This is more of an irreversible economic trend driven by two factors... 1) The low cost of natural gas due to fracking and the addition of many natural gas powered electric plants. 2) The policies of the Obama administration forcing electric companies to take coal fired plants offline or add expensive C02 filters are at this point irreversible. The capital investment cycle for utilities is lengthy and most are walking down the natural gas path.
That's what the Dems were telling trumpers when he promised reopening of plants and easing of regulation. So why aren't the jobs coming back and the Mills turning?
Not going to happen the electrical power sector. Hard coal is coming back in the steel sector. We are seeing increased use of coal outside the electrical generation sector. This however only brings a few jobs back. Better than what Obama was doing which would have ensured all of their jobs would be gone.
How come no one cared about telephone operators? They lost their jobs due to innovation just like coal miners but no one says a peep. Mary J Blige made a song called what’s the 411 that is obsolete thanks to Google. Just saying...
I think better was to not be ignorant and make promises that most intelligent people knew were false. Anytime he opened his mouth about bringing back clean coal most people realized how stupid that sounded but the sheeple in West Virginia and surrounding areas just wanted someone to lie to them for votes. This is not Obama or GOP, it is reality as you pointed out. Coal is dirty and not sustainable. While we don't have to drive its use out of business, we don't have to falsely promise its growth. Trump's actions are not bringing back any jobs or growth in coal, all he is doing is focusing attention away from better energy choices that would create more jobs. It is easy to simply spend way less money and help those communities transition to newer technologies. Imagine how it would be to spend the money through tax incentives for plants to build and open in former coal towns/cities and provide training assistance for transition to electrical, solar, wind and other sources. I am sure the average man/woman would rather make more money in a clean plant than digging in a dangerous cave for a dirty rock. There is nothing wrong with recognizing dying industries that cannot keep up. But I am pretty sure both parties would support spending less money in transition costs than further dumping more money down a black hole. It improves the quality of the labor force and revitlizes towns that will be abandoned once their plant shuts down (which leads to increased poverty, crime and higher medical expenses). This is 85 and I approve of this message....
The move to natural gas fired generation is of course purely economic. Exelon wanted to shut down Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant and switch that generation over to Natural Gas. The Illinois legislature and governor has passed subsidies for the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station in 2016. Replacing 6 Million Megawatt-hours of carbon-free and greenhouse gas-free generation annually with natural gas would have been taking a step backwards. The state law is written as an annual credit for producing carbon-free electricity. The plan has withstood legal challenges in 2018 upper court rulings where both the DOJ and FERC wrote briefs in favor of the Illinois plan. It wasn't that long ago when Nuclear was by far and away the cheapest megawatts on the grid.
Former miners slam Trump for giving ‘false hope’ about coal jobs returning: ‘He’s lying to them’ https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/fo...-about-coal-jobs-returning-hes-lying-to-them/ Two former coal miners told CNN’s Bill Weir on Monday that President Donald Trump has been blatantly lying about his ability to bring coal jobs back to the American heartland. Two former coal miners told CNN’s Bill Weir on Monday that President Donald Trump has been blatantly lying about his ability to bring coal jobs back to the American heartland. While talking with Weir, coal mining consultant Arthur Sullivan said that Trump has not been truthful about the prospects of bringing back coal jobs that have been declining since the 1980s. “He’s trying to get [miners’] votes, he isn’t telling them the truth,” Sullivan said. “He’s lying to them.” Sullivan said that he was particularly annoyed about the president giving false hope to coal miners because “these are really good people” and “if they have the truth, they will make the right decisions.” Former coal miner Blair Zimmerman, meanwhile, told Weir that Trump was “absolutely” giving miners “false hope” about a coal renaissance that would most likely never come. “Deregulating stuff will help this much,” he said, making a gesture with his fingers to indicate a small quantity. “It’s not going to help a lot.” Zimmerman also said that he asked the Trump campaign for specifics about how to bring back coal, and was frustrated that they didn’t seem to have any real plans. (More information and videos at link)