A look at how Trump's climate moves affect the coal industry
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — President Donald Trump says withdrawing from a global climate change agreement will boost the U.S. economy, but existing market forces have had far more of an effect on the fossil fuel industries than climate regulations.
For at least three years now, the coal industry has been reeling from growing competition from natural gas, wind and solar power. Environmental regulations enacted under President Barack Obama haven't helped any but they've played a much smaller role.
Most of those regulations haven't even taken effect.
In March, Trump ordered a review of the Clean Power Plan, which seeks to reduce emissions from coal power plants, and the lifting of a moratorium on the sale of coal mining leases on federal lands.
So far, those moves have spurred a couple of relatively minor coal leases but no coal rush.
Here's a look at the state of the U.S. coal industry:
Experts say coal's biggest problem isn't climate change regulations but cheap and abundant natural gas. Gas prices dropped as advances in drilling such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, greatly increased the amount of gas on the market. For many utilities, that's made gas more attractive than coal.
Meanwhile, companies have gotten more efficient at extracting coal, meaning fewer workers are needed. Mountaintop removal mining, in which hilltops in Appalachia are blasted off with explosives to expose coal seams, is less expensive and more automated than underground mining. So are the massive strip mines developed since the 1970s in Wyoming and Montana.
U.S. coal production fell to 739 million tons last year, the lowest in almost four decades. From 2011 through 2016, the coal mining industry lost about 60,000 jobs, according to preliminary Labor Department data that excludes mine office workers.
Last weekend, Environmental Protection Agency Director Scott Pruitt said Trump's policies had created 50,000 coal jobs, including 7,000 in May alone. In fact, the coal industry nationwide accounted for a total of 51,000 jobs through May, up only about 400 jobs from the month before.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/a-look-at-how-trumps-climate-moves-affect-the-coal-industry/ar-BBCdcz1?li=BBnb7Kz
