Wyoming Tea Party organizer M. Lee Hasenauer says that organization is circulating a petition urging state lawmakers to invoke the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution to combat what they see as illegal federal environmental policies.

Hasenauer says the group is especially concerned  about what they call the federal ''war on coal". That includes emissions regulations that discourage the use of coal to generate electricity.

The 10th amendment reads as follows:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people''.

Hasenauer says former Wyoming Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal originally used  the amendment to fight federal wolf policies several years ago. Hasenauer says that petition supporters are hoping to get the state legislature pass a bill invoking the amendment to fight federal environmental regulations when lawmakers meet in 2016.

While Hasenauer admits the federal government could simply ignore such a bill, he says he is hopeful the state could use the move to protect the coal industry from federal environmental regulations.

The Tea Party is planning a rally against the ''war on coal" for Thursday, Sept. 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the state Capitol Building in Cheyenne.

 

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