Guess Who Else Wants A Coronavirus Bailout? The Coal Industry, Of Course!

[hatrack]

Hotels, airlines and cruise providers are lobbying Congress for bailouts amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that has dramatically slashed business. Now the coal industry wants in. Big coal is asking the federal government to waive fees and order coal-fired power plants to remain operating during the ongoing threat posed by the virus that has infected thousands and killed hundreds across America.

The National Mining Association wants President Donald Trump to use his authority to “suspend or reduce” royalties coal operators pay the federal government, a portion of which goes to states, including millions to Utah. The association also asks for a cut in the fees industry pays to clean up old mines and to pay for miners with black lung disease.

“The fuel security provided by coal reserves at power plants offers resiliency to a system that is bracing for uncertainty, and it is imperative to keep these plants online — whether through the use of the Defense Production Act or other means — in the interest of national security,” the association’s president Rich Nolan wrote in the letter, according to Reuters, which obtained the letter. The letter, sent to Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., seeks help so that “coal companies have access to the necessary cash flow they need to continue operations.”

Democrats seized on the letter as an example of an industry coming hat-in-hand to the government for a bailout despite the fact it hasn’t been affected by it. “The coal industry is taking advantage of the country’s current circumstances to advocate for policies that are completely unrelated to the current crisis,” wrote House Natural Resources Chairman Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz.., and Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., in a letter to House and Senate leaders.

EDIT

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2020/03/20/coal-industry-seeks/

[bluedigger]

1. That letter reads like a mob shakedown.

Nice country you got here. Shame if anything happened to it...

[Mickju]

2. They can get fucked.

Their industry needs to finally and permanently shut down.