Coal Country Fired Up Over Trump
Big coal says President-elect Trump is on the right path for bringing the industry back . During an interview with the FOX Business Network’s Charles Payne, Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray discussed how Trump can fire up coal country.
Murray said if Trump eliminates regulation, ends the Paris Agreement and eliminate subsidies for windmills and solar panels to a level playing field, “coal will come back.”
Murray, who has been outspoken about President Obama’s energy policies, said Trump will be able to keep the coal mining industry on a steadier path.
“Studies show by universities that up to 11 jobs are created for each one of those 63,000 jobs. So, you can see that it is a million jobs that Mr. Obama eliminated with his policies in the most depressed areas of the United States of America. Now, Mr. Trump can’t bring the coal industry back to what it was, Mr. Obama closed 411 coal mine units, but he [Trump] can stabilize where it is,” he said.
Murray said coal country can also capitalize overseas.
“There are 7.4 billion people on the planet, 1.3 billion of them do not have access to electricity so the world markets are demanding our coal. Indeed, last week China announced even though it supported the international climate tree that it is increasing its coal consumption by 20%, that was announced last week. So the world needs our coal,” he said
Murray also said the EIA’s outlook for world electricity consumption is a “great opportunity for American coal.”