Hope in coal country

The Week ^ | 6-12-17 | Robert Samuels

[Angels27]

The resurrected feeling of American possibility came not from pontificating TV pundits or a radio host in a studio miles away. Optimism arrived here in Gillette, Wyo., because of what people were seeing: the unemployment lines getting shorter and their daily commutes getting longer.

Tom Gorton, 41, drove through those increasingly congested streets in his Arnold Machinery truck late on a spring afternoon, under the watch of mountains covered in white from a spring snowstorm. As Gorton settled behind his desk, he was heartened to see how messy it was with orders, one year after hundreds of layoffs at two nearby coal mines cost him his job and delivered a gut punch to a county that produces more than a third of the nation's energy supply.

In another room at Arnold's, branch manager Adam Coleman fixed his eyes on statistics tracking economic trends. Electricity had flatlined, and to Coleman, this was good news.

"I can't put fully into words this feeling I'm feeling, but it is much better," Coleman said. "I believe the economy as a whole is going to recover and when it does, electrical use will increase. It's not going down, so that's a good thing. We'll be back."

[DocRock]

Dig Baby, Dig!

[who knows what evil?]

More and more trains hauling coal passing thru East Tennessee.

[Bookshelf]

In upscale Jackson, Wyoming the mayor (the establishment) won’t tolerate a photo of Trump and Pence and has it stripped from the wall. Elsewhere in small town Wyoming a small businessman (the people) is optimistic, business is picking-up and the mine is opening. Thus, the epitome of the two Americas.

[ClearCase_guy]

Energy use is pretty much equivalent to prosperity.

The Left hates energy use.

[5th MEB]

I’m proud to be a Coal Miners grandson, my Grandfather worked below ground in the West Virginia coal mines until he retired at 72 years old.
And he was pissed that they forcibly retired him!

[kvanbrunt2]

Tracy City?

[who knows what evil?]

Further northeast...Tri-Cities area.

[DoughtyOne]

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[GailA]

U.S. Mining Industry Sees First Profitable Quarter in 2 Years http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/us-mining-industry-posts-first-profitable-quarter-2-years?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTkRrek1UaGhZVFl6TkRReSIsInQiOiJEZVQ2dldkdlFzb29ZaW9SMmR0Y2ZWSG1LTk00SmF6RGJZcCsweEhRbmVkaWJNWVkydWw3OVJTZHpsWkZVamFCXC9sdmZMSWZaMXpVazM2U2g2MmtRMVBiSE0yUTg0WU5DODNXNmZ5MWtYTFZHUXM2ZjZodHV5bnhJZVhtZEs0S0cifQ%3D%3D