Trump Plan to Export Coal From Military Ports Draws Condemnation

[Judi Lynn]

By Jennifer A Dlouhy
October 16, 2018, 3:00 AM CDT

- Trump eyes getting government into the export business
- Washington State governor calls idea ‘reckless, harebrained’


Trump administration officials are mulling allowing coal exports from military bases and other federal properties along the U.S. West Coast, an idea that drew swift condemnation from political leaders in the region.

“This reckless, harebrained proposal undermines national security instead of increasing it, and it undermines states’ rights to enforce necessary health, safety and environmental protections in their communities,” Washington state’s Democratic governor, Jay Inslee, said in an emailed statement. “The men and women who serve at our military bases are there to keep our country safe, not to service an export facility for private fossil fuel companies.”

The idea is one of several being considered by administration officials as they seek to make good on President Donald Trump’s promise to propel a “new era of American energy dominance.” The Trump administration also has sought to use a United Nations climate fund to promote the construction of coal-fired power plants in other countries, which could help foster demand for U.S. supplies of the fossil fuel.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke stressed that U.S. national security interests are served when foreign allies have access to affordable energy -- and accomplishing that may require the use of “some of our naval facilities” and “some of our federal facilities on the West Coast.”

More:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/trump-plan-to-export-coal-from-military-ports-draws-condemnation

[Kurt V.]

1. the best people

[Duppers]

2. Here we go again, our federal gov't supporting

a fossil fuel industry.

The Republicans would scream if the feds put this kind of $$$ into solar and wind, especially if they used our military to do so.