Wyoming’s Gov Is Angry Lawmakers Are Trying To Funnel His Coal Revenues To Other States

Wyoming Republican Gov. Matt Mead is not happy with a new bill that goes along with President Barack Obama’s plan to use coal mining revenues from western states to fund “economic development” projects in states where federal regulations have put thousands of coal miners out of work. “The legislation is detrimental to Wyoming’s coal industry and the national economy. RECLAIM would shift $1 billion from states where mining and reclamation occurs to non-reclamation economic development activities in states where federal energy policies decimated viable industries,” Mead wrote in a letter to Wyoming’s congressional delegation obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Mead is referring to the Revitalizing the Economy of Coal Communities by Leveraging Local Activities and Investing More, or RECLAIM, Act which shifts $1 billion from abandoned mine reclamation funding in states like Wyoming to economic projects in Appalachian states like Kentucky...more