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Politics and Energy Coal’s Colossal Comeback
The American Spectator ^ | 04/17/17 | Stephen Moore

Posted on 04/17/2017 7:45:10 AM PDT by pgkdan

President Trump is the king of coal.

Buried in an otherwise humdrum jobs report for March was the jaw-dropping pronouncement by the Labor Department 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. ‎It comes at a time when liberals have been saying that Donald Trump has been lying to the American people when he has said that he can bring coal jobs back. Well, so far he has brought them back.

There’s more good news for the coal industry. Earlier this month, Peabody Coal — America’s largest coal producer — moved out of bankruptcy, and its stock is actively trading again. Its market cap had sunk by almost 90 percent, during the Obama years. Arch Coal is also out of bankruptcy.

It turns out that elections do have consequences, after all. Regime change in Washington has brought King Coal back to life since late 2016 when coal production had fallen by almost half from its peak. The Obama administration and its allies like the Sierra Club tried to kill coal, because of their hyper-obsession with global warming. The Trump administration pledged to coal miners in small towns across America in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming that he would be a friend to American coal and fossil fuels.

As promised, Trump has lifted the so-called Clean Power Plant regulations and several other EPA rules that were intentionally designed to kill coal jobs (and thousands more in related industries like trucking and steel) and shutter coal plants, which they accomplished with ruthless precision. Hillary 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 losses in 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 inefficient windmills and woodburning as the primary sources of electricity. America currently has access to 500 years’ worth of coal — far more than any other nation. Even despite the last decade’s war on coal during the Obama years, the U.S. still derives about one third of our power from coal — second only to natural gas.

Coal is indispensable today, even if renewable “green” energy starts to catch on, because wind and solar power are only viable with coal burning power plants as a backup for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. Without coal, green energy means rolling blackouts across America.

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 like Peabody have figured out how to become far more efficient in their production. What’s more, clean coal is here. Emissions from coal plants of lead, sulfur, carbon monoxide, and other air pollutants have fallen by more than half and, in some cases, by 90 percent 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 not suspending American coal production, we are merely transferring jobs from the U.S. Do liberals care more about jobs in India and China than in America?

Renewable energy is at best one or two decades away from being a major energy source for the world, so until that happens, coal and natural gas will compete as low-priced and super-abundant, domestically produced energy sources for 21st century America. Nuclear power will hopefully continue to play an important role, too. Meanwhile, for all the talk of the increase in wind and solar industries, they still account for less than 5 percent of our energy. Almost 70 percent 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 lecture us about how much they care about the working class in America.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
How much do you think Hillary regrets saying that she was going to put all coal miners out of work?
1 posted on 04/17/2017 7:45:10 AM PDT by pgkdan
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To: pgkdan
Unfortunately, that also means the coal Unions are back.

Don't be surprised if they use their refilled money bags to try to defeat President Trump in '20.

2 posted on 04/17/2017 7:48:06 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
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To: pgkdan

Absolutely cost her Pennsylvania.


3 posted on 04/17/2017 7:48:25 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: pgkdan

Any problems with coal is an engineering one. The world is ready for clean coal.


4 posted on 04/17/2017 7:49:47 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: pgkdan

Whoopee Kai Yi Yo
Git along little miners
It’s your misfortune and none of my own,

They say Wyoming will be your new home.


5 posted on 04/17/2017 7:51:11 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: pgkdan
How much do you think Hillary regrets saying that she was going to put all coal miners out of work?

Not a bit - her loss is all Obama's and Putin's, and Comey's and Wikileaks' fault.....I'd wager that when Chelsea's handler declared Trump to be suffering from syphilis derangement, he had a model to get his pea brain moving along those lines....

6 posted on 04/17/2017 7:52:36 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: pgkdan

Well, Hillary was speaking from the heart on that one, if she has a heart. Meaning, that she and liberals truly believe that we should put miners out of work, and that coal should not be used at all. At least half of electricity in this country is generated in coal fired power plants. This inconvenient truth offends the sensibilities of these liberals.


7 posted on 04/17/2017 7:57:44 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Texas Eagle
Unfortunately, that also means the coal Unions are back.

And they should be re-evaluating their support for the D-party by now. The D's once were for the little guy, true, but that is so last century.

Watch Manchin to see which way the cat jumps.

8 posted on 04/17/2017 8:00:47 AM PDT by thulldud
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To: pgkdan

Do liberals care more about jobs in India and China than in America?

...

What they care about is destroying the class of citizen that holds crooked politicians accountable.


9 posted on 04/17/2017 8:02:46 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
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To: thulldud

It’s more likely they will go on strike some time before the ‘20 election and they will accuse Trump of hating coal miners.


10 posted on 04/17/2017 8:12:29 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
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To: Jonty30
"Any problems with coal is an engineering one. The world is ready for clean coal."

In an earlier carrier, Pulverizers, DIPC ( Direct Ignition by Pulverized Coal ) Super-Critical Units, and Fluidized Beds were what I studied, exposed too, read about, and supported on the periphery engineering support discipline.

These technologies are real, and my guess their are many more I haven't been exposed to to reduce emissions and increase efficiencies. My point is these technologies are not static, yes R & D goes on in the persecute of excellence. Obama's approach was to create a benchmark so high, ( in auto's too ) that you collapse the norm ( and America ), pure revolutionary B.S., ideology over reality.

This is why DJT winning was so important, we have walked back from these ledges that would have destroyed America.

Now on Elon Musk....

Speaking with my electric car enthusiast gnome he denotes the following....

* Elon Musk doesn't care where the power comes from aka he is pro Utility
* What he is trying to do is be the intermediary.
* As my gnome noted, our electricity is not 110v all the time, it is "dirty" and his home battery pack / solar panels allow you to control the voltage on your end and if we built Nukes-Plants and ran them at night you could charge when it is cheap, and charge via the panels during the day, and charge your car, not to mention have a source of power if you have a problem with the grid in your area ( weather etc ). Interesting take on Msr Musk.

As the article denotes, Coal will look for efficiencies in production to compete with Natural Gas. A big fan of NG on this end, so it is all good, moving us to lower cost manufacturing of products, potential exports, and MAGA!

11 posted on 04/17/2017 8:29:11 AM PDT by taildragger (Do you hear the people singing? The Song of Angry Men!....)
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To: pgkdan

Indigenous energy source.

500 year supply.

I see there is a lot here for the liberals to hate.


12 posted on 04/17/2017 8:43:02 AM PDT by Rinnwald
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To: pgkdan
America currently has access to 500 years’ worth of coal — far more than any other nation.

And I think that is actually an understatement. For decades, we have been steadily revising upwards the reserves of fossil fuels as additional supply keeps getting discovered. So I expect the same trend with coal.

Hillary sure put her foot in her mouth when she promised her liberal friends that she would put the coal industry out of business. Bet she wishes she could take that one back.

13 posted on 04/17/2017 8:57:04 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: Texas Eagle

We shall see. Most people know when they are being had...the rats may have lost the coal miners who don’t want to be ‘re-trained’.


14 posted on 04/17/2017 9:06:47 AM PDT by lacrew
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To: Dilbert San Diego

15 posted on 04/17/2017 9:09:23 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (TANSTAAFL)
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To: pgkdan
Has any speculated , how that newly mined coal is to get transported across the country in great masses? Could it be, bringing beck the RR lines with coalcara and more jobs, to get it going again?
16 posted on 04/17/2017 9:52:41 AM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country.)
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To: SandRat

Whatever it was that you asked, the answer is Yes.


17 posted on 04/17/2017 10:28:57 AM PDT by Colonelbuzzsaw (USAF- 35y,10m,11d....but who's counting?)
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To: Colonelbuzzsaw

see reply #16.


18 posted on 04/17/2017 10:41:15 AM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country.)
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To: thulldud

All unions are run by the same communists that run the democrat party. Ask any Russian who lived in the USSR just how much the party controlled unions actually helped the workers. That’s what we got today.

The unions won’t support the democrat/communists, they ARE the democrat/communists.


19 posted on 04/17/2017 12:28:18 PM PDT by henkster (Orwell, Rand and Huxley would not be proud of our society, but they'd have no trouble recognizing it)
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