WASHINGTON, D.C.— On Wednesday, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke on the Senate floor highlighting energy-job losses in Wyoming and the importance of the energy industry to Wyoming and America.
Below are excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:
“Late last week, two of our state’s largest coal mines announced that they would let go 15 percent of their workers.
“465 families – 465 families – are now living with the terrible pain of the loss of a job.
“Wyoming has seen thousands of hard-working men and women lose their jobs in the energy industry over the past few years – people working in oil, in gas and in coal.
“Democrats in Washington should never forget that the regulations that they in this administration impose have real impact on real people.
“When Democrat presidential candidates say that they want to keep our resources in the ground, they send shockwaves through communities that depend on energy jobs.
“When the Obama administration promotes green energy at any cost, it does great harm to Americans who are working to produce red, white and blue energy.
“Seven years of overregulation have taken their toll on coal country.
“The Obama administration has taken away these people’s jobs, and now it is going and trying to take away their dignity.
“Because a job is related to a person’s identity and dignity in so many ways.
“My goal is to make American energy as clean as we can, as fast as we can, without raising costs and causing pain to American families.
“That means investing in new ways to develop Wyoming’s incredible energy resources – and finding new markets for these resources.
“Energy is known as the master resource.
“It is the master resource for a reason and America can provide and produce the energy we need for a strong economy, as well as a healthy environment.
“There are bipartisan ideas and bills here in the Senate to help us do both.
“We should never give up on that goal.
“American energy production has powered our economic recovery, and has been the workhorse for the American economy for the last seven years through the economic recovery.
“It’s time for us here in the Senate, here in the country, certainly here in Washington, to return that favor, and to help get these Americans back to work.”