[Hoot Gibson]

The biggest problem with the coal industry is the regulatory abuse by federal agencies. Coal is a commodity and has historically gone through many boom and bust cycles in response to wild swings in spot market prices. What is happening now is much different. Obama has kept his word on waging a war against the coal industry and used unconstitutional methods to accomplish his goals.

As long as this country elects liberal presidents, regardless of their party affiliation, the coal industry will continue its current death spiral. A four year respite from a serious of liberal presidents will not be enough. Agencies like the EPA, MSHA, OSM, and others with whom the industry must deal, are heavily staffed with anti-industry liberals. Obama has also managed to put environmentalist and union extremists in influential positions in federal agencies and in our judicial system. The job of purging Obamunism from regulatory agencies and rolling back unconstitutional regulations will be a daunting task for a conservative president.

The last president who actually worked to simplify and reduce the amount of regulation on the coal industry was Ronald Reagan.

As you know, a large amount of capital investment is necessary for coal companies to be competitive. Until mining companies can make those investments with a reasonable expectation of long term profitability, the industry will continue to shrink east of the Mississippi River.

The other problem that Obama has created is that he has forced thousands of young coal miners in the eastern U.S. to find employment outside of the coal industry. People are reluctant to embark on careers in the coal mining industry because of the uncertainty of its future. The Global Warming/Climate Change extremists show no sign of coming to their senses and their demonization of coal is a big PR problem for the industry and they will continue to make it more difficult to attract new people into the industry.

Countries like Russia, China, and Australia cannot match the quality of coal produced from central Appalachia. Obama has managed to inflict damage on the domestic market for steam coal, but there will be a market for U.S. coal as long as it exists, provided the federal government does not artificially price our companies out of the market.