Sen. Rand Paul on Monday called on Hillary Clinton to apologize for promising to put coal miners out of work after a report was released showing Kentucky lost more than 1,500 coal mining jobs in the first three months of the year.
The former scretary of state is campaigning through coal country this week, seeking to rebuild some bridges she burned after saying she would put coal miners “out of business” a few months ago.
The quarterly report released Monday by the state of Kentucky showed 1,501 coal mining jobs were lost in the first three months of 2016, a drop of 17.9 percent.
Paul, the former Republican presidential candidate who is Kentucky’s junior senator and who is running for re-election this year, said that shows Clinton’s comments are no laughing matter.
“As Kentucky’s hardworking coal miners and their families continue to endure the very real and devastating effects of the Obama-Clinton War on Coal, I doubt they are excited to have the person who promised to put them out of work personally rubbing her anti-coal, anti-Kentucky agenda in their faces today,” Paul said on his campaign site.
“Hillary Clinton’s apology is long overdue, and I am calling on her to apologize today, and in person, as she faces the Kentuckians suffering under her War on Coal.”
The coal industry has had a rough start to 2016 as the top two coal companies in the U.S., Peabody Energy and Arch Coal, filed for bankruptcy protection. While many in the coal industry blame regulations as the main reason the industry is suffering, the increase in natural gas use also has eten away at coal’s market share.
The amount of coal mined from Kentucky dropped 12.8 percent in the first quarter of 2016, the report said.
