“Coal is back!”
“Mr. Trump, Not even close!” says Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers of America.
My brother is a dangerous, far left lover of autocrats like Joe Biden. He wanted me to research and write about lies Trump told middle America, in particular the coal industry. So here goes!
While much of what Trump said about coal and to it’s mining community is well documented, but the disagreement coming from my far left brother was that Trump lied. Actually, he didn’t lie at all. All a President can do is promote policy to help the industry. Trump’s EPA replaced Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) with the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule.
Obama’s policies were largely responsible for coal mine and coal plant closures during his Administration. The main parts of Obama’s CPP that drove closures were regulatory requirements increasing costs of maintenance and operation, regulatory mandates requiring an increasing percentage of intermittent renewable energy (IRE) to be deployed by US utilities, the EPA’s New Source Review discouraged utility investments that would increase emissions in coal power stations, and preferential treatment for IRE in funding support and regulatory treatment, according to a policy analysis by NS Energy. Trump’s ACE rule largely helped the coal industry, among other deregulatory actions. The ACE rule directed states to establish performance standards for power plants based solely on heat rate improvements, where the CPP had a much tighter choke hold on the industry with it’s baselining and policies. Also, Trump’s deregulation efforts included amending the Coal Ash Rule and repealing the Coal, Oil and Gas Valuation Rule.
Also, Trump undermined his commitment to coal by enacting and enforcing policies that promoted America’s energy independence. According to the BP Statistical Review, America ranks #1 in total energy production – more importantly, however, the US ranks #1 in oil and natural gas production, as well. Cheaper prices in oil and natural gas, AND the emergence of wind and solar are also factors in the virtual disappearance of the coal industry.
Did any of these deregulation efforts truly affect the Coal industry? Possibly. According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that coal mining employment sits at 51,100. The US BLS report also concluded that since Trump’s inauguration 33,000 mining jobs were created. Only 1,000 though were in the coal industry, the rest of those gains were in oil and natural gas mining.
One of the biggest hits to the coal industry came from Trump’s war with China, likely an unintended consequence. Prior to Trump’s tariff war, China was the largest importer of coal from the US. And while coal continues to boom in India (coal fired electricity up 9% since 1992) and Japan (22 new plants in the next five years), exports seems to be the only true hope of any coal miner.
So did Trump lie to the coal miner’s daughter? I don’t think so. He attempted to deregulate the industry which was immediately met with legal resistance. Indirectly, his deregulation of the oil and natural gas industries, created a better market for those commodities over coal. So, once again, market demand over government played the largest part of killing the coal industry.
Fact check – not true Big Bro!
