Declaring an end to what he's called "the war on coal," President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that eliminates numerous restrictions on fossil fuel production, breaking with leaders across the globe who have embraced cleaner energy sources.
The order makes good on Trump's campaign pledge to unravel former President Barack Obama's efforts to curb global warming, eliminating nearly a dozen measures in an effort to boost domestic energy production, especially oil, natural gas and coal.
Environmental activists, including former Vice President Al Gore, denounced the plan. But Trump said the effort would spark "a new energy revolution" and lead to "unbelievable" American prosperity.
"That is what this is all about: bringing back our jobs, bringing back our dreams and making America wealthy again," Trump said during a signing ceremony at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters, where he was flanked on stage by more than a dozen coal miners.
#1. "RE: More insanity from the White House!" In response to Shelly (Reply # 0) Wed Mar-29-17 09:52 PM by peterb
I was watching CBC news last night and they interviewed a couple in Kentucky where the husband has "black lung" from working in the coal industry. They're avid Trump fans but have discovered that they may be left in limbo as far as his medical expenses since the company that he worked for had no medical benefits. I'm sure that more cases like this will come up in the near future. I couldn't find a link to the actual video but here's a link to the story:
#2. "RE: More insanity from the White House!" In response to Shelly (Reply # 0)
Coal is the past and isn't coming back no matter how many times Trump says he's bringing those jobs back. Even if it rises, a lot of the old coal jobs are automated now. Will Trump force the companies to hire humans instead of robots? Unlikely.
So many of Trump's policies will hurt the very people who supported him. It's no wonder that his popularity is at 35% now. (He likely has a hard bottom of about 28%. Meaning that he could eat a live puppy on national TV and 28% of people would twist their brains into declaring this a good thing.)
QUOTE: Coal is the past and isn't coming back no matter how many times Trump says he's bringing those jobs back. Even if it rises, a lot of the old coal jobs are automated now. Will Trump force the companies to hire humans instead of robots? Unlikely.
It might not be coming back but in order to obtain other materials such as limestone and clay you need to remove the coal on top of it.
It's the nature of the beast because of the the way the earth is layered.
I'm sure there are enough smart people in this world that can figure out how to use it without destroying the environment.
Quote:
QUOTE: So many of Trump's policies will hurt the very people who supported him. It's no wonder that his popularity is at 35% now. (He likely has a hard bottom of about 28%. Meaning that he could eat a live puppy on national TV and 28% of people would twist their brains into declaring this a good thing.)
I do believe that those 28% are lumped into the category of "idiots"
#6. "RE: More insanity from the White House!" In response to Mize (Reply # 5)
I think the insanity is putting large blocks of the country out of business before other alternatives in those areas are in place. Everybody wants a clean environment, but nobody wants to starve or freeze. Take a long ride through West Virginia coal country and see what has happened to it. I don't have the answers, way over my pay grade but people are a lot more important than an agenda. How about putting people first and figuring out solutions before gutting their livelihood. Might get a lot more cooperation that way too.
#7. "RE: More insanity from the White House!" In response to GreyFalcon (Reply # 6) Sat Apr-08-17 10:07 AM by jazz4free
Quote:
Everybody wants a clean environment, but nobody wants to starve or freeze.
False equivalence -- besides, folks tend to suffocate or drown much faster than they starve or freeze. And talk about starving, Stalin's calculated starvation of millions in the Ukraine will pale in comparison to the hundreds of millions who will perish when the continued use of coal hastens the rise of coastal waters worldwide, especially in southern Asia. Once upon a time, even though they had gone out of fashion, we could have continued making buggy whips -- hell, with a bit of creative marketing their use may even have been converted to the S&M crowd. Sorta harmless things. Coal is not!
A false equivalent for sure, but that includes all the misery caused by a stroke of the pen without addressing a replacement to their means of economic survival. You can't see it from your front yard so it doesn't matter to you I suppose. Those areas were barely hanging on as it was. I would guess if you had to try and survive in those conditions you might think quite differently.
#9. "RE: More insanity from the White House!" In response to GreyFalcon (Reply # 8) Sat Apr-08-17 11:00 PM by jazz4free
Hard times for these folks are not the result of the dispassionate stroke of a pen. The use of coal to drive modern industry is an anachronism, a holdover technology from the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century. It is a victim of progress, a force become more destructive than it is productive -- the first of the dirty fossil fuels to yield to cleaner, infinitely renewable sources of power. The men who dug for it will not be returning to the pits -- they and their children will have to find other means of earning a livelihood. Perhaps your government can be of help there.
What James said. Humanity has taken so many great leaps forward in so many fields in the last century, except for the use of fossil fuels. And there is just one reason for that - the dogged and irrational resistance by the coal and oil industries for no other reasons than greed allied with inertia.