Mine closing wipes out many of Trump's coal job gains
Source: CNN
Despite many promises from President Trump that he would bring back coal jobs, the industry has only added 500 jobs, or a 1% increase, during his first year in office.
And now a coal mine near the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border is due to close, costing 370 of those jobs.
The mine is the 4 West Mine, owned by Mepco LLC. In a notice sent to the state of Pennsylvania last week, the company said that the mine is no longer productive enough to be economically competitive given current market conditions. It will be permanently shut.
Nearly 200 of the workers will lose their jobs on March 2. Most of the remaining workers will be laid off by June 1, once they are done removing equipment.
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Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/10/news/companies/coal-mine-closing/index.html
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"They voted for Trump because he said he'd bring back coal. It's not happening," said Zimmerman, a Democrat. "There's not been any significant change in the industry since he's taken over."
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected a proposal from the Trump administration earlier this week that would have subsidized power plants like coal and nuclear that maintain a 90-day supply of fuel on site.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry argued there was a need to improve the resilience of the nation's power grid from severe weather. But critics said it was simply a bailout for forms of energy that were no longer economically competitive. Most of the members of FERC had been appointed by Trump.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/10/news/companies/coal-mine-closing/index.html
As a note, this rural county that sits in the corner of SW PA is part of the 18th congressional District where Tim Murphy (R) resigned for rank hypocrisy of being "anti-abortion" yet telling his lover to have an abortion, leaving the seat open for a special election.
