Posted on 03/26/2020 7:51:36 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
When Pennsylvania ordered coal mines closed because of the coronavirus, then reversed course and declared them to be “essential,” West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, who made a fortune in coal, was quick to mock his neighbors.
“Coal is so essential it is unbelievable,” said Justice, a Republican. “We have to have good electricity flowing into our homes.”
The mine workers union agrees with him. So does President Trump, who has spent the past three years talking up the coal business.
But in the face of the pandemic, is coal mining actually so essential?
Because of the nature of the work — a lot of crowding, coughing and spitting — and the significant incidence of lung damage from years of exposure to coal dust, silica and diesel exhaust, coal miners may be especially vulnerable to the coronavirus, medical researchers say. And coal provides less than a quarter of America’s electricity, at a moment when demand for power is falling and there are already large stockpiles of coal nationwide because of the warm winter, as well as a glut of cheap natural gas.
In fact, last week, as oil prices collapsed and gas continued its downward slide, coal for the first time became the most expensive fossil fuel. There are about 51,000 miners employed in surface and underground mining in the United States, according to the U.S. Department Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On the economics alone, said Jeremy Richardson, a senior energy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists, “for a lot of plants, it would just make sense to shut down for now.” The rest of the grid has plenty of capacity, he said.
But there’s more than economics at stake. Though black lung disease sharply fell among miners from the 1970s to the 1990s, it has been on the rise
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Shutting down the mines but will they reopen
Nearly all the electricity in Pennsylvania is generated from coal except the regions near Limerick and Three Mile Island nuclear plants. Wolf had no choice unless he wants Pennsylvanians to go without electricity.
It's just a matter of money, investing in remote controlled and autonomous equipment.
Since remote controlled machines work well and are proven, an equipment operator can "go to work" at his or her kitchen table or living room.
As autonomous AI equipment comes on line more, he may be out of a job though.
There are already AI massive trucks running in pit mines.
This situation might be the thing that moves this along in a bigger way than it already is.
Let markets pick winners and losers, not Democrats.
“is coal mining actually so essential?”
Do the mediots think that people are going to “shelter at home” without electricity, internet, and cable tv?
That’s about as “essential” as it gets.
“It’s just a matter of money, investing in remote controlled and autonomous equipment.”
The hardest part is designing the little robot canaries...
The riots start when the Internet goes out.
I’ve worked in soft rock mines. They can stay 6 feet apart easily.
.
“It’s just a matter of money, investing in remote controlled and autonomous equipment.”
Right no prob, all those 40 year old miners with family’s “can just learn to code”.
Since they are already skilled as operators, 3D printing from home.
Returning to the way things were done before production lines.
Manufacturers can "farm out" work to employees or sub contractors in their homes.
If you look at old New England farm structures, the house is often connected to the barn by a few run on smaller building sections.
Small manufacturing of shoes and other items went on there.
Often, "retired" family members would putter away making stuff there.
Farmers were paid by the town to "keep" paupers, and those paupers who were able also worked at manufacturing there.
With 3D printing, AI can't do everything, somebody still has to set up the machine, start the program, and remove the finished product.
In between they can read, play video games, watch TV, surf the web, while the machine works. etc.
This could be done in garages, cellars, or out buildings in suburban and rural areas throughout the country, saving companies a lot of money on facilities, and making the "commute" a few feet.
This then frees up parents to homeschool, getting rid of the need for those buildings and leftist indoctrination.
Handled properly, this virus could cause the next wave of the industrial revolution and make us independent from China and other countries.
The "pick and shovel" days of mining are long gone.
Most miners are now skilled equipment operators.
This sets them up for "same but different" jobs that they can easily train into.
"Coding" is not one of them, but to a "journalist" or politician who knows so little, they don't know what they don't know, it is.
[The “pick and shovel” days of mining are long gone.
Most miners are now skilled equipment operators.
This sets them up for “same but different” jobs that they can easily train into.
“Coding” is not one of them, but to a “journalist” or politician who knows so little, they don’t know what they don’t know, it is. ]
I've never been in a coal mine but did get a tour of a salt mine (ex son-in-law) and most areas have one or two people per several hundred yards (or more) of tunnel. One person may be doing jack-drilling to place charges, another will place charges, area is evacuated to detonate, then single person runs equipment to start hauling loosened product to staging areas where other equipment operators (who pass each other on their machines haul it to conveyor systems to have it extracted.
Even up top, where it is sorted/moved to other areas for storage/movement, do not have more than one or two in a pretty large area.
I imagine there's a number of similarities in the process.
The mine workers union agrees with him. So does President Trump, who has spent the past three years talking up the coal business.
"Coal.
Republican.
Mine workers.
Union.
President Trump...has spent the past three years talking up the coal business."
The Washington Post does a great job of linking everything to Trump in four short sentences.
Is coal essential? Hmmm, its winter, more people are at home so electrical demand is up and freezing in the cold and dark is not good when trying to not catch a cold. Plus having food not spoil and trying to cook it when quarantined is also good.
Ok, let’s compromise with the greenies, turn off the Governers power and lay off his staff.
Let him prepare and obtain his own food instead of having his servants fo it for him. Oh. I mean employees...
These are the forgotten Americans who make life so much better for the rest of us and do so at considerable risk, just like cops and paramedics.
“The “pick and shovel” days of mining are long gone.
Most miners are now skilled equipment operators.”
Well yes of course. That is beside the point. I was referring to the idiotic “is coal really necessary” remark.
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