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[plagiarize]

The only candidate who would have saved coal was Bernie Sanders.

I'm sure there are people that believe this.

 

[Xe4]

The only way Trump could have saved coal was to kill fracking.

Which he wasn't going to do. This will continue. And thank fuck.

Ending hydraulic fracturing would have only delayed the inevitable. If it was not natural gas to deliver the killing blow it would be renewable energy in 5 years. Right now, the one two renewable energy-natural gas punch is what is destroying the industry, but either would be able to end it on their own given a few years.

The fact is coal as a fuel source is untenable. It's a 20th century solution to our 21st century energy needs. Coal is the only source of power which has to be manually removed from the earth one chunk at a time (aside from nuclear which has tons of benefits that coal does not have). The US industry and country has moved beyond that and it shows. Coal is no longer the leading source of power in America, and its share of energy generation will continue to reduce to nothingness. It's sad for those in the industry, but that's the truth.

It's not over yet, if money is invested into those areas which rely heavily on coal to move beyond that industry, it can do a lot of good. First however, we as a country need to realize that those jobs are never going to come back, whether we want them to or not.

 

[Kart94]

I take it those jobs aren't coming back any time soon. Should have voted for someone who might have trained you for the new solar jobs.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

I believe Maryland ban fracking within its state too.

 

[PandaPandaPanda]

A lot of you seem to think it's a simple transition for the plant workers to lose their jobs at a fossil plant and then seamlessly transition to natural gas. It doesn't work like that. I worked at a fossil plant for 6 years as an electrician. When my plant closed, a lot of people lost their jobs....because the natural gas plants are an entire different beast. You may be just an electrician or mechanic, or operator at a fossil plant, but at natural gas, you do all 3....and you're under intense training for 2 years. That may be ok for a younger employee that has time to spend with the company and is more savvy with learning new fields, but older employees that have done one job for 30+ years are screwed and are not hired. Think before you applaud the loss of jobs and assume it's easy to jump from one facility to the next. For the record, even though I was still an employee, I still had to apply and interview for a nuclear job. I've been there 5 years and I'm still training every few months.

Can't speak for others, but personally I know moving from one job to another(even in the same industry) takes a lot of time/effort to learn all the new shit that you probably didn't have to do at your old job.

Anyway, the people voted for the lie and will have to suffer the consequences(as with the rest of us.)

 

[Dirca]

I take it those jobs aren't coming back any time soon. Should have voted for someone who might have trained you for the new solar jobs.

Yeah, generally 1-2 people attend to solar fields, and they may attend to several in a specific area.
The people that think that getting one of these other electrical generation jobs is as simple as just training and seamlessly moving over are just as naive and uninformed as those that voted for Trump thinking he could save those jobs. The damage has been done.

However, When gas sky rockets, and you're experiencing rolling brown/blackouts on a regular basis because solar and wind can't meet the demand, you can bet your life savings that fossil will come back

 

[djplaeskool]

Won't this nearly crash coal prices?
...well...more so than Natural gas has already tanked it?

 

[FLAguy954]

Good

My thoughts exactly. Our fierce dependence on fossil fuels needs to fucking die.

 

[FLAguy954]

Good

My thoughts exactly. Our fierce dependence on fossil fuels needs to fucking die.

 

[Xe4]

Won't this nearly crash coal prices?
...well...more so than Natural gas has already tanked it?

All of the closings are actually only going to reduce the coal fired power output by 6%, so I don't think it'll kill prices that bad. It's totally going to scare off investors though. I don't know why anyone would be investing in coal nowadays instead of natural gas or renewable energy.

 

[Apathy]

Good. People need to get it out of their head that coal is ever coming back. Adapt. You had a candidate that wanted too get you skills training for a better job, but you refused it.

 

[Ominym]

Nobody knew that Making America Great Again could be so complicated.

 

[JC Lately]

More workers to build that border wall, I guess.

 

[shawnbuddy]

I live right in the heart of coal country and we're putting in a solar field. No shit. Even many people here see the writing on the wall. Yeah, they preferred Trump cause he was willing to tell them a pretty lie and Hillary let slip the ugly truth. But they knew it was a lie. I don't think most of them are really dumb enough to think he can do it. They supported him for other reasons, some of them pretty ugly. Don't let anyone wrap a neat "economic anxiety" bow on Trump's election, not even in coal country.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Won't this nearly crash coal prices?
...well...more so than Natural gas has already tanked it?

Not crash, but make it more expensive.


Issue that really doesn't get enough play with the coal debate is that the major seams in Appalachia have already been tapped. Even with mountain top removal (which is terrible) the cost of getting to the coal is only going up.

 

[LionPride]

I'm not gonna be happy that people are losing their jobs because time's passing them by, a lot of coal workers worked that job because it's what was afforded to them, because it was the trade that could provide, while time is passing the profession by, the current crop of workers being at a disadvantage is sad.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

I live right in the heart of coal country and we're putting in a solar field. No shit. Even many people here see the writing on the wall. Yeah, they preferred Trump cause he was willing to tell them a pretty lie and Hillary let slip the ugly truth. But they knew it was a lie. I don't think most of them are really dumb enough to think he can do it. They supported him for other reasons, some of them pretty ugly. Don't let anyone wrap a neat "economic anxiety" bow on Trump's election, not even in coal country.

What state do you live in?

 

[nephilimdj]

Under the impression selling coal isnt even that profitable atm, dig it up and send to China. Make a few billion after spending a billion.

Its all regulated, countries cant even sell it to themselves cheap like oil. Shitty all around.

 

[mr_nexus]

 

[Oblivion]

There's only one humane option left:

We have to subsidize the coal industry. And FAST.

 

[Biske]

It boggles my mind that there are people out there that think coal jobs will be coming back.


The fact that Trump was able to convince people of such things, even people like my mother, who has NO connection to coal, one of her big selling points was how he was gonna bring the coal jobs back... just.... god damn.

 

[shawnbuddy]

What state do you live in?

Kentucky.

 

[Unknown One]

He will just blame Obama for this.

And the Democrats/Liberals. The standard GOP play, blame the opposition even if they did nothing.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Kentucky.

Nice. I heard a few things coming from Kentucky that dealt with renewables.

 

[LionPride]

It boggles my mind that there are people out there that think coal jobs will be coming back.


The fact that Trump was able to convince people of such things, even people like my mother, who has NO connection to coal, one of her big selling points was how he was gonna bring the coal jobs back... just.... god damn.

Now that is strange, but people celebrating their poverty and shit in this thread? Nah I can't cosign that

 

[wumster3000]

He will just blame Obama for this.

I'm about tired of this shit. I'm beginning to think the Trump vote was something else. He had no policy's or anything. The people that voted against him knew he was a liar and a lot of people that voted for him knew as well. A lot knew that coal jobs weren't coming back, but he insisted that they were. Did some really believe this? I don't understand their thought process. The writing is on the wall for coal jobs. They can't be this blind and gullible.

Coal jobs aren't coming back.

 

[Magwik]

I'm about tired of this shit. I'm beginning to think the Trump vote was something else. He had no policy's or anything. The people that voted against him knew he was a liar and a lot of people that voted for him knew as well. A lot knew that coal jobs weren't coming back, but he insisted that they were. Did some really believe this? I don't understand their thought process. The writing is on the wall for coal jobs. They can't be this blind and gullible.

Coal jobs aren't coming back.

Decades of destroying the education system, tearing down mental health establishments, blaming minorities for everything, and general fear mongering takes a toll on the country. The public schools are fucked, these people get a shitty education, can't afford to go to college, work dead end jobs, and all they hear is about how in the good old days $6/hr at [INSERT DYING INDUSTRY JOB HERE] would send you to college. Wages are low, insurance coverage sucks, medication and treatment costs an arm and a leg uninsured, housing market is still sorta fucked, etc. There are a lot of people who have had their lives and opportunity stolen or destroying by the GOP party, and they are willing to accept anything that might offer a glimmer of immediate benefit to their lives.