President Barack Obama has never been a supporter of the coal industry, and since becoming president 4 1/2 years ago he has done everything in his power to put that industry out of business.

In his most recent attack against coal, Obama has said he intends to use executive actions to force power plants to cut carbon pollution and would likely reduce reliance on coal-fired plants.

The problem with the way Mr. Obama is handling this is that he is trying to accomplish this through executive orders and the the Environmental Protection Agency, rather than going through the democratic process. His plans in regard to coal need to be debated and voted on in Congress. We send our elected officials to Washington, D.C., to stand up for Kentuckians, and bypassing Congress through executive actions undermines the legislative process.

In an earlier time, our president specialized in constitutional law and should not have to be reminded that we have co-equal branches of government.

No one person should call the shots for coal producing states such as Kentucky, which ranks third nationally in coal production and uses coal to generate more than 90 percent of the state’s electricity.

The president is playing with people’s livelihoods here. Thousands of people in Kentucky, especially in eastern Kentucky, depend on coal for jobs.

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell summed up best what Obama is trying to do.

“Declaring a war on coal is tantamount to declaring a war on jobs,” McConnell said. “It’s tantamount to kicking the ladder out from beneath the feet of many Americans struggling in today’s economy.”

Mr. Obama apparently doesn’t care. He cares more about appeasing his environmental buddies than he does about Kentucky and its residents. He doesn’t care that his misguided plan could be detrimental to the coal industry in this state, a state he lost in the 2012 presidential election by nearly 30 percentage points.

For generations, families have depended on coal to put food on their tables and pay their bills. To mess with this industry as he has done is an insult, but we are fortunate that we have leaders in the capital such as McConnell and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who won’t take this lying down. Gov. Steve Beshear has also expressed his concern with Obama over his war on coal. In May, Beshear wrote Obama, warning him that tighter controls on carbon pollution would boost electricity costs on homes and businesses and cost jobs. Beshear is clearly looking out for Kentuckians’ interests and should be commended for doing so.

Beshear is right about the electricity increases that could happen if Obama’s plan happens.

Bill Bissett, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, predicted far-ranging economic decline. He predicts Kentucky’s low-cost electricity advantage will be removed and manufacturers will leave the state as the price of electricity increases. Bissett said this will not only impact our home electric bills, but every part of our lives that depend on electricity.

Bissett makes some valid points and furthers the argument of why Obama needs to back up and keep his hands off the coal industry, not just in Kentucky, but also in other coal-producing states.

Most Kentuckians depend on coal for their energy and some depend on it to survive. There is no way changes contemplated by our president should be implemented without going through our elected representatives.