Coal baron’s ‘action plan’ became Trump policy initiatives
"We have listed our suggested actions in order of priority,"
A review of the memo by The Associated Press shows Murray, an early campaign supporter of President
Murray has spoken widely about his policy priorities in the intervening months, but a copy of his four-page plan became public this week after it was obtained by Democratic Sen.
Under Trump, the
Other Murray priorities, such as eliminating federal tax credits for wind turbines and solar panels, have floundered, however. The renewable energy tax breaks were largely retained in the final Republican-drafted tax plan signed by Trump last month.
And despite Trump's campaign pledges to put scores of coal back to work by ending what he and Murray have derided as Obama's "War on Coal," the administration's regulatory rollback has thus far had modest economic benefits.
Only about 500 coal mining jobs were added in Trump's first year, bringing the total to about 50,900 nationally, according to the federal
In an interview with AP on Wednesday, Murray said Trump and his appointees have overall done a great job helping his industry, rating them "nearly a 10" in the first year. He specifically credited Environmental Protection Administrator
Murray said he had private meetings with both Pruitt and Perry last year to discuss his policy goals.
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Spokespeople for Pruitt and Perry did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday about Murray's action plan.
Murray said he is still hopeful that Pruitt will follow through on the second-highest priority item on his 2017 action plan, revoking
Murray also expressed disappointment that Trump appointees on the
AP reported last year that Murray had asked the Trump administration to issue an emergency order protecting coal-fired power plants from closing. Murray warned that failure to act could cause thousands of coal miners to be laid off and force his largest customer,
Perry ultimately rejected Murray's request, but later asked
The Republican-controlled commission voted unanimously to reject Perry's claim that further retirements of coal-fired power plants pose a threat to reliability of the nation's electric grid.
"There's no question about it, there are folks in the administration that have their own agenda, rather than
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