WHEELING — Responding to concerns Murray Energy Corp. Chairman, President and CEO Robert Murray expressed about federal tax reform costing his company $60 million per year, 26 Republican members of Congress are asking a conference committee to eliminate the alternative minimum tax.

Reps. David McKinley, R-W.Va, and Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, joined 24 other GOP House members in signing a letter sent to the conference committee. The committee’s goal is to work through the differences in the tax reform bills passed by the House and Senate.

The House version eliminates the AMT, while the Senate bill does not.

“The repeal of the AMT is vital to the survival of Murray Energy Corp. and the 5,500 jobs we account for. The Senate’s version of the so-called tax reform legislation will cost Murray Energy $60 million per year,” company spokesman Gary Broadbent said Friday.

Murray operates coal mines throughout the U.S., including those in Beallsville, Benwood and Cameron.

Last week, the Republican-controlled Senate voted 51-49 to pass its version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, voted for the legislation, while Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, opposed it. Previously, the House passed its version of the tax cut, with both McKinley and Johnson in favor.

No Democrat in either chamber of Congress voted for these bills.

Murray quickly criticized the Senate legislation.

“The repeal of the AMT for businesses, contained in the U.S. House of Representatives’ version of the tax reform bill, will protect our fragile coal industry and other industries, as well as the livelihoods of our coal employees. The AMT must be repealed in any House-Senate conference, or we will have tax increases, not reform,” he said.

According to its website, the Internal Revenue Service defines the alternative minimum tax as follows: “The alternative minimum tax applies to taxpayers with high economic income by setting a limit on those benefits. It helps to ensure that those taxpayers pay at least a minimum amount of tax.”

The 26 representatives sent the letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

“During the last eight years, the coal industry had to endure the onslaught of regulatory over-reach by the Obama administration. The Obama administration did great harm to the coal industry and its employees,” the letter states.

“With the election of President Trump, the industry now can revitalize itself. However, failing to repeal the corporate AMT would bring a new, unanticipated threat to the industry. This tax hike will have far-reaching unintended consequences to an industry President Trump promised to help,” it adds.

In addition to McKinley and Johnson, members of Congress signing the letter include Alex Mooney and Evan Jenkins of West Virginia; Bob Gibbs, Warren Davidson, Jim Renacci, Steve Stivers, David Joyce, Bob Latta and Brad Wenstrup of Ohio; Lou Barletta, Scott Perry and Keith Rothfus of Pennsylvania; Liz Cheney of Wyoming; Andy Barr and James Comer of Kentucky; Paul Gosar of Arizona; Kevin Cramer of North Dakota; Mike Bost and Rodney Davis of Illinois; Todd Rokita of Indiana; Greg Gianforte of Montana; Doug Lamborn and Scott Tipton of Colorado; and Randy Weber of Texas.