act, which Johnson said would end the Obama administration’s drilling moratorium. The third, Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act, would lift the ban on offshore drilling and require the administration to move forward with energy production in areas with the most oil and natural resources.

Johnson also discussed whether or not Congress should raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

“I have not yet decided how I will vote…” Johnson said.

“While that may sound like a good idea, just flat out stopping the federal government from spending, it’s a problem because the federal government — we in America have to be able to meet our financial obligations and the United States has never defaulted on its financial obligations.”

Johnson heard from 15 residents who asked him questions.

Among them was Monica from Ironton, who asked about job creation in southern Ohio as well as Senate Bill 5.

“We just need something done here in terms of jobs,” she said.

Johnson said one of the main things congress is doing is creating an environment where jobs can grow.

“I will tell you that I think you’re going to start seeing those opportunities come,” Johnson said.

David from South Point asked John a question about coal.

“Coal is under attack from Obama from the environmental stand point,” he said. “Coal’s very important to the United States… What are we going to do to stop this?”

Johnson replied by saying that no one should be shocked to learn that Obama is against coal. “As a candidate, when he was a senator, he said he would bankrupt coal companies,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the problem is that the administration has allowed un-elected bureaucrats to legislate environment policies through regulations. Johnson added that he is going after regulatory agencies to stop them from doing this.

Johnson wasn’t the only one answering questions though. The congressman also asked listeners some of his own about gas prices, Medicare and federal spending. Listeners were asked to respond to the multiple-choice questions by pushing buttons on their phones.

In all, 45,314 households were called during the phone conference, according to Johnson’s office.

The congressman’s office left messages at 16,251 households. At its peak, 1,535 people were listening. Also, 77 people left voicemails asking questions of the congressman.