Trump Promised to Open the Mines Unlikely

[struggle4progress]

FEB 12 2017, 11:42 AM ET
by JANE C. TIMM

... "We're gonna open the mines," he said to big cheers in Charleston, West Virginia, as if the shuttered coal mines across eastern America's coal country could hit a switch and reinstate the jobs once he won the White House ...

"He can't bring back coal jobs in any meaningful way unless he's capable of inventing a time machine," explained Eric de Place, energy policy director of Sightline Institute, a progressive environmental nonprofit. "Waving your hands and saying you're going to bring the coal industry back is misleading at best, malicious at worst" ...

But as the industry has changed, the geography of coal itself has, too. "The dominant coal fields are no longer in the East," De Place said. "The vast majority of coal is mined in the West and is done in highly-mechanized ways. That's not really reversible" ...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-promised-open-mines-here-s-why-unlikely-n716141

[Squinch]

1. How can the people who WORK IN the coal industry and who KNOW the coal industry NOT

know this?

If coal areas like WV had opened up to alternate forms of energy when coal started to wane, they'd all be in the catbird seat right now.

But no. They needed to stick like glue to the worst job ever invented, and now they're resentful and put upon and waiting for the gubmint to fix things for them because that industry is no longer viable.

Bring back the whalebone corset industry! It isn't fair to all those people whose fathers made whalebone corsets that the industry has gone away!

Morons.

[Blue_true]

7. Desperation breeds extreme fantastical thinking.

From many technical vantage points, coal can't come close to competing with natural gas. The coalminers best hope is protests delay the two pipelines, in that sense, President Obama helped coalminers. Trump drove a stake into coalminers' hearts with approval to restart the two pipelines.

[procon]

2. He's either stupid, lying, or both; not exactly the qualities we expect for a president.

If Trump doesn't understand why coal has been on the decline for years then he's stupid, and played on the fears of desperate people who want jobs . If he knew that coal will never again return to full production in this country, but he still deceived the disheartened people who think that could happen, he's a lying conman who tricked them out of their votes. The odds maker it clear that Trump is both stupid and a liar, and we are all at risk.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. A very good friend of

mine was the VP of the Coal Miners Union. He was just amazed at how uninformed his represented Union Members are. The Western Miners he represented were some what up to date as to the trends in Coal. And these Miners are being fed a load of Propaganda by the Coal Companies so they would not bail out on them and find other Employment.

The Eastern Miners are a very different group according to Moose. He said there is a combination of Religion and Local Social Pressures preventing people from the full realization that the hand writing on the wall was there a long time ago and they refuse to switch but rather bitch . Mostly because the local Politicians are feeding them a fake dream.

BTW,Moose passed last year from black lung. He always said he hoped to make it to 70,well he did make it to 75 which was twenty more years than his father who worked the same mines.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. He said what they wanted to hear

Hillary told them the truth that they didn't want to hear. We know which won, unfortunately.

[Wounded Bear]

3. Coal is dying it's long overdue death...

It needs to be phased out as an energy source.

[coco22]

4. This subject should be brought up..

daily to the media make him answer...

[TrekLuver]

6. Are you telling me that Trashpot lied? I don't believe it !!!!