Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray, who spoke to Republicans at the Lincoln Day Dinner on Wednesday, is “righteously mad” at President Barack Obama, who Murray says is to blame for the downturn in the coal industry.
The President, you see, is on a “bizarre personal and political” quest to destroy not only the coal industry, but the entire country and according to Murray, “radical environmentalists, liberal elitists, [and] Hollywood characters” aren't doing anything to help the situation.
And make no mistake, this isn't about money for Murray, this is all about the people. “Mr. Obama's actions are a human issue to me, as I know the names of many of the Americans whose jobs and family livelihoods are being destroyed,” Murray said, adding that “these Americans are my employees.”
Or at least they were his employees. Murray laid off 21% of his company back in May, with the majority of the cuts coming in West Virginia, which is staring down a $195 million budget gap thanks to the slide in coal prices.
Murray believes these job cuts are the fault of the Obama administration and, thankfully, he's got some concrete arguments to support his contention that the President is colluding with Hollywood characters and certain “contributors” in an effort to “get control of the availability, reliability and cost of electricity.”
from SNL:
[Murray] said President Barack Obama's administration has issued regulations that illegally bypass the states and their utility commissions, the U.S. Congress and the Constitution in favor of putting the U.S. EPA in charge of the nation's electric grid. Murray, speaking at a Republican gathering at the July 22 Lincoln Day Dinner, touted his company's four lawsuits being brought against the administration's Clean Power Plan, an effort to rein in carbon dioxide emissions.
Murray continued, saying that the coal workers affected by Obama's policies are among the highest paid in the regions where they live, but also have no one to sell their homes to when they lose their jobs.
“Thus, these people are prohibited from working and fall to the negative side of the economic ledger for the rest of their lives,” Murray said. “This is not the America that I have always cherished. Well, I am obviously not giving up. Nor should you. We have the law, science, economics, cold hard energy facts and the Constitution on our side. Our cause is right. It is right for the coal industry and our communities and America. … We must continue to do whatever we can to overcome the insanity of our current government.”
