Coal and UMW leaders say proposed fossil energy budget cuts would harm industry

Coal industry and labor leaders sent a letter to President Trump March 10 asking him not to cut the budget of the U.S. Department of Energy’s fossil-energy office, saying cuts would harm the industry's attempts to recover, James Osborne reports for Fuel Fix. Trump promised during his campaign to revive the coal industry.

Earlier this year the Trump administration said it would cut spending by $10.5 trillion over the next decade, "with substantial cuts coming from the Departments of Energy and Commerce," Osborne writes. "The cuts were reportedly based on a spending plan written by the the conservative Heritage Foundation, which calls for eliminating the Energy Department’s Office of Fossil Energy—along with the Office of Electricity and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy."

The United Mine Workers of America and CEOs of the nation's three largest coal companies—Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Cloud Peak Energy—said in the letter: "In light of recent calls for dramatic cuts to the federal budget, we want to stress that every dollar allocated to fossil energy research is an investment in the long-term future of America’s coal and fossil fuel industry."