Kicking off the Coaltrans 2018 conference in Miami, Murray Energy Corp. CEO and founder Robert Murray offered strong praise for the first year of the Trump administration but warned of strong headwinds forU.S. thermal coal.
"The election of Donald Trump is a blessing from our Lord Jesus Christ," Murray said before ticking off a list of regulatory rollbacks introduced by the Trump administration related to coal production and use.
Echoed by other speakers at the conference, Murray praised the administration's moves to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, repeal the Stream Protection Rule and rescind the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan.
However, Murray said that coal's challenges are far from over, including some obstacles within the administration, offering specific criticism for Trump's appointments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
"The bureaucratic FERC failed to do their duties," Murray said in reference to the commission's decision to reject a U.S. Department of Energy proposal to support fuel-secure generators and prevent premature retirement of those units in order to ensure grid reliability.
Despite Trump's hand in shaping the current commission, Murray stated that the members are largely "biased against coal," making it impossible to make progress on DOE's plan.
Murray also called for an end to renewable energy subsidies, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and ozone rules; changes to the New Source Review rules; and federal investment for "clean coal" technology, though not for carbon capture and sequestration, which he has said in the past is a pseudonym for "no coal."
Beyond Washington, Murray cited what he called a new movement in the U.S. led by "radical environmentalists" and "socialists," among others, to pressure financial institutions and insurance companies such as Lloyd's Corp. to distance themselves from the industry, making it increasingly difficult to finance new projects.
For domestic producers, these lingering challenges will continue to weigh on the industry's ability to compete in the U.S. market, Murray said, forcing many to look abroad for opportunities for growth.
Murray has been a vocal supporter of Trump since before the 2016 election, allowing a level of communication between the coal magnate and the administration on a series of regulatory and environmental issues.
Administration officials including EPA head Scott Pruitt and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke have advocated for the industry and moved to reverse Obama-era regulations deemed at odds with U.S. coal production.
On Jan. 31, a top adviser to U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry told the West Virginia Mining Symposium that "I went to Washington, D.C., for one purpose and that was to help create coal jobs in the United States. That's my total purpose for being there. I'm not a researcher, I'm not a scientist, I'm an advocate for the coal industry."
