Bob Murray, a coal magnate and Trump donor who has long been one of the staunchest critics of environmental regulations, has died.
Murray, who was 80, died on Sunday morning in his home in Ohio, his attorney told the West Virginia-based Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register.
His death comes less than a week after Murray stepped down as chairman of American Consolidated Natural Resources, the company that purchased nearly all of Murray Energy’s assets as the coal mining company emerged from bankruptcy in September. The company, Murray said in a statement then, “is the best positioned thermal and metallurgical coal company in the world to confront the current threats to reliable, low-cost, fossil-fueled electricity.”
Murray, who founded Murray Energy in 1988, fiercely fought environmental and climate regulations. When the Trump administration came into office, he drafted an action plan for top officials at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department that called for the elimination of many major Obama-era climate and air pollution rules. Several of those regulations have since been rolled back or weakened.
The Trump administration didn’t fulfill all of Murray’s requests, however. The coal baron strongly urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to subsidize coal and nuclear plants, but the commission ultimately declined to do so. FERC still hasn’t acted on a docket on electricity grid resilience it set up after that decision, despite multiple pleas from the coal industry to do so.
As Murray’s own company’s plight demonstrates, U.S. coal production has declined dramatically in recent years, even as the Trump administration has sought to boost the industry. In 2019, U.S. coal production reached its lowest level since 1978, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Last month, Murray filed with the Department of Labor for black lung benefits, according to the Ohio Valley Resource. Murray, who used an oxygen tank in recent years, long fought mine safety regulations aiming to reduce the disease.
