Posted on 04/19/2017 10:37:29 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Buried in an otherwise-humdrum jobs report was the jaw-dropping pronouncement by the Department of Labor that mining jobs in America were up by 11,000 in March. Since the low point in October 2016, and following years of painful layoffs in the mining industry, the mining sector has added 35,000 jobs.
What a turnaround. Liberals have been saying that Donald Trump was lying to the American people when he said that he could bring coal jobs back. Well, so far, he has delivered on his promise.
There's more good news for the coal industry.
Earlier this month, Peabody Energy — America's largest coal producer — moved out of bankruptcy, and its stock is actively trading again. Its market cap had sunk by almost 90% during Barack Obama's years in office. Arch Coal is also out of bankruptcy.
It turns out that, after all, elections do have consequences. The Obama administration and its allies, such as the Sierra Club, tried to kill coal because of their obsession with global warming. Regime change in Washington has brought King Coal back to life.
Donald Trump pledged to coal miners in small towns across America that he would be a friend to American coal and fossil fuels. As promised, Trump has lifted the so-called Clean Power Plan regulations and several other EPA rules that were intentionally designed to shutter coal plants, which it accomplished with ruthless precision. Hillary Clinton had promised her green allies that she would finish off every last coal-mining job in America.
The coal miners weren't too happy about this, and her arrogant disregard for a leading American industry that hires tens of thousands of union workers contributed to her losing almost all the coal states — many of which were once reliably Democratic.
America was built on cheap and abundant coal. Fossil fuels powered the U.S. into the industrial age and replaced windmills and wood burning, which were inefficient, as the primary sources of electricity. America currently has access to 500 years' worth of coal — far more than any other nation. Despite the last decade's war on coal, the U.S. still derives about one-third of our power from coal, making it second only to natural gas.
Liberals have argued that coal could never make a comeback, because of cheap natural gas. Clearly, the shale gas revolution — with prices falling from $10 to $3 per million cubic feet — has hurt coal producers.
But economic necessity is the mother of invention, and coal companies, including Peabody, have figured out how to become far more efficient in production. What's more, clean coal is here. Emissions of lead, sulfur, carbon monoxide and other air pollutants from coal plants have fallen by more than half, and in some cases 90%, in recent decades.
The climate-change industrial complex pontificates that the U.S. has to stop using coal to save the planet. But even if the U.S. cut our own coal production to zero, China and India are building hundreds of coal plants. By suspending American coal production we are merely transferring jobs out of the U.S.
Renewable energy is decades away from being a major energy source for the world. Until that happens, coal and natural gas will compete as low-priced, super-abundant, domestically produced energy sources for 21st-century America. Nuclear power will, I hope, continue to play an important role, too. Meanwhile, for all the talk of the growth in wind and solar industries, they still account for less than 10% of our energy. Almost 70% comes from natural gas and coal.
Coal isn't dead in America. It is unleashed. As a Washington Times editorial put it very well recently, "The left gave up on the 100,000 coal workers in America more than a decade ago. Donald Trump has not." Remember this the next time Elizabeth Warren or Nancy Pelosi lectures us about how much they care about the working class in America.
“Cheap” natural gas is only cheaper than coal because of a huge number of unfair restrictions put on coal, coal users, and coal development.
When coal, coal burning plants, and other uses of coal are unshackled, then the idea of “cheap” is going out the window for natural gas.
Also, methanol is coal-based gasohol and it burns very cleanly. It’s development was curtailed due to over regulation.
Not all Coal jobs are coming back. The power plants have already converted to gas.
Just a couple of notes to tamp down the hype. The 35,000 mining jobs includes oil and gas extraction. Rig counts are rising so much of that mining total is tied to drilling. Coal mining jobs are up about 1,000 to 50,300 since Oct-16.
Coal rocks !
Those nork peckers and their coal mining makes me think that if they don’t stop, Korea will become an Island instead of a peninsula. Lol
absolutely the left consciously and maliciously decided to destroy the coal industry with complete and utter malice... Payback probably for WV costing AL Gore the white house in 2000....
Reality isn’t that FL gave the White House to Bush, it was the fact Bush flipped WV... Democrats have been engaging in political suicide for over 20 years... and they just can’t seem to realize it. in 2000 it cost them the White House in WV... in 2016 it cost them the White House as PA, MI & WI followed WV lead...
Hate to break this to you, but if you think a coal miner clears 6 figures, you clearly have never visited a coal town.
Coal Miners never voted for Obama... sadly some of them did vote for various democrat minions, but Obama never took any region of the country where Coal was an economic player.... Lost WV twice and never carried any part of appalachia that depended on coal... Why do you thin Hillary and the Dems were so arrogant in 16? They really though they didn’t need to waste time on white folk any more... which was beyond stupid... single biggest voting block the dems have are working class whites, and they have been actively destroying them for decades... t finally bit them on the arse.. would have long long ago had Republicans not been owned by the same globalist backing swine as the dems.
R’s could have taken the upper midwest a long time ago had they gone against open borders and “free trade” deals that are anything but.
I can’t speak for the towns, but this pretty much supports what I stated (from 7 years ago, by the way):
Newest version of coal plants are not like the old. Can switch between coal syn-gas or natural gas burning operation. Lignite fueled (Allam Cycle) North Dakota plants will deliver 52% efficiency once on-line.
Capital costs projected about $1000 per watt capacity, which leads to a 350 megawatt installation for $350 million —breaking-ground to electrical generation within two years. Compare that costing relative to building a nuclear, or a combined cycle natural gas plant.
If we are to accept the premise that coal, oil, and natural gas are “fossil fuels” consisting of dead prehistoric flora and fauna deposited in the earth and “cooked” for billions of years, then it’s all 100% Natural, Organic, and a “Gift from Planet Earth”.
It is not, however, “Fragrance-Free”, but nearly ALL natural products are not fragrance-free either! LOL!
Eco-Nazis want us poor, malnourished, cold, and living in the dark. In the days prior to the use of fossil fuel, our energy was derived from LIVING creatures. (Tallow and whale oil), but we had to KILL them to get at it.
Excellent!!!
I don't think oil and gas extraction are considered mining.
IN THE MEANWHILE, has ANYONE noticed that the price of gasoline has risen around .30 per gallon ?
The globalists fixed that “problem”. We export oil, for about a year now. No more crude surpluses and downward price pressure.
>>>I don’t think oil and gas extraction are considered mining.
They are considered mining in the BLS data produced by the Labor Department.
“The Mining sector comprises establishments that extract naturally occurring mineral solids, such as coal and ores; liquid minerals, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural gas. The term mining is used in the broad sense to include quarrying, well operations, beneficiating (e.g., crushing, screening, washing, and flotation), and other preparation customarily performed at the mine site, or as a part of mining activity.”
Data can be found here
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm
China is buying our petroleum products.
A lot of power plants can switch between coal and NG.
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