Trump Protects Coal, Tesla Powers Hawaiian Island
President Trump made good on his promise to roll back Barack Obama’s restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. The move was announced by new Environmental Protection Agency Director and climate-change denier Scott Pruitt on March 28.
Trump and Pruitt claim that the move will increase coal burning and the number of coal-mining jobs. Something that even Robert Murray the CEO of America’s largest private coal miner admitted would not happen. Even though Murray is a strong supporter of Trump’s actions, he told The Guardian that Trump’s move will not restore any coal mining jobs.
Trump moved to get rid of the Clean Power Plan; which was designed to cut US carbon emissions by 32% by 2030. Murray was one of a number of observers who pointed out that a glut of coal on the market, falling demand and prices and mechanized mining means there will be no new coal-mining jobs. Fortunately there is other work available, the U.S. solar power industry employed more people in 2016 than the coal industry, Mother Jones reported.