Trump and coal mines

[Tero]

More Trump lies
https://news.google.com/news/amp?caurl= ... pt0-702698

That had:

The Numbers Don’t Back Up Trump’s Claim That The US Has "Picked Up 45,000 Mining Jobs."

[JimC]

Use Trump as a Canary at the bottom of the mine!

[Tero]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s effort to put coal miners back to work stumbled in most coal producing states last year, even as overall employment in the downtrodden sector grew modestly, according to preliminary government data obtained by Reuters.

[mistermack]

That sort of thing always takes a lot of time to take effect.

As I've pointed out before, investment is a long-term thing. People need a lot of time to get the confidence that the policy won't be reversed as soon as they have committed themselves.

That's why protectionist policies need decades to pay off, whereas you get the pain up front.

[Tero]

If there are other power sources cheaply, people are not going to start off as coal miners anymore. Strip mining will go on for some time.

[Scot Dutchy]

There are 35,000 jobs open here in green energy. Cant find the skilled workers. The schools and colleges are working flat out.

[L'Emmerdeur]

President Bogus Makes the American Coal Industry Great Again!

'Coal Collapsing Faster Under Trump; Wind, Solar, Gas All Benefit'

More coal plants are now projected to retire more quickly than experts thought a year ago, according to energy-industry analysts who gathered in Chicago Tuesday.

Three alternative energy sources—wind, solar and natural gas—are expected to divide up the spoils, they said at the American Wind Energy Association's Windpower 2018 conference.

“The real story I believe is in coal retirements," said Bruce Hamilton, a director in the energy practice at Navigant, which has modeled every coal plant in the U.S. and projected 73 gigawatts will retire in the next 10 years.

"That’s more than twice what we projected last year at this time. It’s more than we had two years ago when the Clean Power Plan was in the assumptions."

The projection changed in part because of more announced retirements, Hamilton said, "but more importantly, the fundamentals of the economics of coal have gotten worse, with costs going up, while the competition for coal—that is, gas, wind and solar—has all gotten cheaper. So it’s getting to the point where huge swings are forecast. You can see it will be throughout the decade."

Navigant's projection is more conservative than some:

"Our outlook includes about 100 Gigawatts of coal retirements," said Max Cohen, an IHS Markit analyst. "That’s about a third of the fleet."

Inattentive knee-jerk reaction might be, 'well look, it's a bunch of "clean energy" industry boffins making up a narrative favorable to their business.' Such a response would be missing the mark, given that IHS Markit is definitely not in the pocket of clean energy, nor for that matter is Navigant.

[pErvinalia]

But, but subsidies!!

[Animavore]

A good, wise leader would have listened to advisors who could've told him coal was on the way out, and renewables pare where it's at.

[L'Emmerdeur]

A good, wise leader would have listened to advisors who could've told him coal was on the way out, and renewables pare where it's at.

Such a leader might have advisors like that, but I don't think that Trump does. His 'best people' are almost universally industry hacks and their their lackeys (primarily the blatant stooge Pruitt), as well as right-wing true believers who reflexively oppose the promotion of clean energy (because LEFTISTS!!!), except when perverted in the ridiculous buzzword 'clean coal.'

[Animavore]

A good, wise leader would have listened to advisors who could've told him coal was on the way out, and renewables pare where it's at.

Such a leader might have advisors like that, but I don't think that Trump does. His 'best people' are almost universally industry hacks and their their lackeys (primarily the blatant stooge Pruitt), as well as right-wing true believers who reflexively oppose the promotion of clean energy (because LEFTISTS!!!), except when perverted in ridiculous buzzwords like 'clean coal.'

Well I said "listened to advisors who could've told him". I was implying proper advisors in the relevant field qualified to tell him, him being a more general him (should've said him/her) and not some hypothetical unwise man, how he/she... they should run a successful country based on our best scientific knowledge.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Continuing to make the US coal industry great again.

'Trump said he'd save coal: Two more producers go bankrupt with 1,800 jobs lost'

The coal industry was rocked by two massive bankruptcy filings this week that have put nearly 2,000 jobs at risk in Virginia, Kentucky, Wyoming and West Virginia.

Revelation Energy LLC., a West Virginia-based company that employs about 1,100 people in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of West Virginia, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Cumberland, Kentucky, Mayor Charles Raleigh told the outlet that the company has already shut down its nearby mines and workers were told not to show up for work.

The move comes as Revelation’s parent company, Blackjewel LLC, shuttered two coal mines in Wyoming amid its own bankruptcy filing, leaving 700 workers unemployed, The Casper Star-Tribune reported. The two mines, Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr, are the fourth- and sixth-largest producing coal mines in the country.

In a bankruptcy filing Monday, Blackjewel owner Jeff Hoops cited declining demand for coal and increased consumption of renewable energy as causes for the company’s fall.

“The entire industry either has gone through, or is currently going through, a period of financial distress and reorganization,” Hoops wrote.

...

President Trump has not commented on the rash of recent coal producer bankruptcies, which have not been saved by his promises to save and revive the industry. Despite Trump's declaration that “coal is back” as recently as last year, U.S. coal consumption has fallen to its lowest level since 1978, according to the Department of Energy.

Since his election, 51 coal plants have closed and eight coal companies have filed for bankruptcy, CBS News reported.

Just last month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed that renewable energy production had surpassed coal-fired generation for the first time in history.

[Sean Hayden]

I hope they keep shouting that till election day. That's what I meant by those voters having to actually live with their decision. I feel bad for them. Those little towns and cities aren't much when business is good! They've got to be terrible now, and while I don't see how a new president is going to help them in the short-term, at least they can pick someone who isn't going to sugarcoat things for them. --do we have anyone like that running?

[Brian Peacock]

I guess somebody else could always sweep in and buy the businesses, run them hard for a few years and then sell them on. Perhaps the Chinese will rescue them?

If the sites are shut down who is responsible for cleaning up?

[Tero]

'I think Trump needs to show his face': Laid-off miners losing faith in coal promises
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/n ... 879761001/
Since the bankruptcy, Harlan County’s miners have struggled with overdrawn bank accounts, payments on houses and electric bills.

Some said 401(k) contributions hadn’t been properly credited to their accounts for months. Many have been relying on charity, unemployment or are considering changing careers amid coal’s long decline here.

"Our husbands worked for that money," said Sherrie Bowman, who said that her electric was temporarily disconnected and that she hasn't been able to get her son for critical medical treatment in Lexington.

The bankruptcy of the nation's sixth-largest U.S. coal producer came after a string of other major coal company bankruptcies in recent years, including Blackhawk and Wyoming-based Cloud Peak Energy in May.