Environmental-extremist Dem wants to end coal leases on federally-owned land in West

Colorado coal train

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), a liberal environmentalist extremist who, when he was in the House, sponsored the expensive and ultimately hated cap-and-trade bill five years ago, now wants to block new permits to mine coal in the western states.

Wyoming is America's leading coal-producing state--account for forty percent our nation's total.

From the Billings Gazette:

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said this week he intends to draft legislation halting coal leasing on federal lands after the U.S. Bureau of Land Management rejected his call for a leasing moratorium.

Markey had urged the BLM to suspend its leasing program while it considers reforms suggested by the Government Accountability Office last year.

But in an Aug. 14 letter released by the senator's office this week, BLM Director Neil Korze rejected that plea.

"While the department intends to make necessary changes to improve the coal leasing program, we do not agree that our coal program should be suspended until these reforms are completed," Kornze wrote.

Markey's ultimate goal is to destroy America's coal industry. Plain and simple. The Democrats' war on coal is an attack on our standard of living. Does Markey think solar panels will heat our homes? Americans need to make the Democrats the minority in the Senate this fall.