Ed Murray: President Obama’s Coal Policies An Abomination

Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Murray says President Obama's policies "attacking the coal industry" are "an abomination."

The president recently issued an order stopping new coal leases on federal lands, part of what some in Wyoming are calling a "war on coal."

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the coal lease moratorium will give the federal government time to study the leases and make sure taxpayers are getting a fair return on them.

But Murray says the moratorium is part of a "federal overreach and encroachment into state's rights." Besides the lease moratorium Murray cites the Environmental Protection Agency and its emission policies that discourage the use of coal to generate electricity.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a temporary order blocking the federal emissions standards for now.

Murray says President Obama is clearly to blame for the EPA policies as well as executive orders that have come from the president. Murray says that while Wyoming will persevere through the current low energy prices that have had a devastating effect on the state economy "it will require bold thinking."

Supporters of the president's environmental policies argue they are needed to battle climate change caused by greenhouse gases, including those caused by the burning of coal.