In his latest executive order, the president and his administration showed a brazen willingness to manipulate fossil fuel workers as they move energy policy back to the 19th century.As an editor at pv magazine, I was tempted to fact-check the statements coming out from the Trump Administration during the signing of today's executive order on energy. However, attempting to address individual falsehoods was like pushing sand uphill, given that the entire announcement was based upon a fantasy world. Sadly, many of these are being propagated to play on the desperate circumstances of workers who have been left behind in a changing energy sector.
Where to start?
First off, while Trump is telling coal miners that he will put an end to the war on coal, the mythology that he is lulling them with - that the death of their industry comes primarily from federal regulation - is not going to save their jobs.
According to an analysis by Bloomberg based on U.S. Department of Energy data, there were over 131,000 coal mining jobs in 1990, and less than 66,000 in 2015 - a fall of nearly half. Coal mining jobs fell below 100,000 in the 1990s, and during the first term of Barack Obama coal mining jobs were actually growing.
This is compared to the over 260,000 jobs in the solar industry - jobs which Donald Trump did not address, and appears unconcerned with.
Furthermore, the president's executive order will assist, not stop, the real thing that is destroying coal jobs - cheap natural gas. During the last 20 years the United States has built a massive fleet of gas-fired power plants, which have overtaken coal as the largest supplier of power as renewable energy grows to a mere 15% of U.S. electricity generation.
Trump's lies regarding reviving coal mining jobs are so transparently false that even coal CEOs are publicly dismissing them, with Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray telling the Guardian that "he can't brink them back."
The coal executives aren't the only ones throwing cold water on the Trumpian fantasies. Tom Sanzillo, director of finance for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), said the coal industry especially remains unlikely to recover, regardless of what the administration does.
"Market forces overwhelmingly favor natural gas-fired electricity generation and renewable energy, and the trend away from coal will continue," Sanzillo said. "Coal is simply being outpaced. It is an industry in decline, and the fundamentals are inescapable."nstitute for Energy Economics and Financial ...Den vollständigen Artikel lesen ...