Wyoming Treasurer Mark Gordon says it appears that many of President Obama's policies are aimed at hurting "red" [Republican] states.

Gordon said Tuesday that as Wyoming faces major economic challenges mostly caused by low energy prices, the Cowboy state is not alone. He says Oklahoma's economy is down by $1 billion, while Alaska's economy saw a $3 billion decline last year, and "it's starting to hit Kansas."

Gordon, who is a Republican, added, "I've said for years that if you were inclined to take aim at red states, the way you would do it would be to do exactly what this administration has done." Gordon says Wyoming is seeing "unprecedented interference from banks and governments and gosh knows what" in its energy industries.

He says that's shown by the fact that low energy prices aren't resulting in stronger markets for those products. Gordon also says of the coal industry in particular "that administration back east has decided to kick it when it's down."

The Obama administration recently announced a moratorium on coal leases on federal land as part of an overall review of how the government manages coal on federal land.

Wyoming critics of the president's policies on coal have for some time been accusing the administration of conducting a "war on coal" by enacting tougher emissions standards for coal-fired power plants and other actions they claim target the coal industry.

Supporters of the tougher standards say they are needed to combat global warming, which many scientists say is being caused by "greenhouse gases."

Those gases are caused by the burning of coal as well as other fossil fuels.

 

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