According to an online article, Donald Trump will not be able to bring back jobs to the coal mining industry--at least, not a significant amount of jobs and definitely not for the long term.
A Vox article updated by Brad Plumer focuses on the coal mining industry and its declining present and disappearing future. It specifically tackles how Trump's attempts to bring jobs to the sector will only slow but not halt the descent of coal mining.
Coal mining has lost numerous jobs due to automation, cheap natural gas, as well as environmental rules. Trump addressed the latter last February 16, Thursday, by signing a bill that eliminated the Stream Protection Rule, a rule that restricts miners from dumping waste in streams.
According to Vox, mining jobs are down to 50,000 at present and the bill by Trump had the effect of increasing the employment by a total of 124 jobs. But Trump has done nothing to address the production of natural gas or the rise of automation.
Furthermore, Vox reports that even if Trump continues to remove environmental laws that are unfavorable to coal mining such as the Clean Power Plan, the Energy Information Administration estimates that coal production would rise prior to falling once more.
In short, it means that coal mining jobs will not increase in the long term. In fact, according to Vox, many states are planning to close coal plants and even coal executives are admitting its bleak future.
Robert Murray, for instance, is a mining CEO and he told SNL reporter Taylor Kuykendall that the industry will not be a thriving one ever again, writes Vox. Murray added that it will be half its size and a very competitive industry in the future.
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