Corporate Coal Favors Would Benefit Trump and McConnell Donors and Allies

Coal lobby has its hand out to administration littered with former mining industry staff and a Senate majority leader who has taken thousands of their dollars

Coal corporations asking for a bailout are likely to find a receptive audience in the Trump administration according to DepartmentofInfluence.org — a research resource from Western Values Project, a Montana-based Accountable.US project focused on public lands conservation. The site shows at least 12 current or former political appointees at the Interior Department have coal industry ties. 

The National Mining Association (NMA) is a major donor to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign and has deep ties to President Donald Trump’s administration. NMA President Rich Nolan recently sent a letter to President Trump and Congress asking for specific bailouts and concessions for coal corporations, including royalty rate reductions and reductions in payments to the Abandoned Mine Land program.  

“It’s outrageous that coal corporations and their lobbyists are using a global pandemic as an excuse to ask their allies in the Trump administration for a bailout,” said Jayson O’Neill, Director of Western Values Project. “Mining industry lobbyists are littered throughout the Trump administration and have lined McConnell’s pockets with thousands of dollars. It would be no surprise if Trump and McConnell end up giving Big Coal everything they want, even if it means ignoring the global health crisis.”

More on Big Coal’s connections to Trump and McConnell from DepartmentofInfluence.org

To learn more about President Trump and Sec. Bernhardt’s conflict-ridden swamp team at the Interior Department, visit DepartmentofInfluence.org.

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