Make solar love, not war 

Murray Energy lobbied a bill to roll back renewable energy requirements in Ohio. It fought government intervention to bail out coal-fired power plants. In a letter in January 24, 2017, sent to Ohio Representative Bill Seitz, Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray said, “the Ohio General Assembly must pass legislation to end the expensive, job-killing Renewable Energy Mandates in our state. We stand prepared to offer any assistance that you may need…,” wrote Robert Murray.

Solar fraud, and the heat goes on 

In December of 2016, Robert Murray favor extending a two-year freeze on Ohio’s RPS, or permanently eliminating it. “To many, the artificially created wind and solar power industries are a pure fraud,” Robert Murray said in his 2016 testimony to the Ohio Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “President-Elect Trump will end these costly subsidiaries [sic] so that all forms of electric power generation can compete on a level playing field, rather than the Federal government picking winners and losers.” 

Robert Murray enclosed a copy of a 2015 testimony by Greg Lawson, State Liason for the Buckeye Institute which Murray described as “arguing for the freeze of Ohio renewable mandates because they ‘intervene in and ultimately distort Ohio’s energy markets.’” Murray Energy intervened a 2017 Public Utilities Commission of Ohio case. It failed attempt to oppose a settlement plan that the retirement of two of Dayton Power & Light’s (DP&L) coal-fired power plants, J.M. Stuart and Killen Stations. “… Murray Energy, a coal supplier adversely affected by the proposed shutting of those coal-fired, base load plants,” said a motion to intervene filed by attorney John F. Stock, who represented Murray Energy in the PUCO case. The Heartland Institute also chimed in to agree on the issue. “We have completed a thorough review of our options and it has become clear that, without significant changes in market conditions, the plants will not be economically viable beyond mid-2018.”

Political grab for wind & solar energy 

In 2014, Robert Murray sent letters to the chairman of PUCO and Governor Kasich that supported an earlier FirstEnergy proposal to bail out the Sammis coal plant. “We are witnessing a political power grab of America’s power grid by the Administration of President Barack Obama and his supporters. This move bypassed the states, their utility commissions, and the United States House and Senate.” Hearsay has circulated that the Trump administration seeks to use the Department of Energy’s Emergency Section 202 authority under the Federal Power Act to save failing coal-fired power plants to continue to circulate this year. A spokesperson for Murray Energy recently told the Washington Examiner that “invoking this provision would be an excellent action by the DOE,” a statement that confirms Murray Energy enthusiasm for government intervention on behalf of the coal and utility industries.
 
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