U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo, took to the Senate floor today to shine light on the real results of President Obama’s efforts to crush the coal industry, unprecedented layoffs last month at two of Wyoming’s biggest coal mines.

“I know the suffering of 456 people suddenly out of work may not sound so bad in a place like California or New York, but in Wyoming, whole communities feel that kind of impact,” Enzi said. “Folks I talked to in Wyoming are depressed and angry, and it’s because the energy industries they support and rely upon have for too long been the target of bad federal policies.”

Though a president should first and foremost seek to help the citizens of the United States, Enzi said it was clear by their actions that the president and others in the Administration have shown how woefully little they understand about coal, about the people who produce it and even about the people who use it. 

Enzi believes efforts to keep coal in the ground focus on the wrong goal. We can develop new and better ways to make coal more efficient and cleaner as a source of energy. Instead of trying to suffocate these industries, Enzi said what Wyoming and other states that produce and rely on fossil fuels need are innovative policies that will encourage new ways to continue to develop and use America’s huge reserves of coal, oil and gas. Enzi pointed toward carbon sequestration as one of the options, which senators from both sides of the aisle have supported.

“These last few weeks have been tough ones for Wyoming, but I’m proud to be from a state that has always found a way to bounce back from any bust,” Enzi said. “This is not the end of coal’s chapter in Wyoming’s history. I will keep working to make sure of that.”