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.
Mostly because of well-timed bombing announced over the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake you have ever seen!
The fact that China has quit buying N. Korean coal has to have helped as well..
CC
I love a good slice of chocolate cake.
So, those experts back in November and December, who said that with the Trump presidency...coal jobs were permanently lost and Trump would not be able to bring them back....they were wrong? Oh my.
I can remember at least two foundation idiots, and some environmental PhD nut who were on news shows and said it was a waste of time to think coal jobs would ever return....to be permanently lost.
-—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.-—
The left “gave up” on coal workers? The author must be kidding.
The left actively worked to DESTROY coal and enjoyed seeing the workers with nowhere else to go suffer.
So they thought we would leave 500-1,000 years of energy in the ground because they were against it?
All lefty “experts” always mis-predict. What fools. LIB lunatics. Always worthy of ridicule...but tiresome.
Hillary’s statement that she would get rid of coal jobs was probably one of the most stupid statements any politician has ever said.
:)
I do love our president’s tendency towards hyperbole. It would be fun to have dinner with him. :)
Although, wIth him, it probably actually was the most beautiful chocolate cake ever! ;)
Since there is no inclination anywhere in Washington, including the Trump administration, for cutting any entitlement and plenty of inclination to increase spending on military, infrastructure, and, perhaps, Ivankacare, growth has to come from somewhere.
Hillary.....Good, hard working folks don't like being threatened.
Sadly it took voting twice for 0bama and seeing their livelihood disappear for the coal miner to finally realize the Democrats care more for perverts than the miners
I guess President Trump has a magic wand after all.
...and these are SERIOUS JOBS. I suspect even bottom-level coal miners make over $100k with just a small amount of overtime. Once they’re back in big numbers, entire regions of the US will be thriving up again.
Stupid is as stupid does. Was there ever any doubt?
Based on a report that pipelines are at capacity, any increased demand for electrical power will not be satisfied immediately by natural gas. That leaves coal or nuclear.
The three largest coal producing States (Wyoming, West Virginia, and Kentucky) NEVER voted for 0bama. Obama’s victories in Pennsylvania came from black gibsmedats and dindu-nuffins in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, not coal miners in Appalachia.
35,000 votes for Trump in 2020
But the MSM and Saturday Night Live said they don’t want those jobs, they want fancy tech and white collar jobs!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.