Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell believes destroying the Obama administration’s “war on coal” won’t be enough to bring success back to coal country.
“We are going to be presenting to the new president a variety of options that could end this assault,” McConnell said Friday at the University of Louisville. “Whether that immediately brings business back is hard to tell because it’s a private sector activity.”
The Senate majority leader was referencing President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to restore vitality back to states hit hardest by the coal industry’s years-long downturn.
Trump has staked his presidential mettle on restarting an industry pummeled by snarling governmental regulations and changing energy markets.
“If I win we’re going to bring those miners back,” Trump said at a West Virginia rally in May. “These ridiculous rules and regulations that make it impossible for you to compete … we’re going to take that all off the table, folks.”
Nick Carter, the interim president of the Kentucky Coal Association, sparked a slightly different position.
