Barrasso blasts Department of the Interior’s “job-crushing” federal coal leasing action
On Friday, U.S. Senator John Barrasso blasted the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) announcement on federal coal leasing. The Obama administration annnounced an order to pause the issuance of coal-mining leases on federal land as part of new executive actions to fight climate change.
U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told reporters that the halt could last three years.
“There seems to be no limit to the number of job-crushing regulations, executive orders and insults Secretary Jewell and President Obama will throw at America’s middle class. This administration is in a full-scale war with coal communities and families,” said Barrasso in a statement released Friday.
“When rural America says President Obama has contempt for their lives and livelihoods, they mean decisions like today’s announcement. A moratorium on federal coal leasing effectively hands a pink slip to the thousands of people in Wyoming and across the West employed in coal production,” continued Barrasso.
“I’m prepared to act to protect middle-class workers from this latest attempt to turn out the lights on American energy,” concluded Barrasso.
National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn stated……
Barrasso blasts Department of the Interior’s “job-crushing” federal coal leasing action