Coal use at 1979 Levels

[katzgar]

Away it goes... https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...w-coal-plants/

[Irish Exit]

Doesn't make a global warming difference whether the coal is burned in India or Indiana, and global consumption has risen since 1979 whether US consumption is trending down or not.

[kudzu]

Doesn't make a global warming difference whether the coal is burned in India or Indiana, and global consumption has risen since 1979 whether US consumption is trending down or not.

Have mining jobs in the US increased?

[PostmodernProphet]

still pretending Obama didn't fuck over this industry?......

[Irish Exit]

Have mining jobs in the US increased?

The rationale for effectively banning coal is global warming. Global coal consumption has increased ergo the ban had no appreciable effect.

[domer76]

still pretending Obama didn't fuck over this industry?......

Not to worry. Orangetweet is going to save it.

[kudzu]

The rationale for effectively banning coal is global warming. Global coal consumption has increased ergo the ban had no appreciable effect.

Yes, I know.. However, there has been a lot of whining on this board about Obama killing coal mining jobs in the US.

[PostmodernProphet]

Yes, I know.. However, there has been a lot of whining on this board about Obama killing coal mining jobs in the US.

which he obviously did.....your chart shows that coal production employment had been fairly consistent for the last fifty years......

[katzgar]

still pretending Obama didn't fuck over this industry?......

as usual your drugs are confusing you. trump has removed the Obama strictures and the closing of coal plants has only accelerated. Trying to blame Obama for trump destroying the coal industry just makes you a sleazy moron.

[PostmodernProphet]

as usual your drugs are confusing you. trump has removed the Obama strictures and the closing of coal plants has only accelerated. Trying to blame Obama for trump destroying the coal industry just makes you a sleazy moron.

so let me get this straight........Trump can't have credit for the economic status of this country because it began under Obama, but Trump is to blame for fucking up the coal industry because?.......does your chart even show 2017 numbers?......

[katzgar]

so let me get this straight........Trump can't have credit for the economic status of this country because it began under Obama, but Trump is to blame for fucking up the coal industry because?.......does your chart even show 2017 numbers?......

This is the sort of comment that earns you the epithet moron. Coal generation plants closing has doubled in 2018, this has already been shown but you are too drug addled to follow the conversation.

[PostmodernProphet]

This is the sort of comment that earns you the epithet moron. Coal generation plants closing has doubled in 2018, this has already been shown but you are too drug addled to follow the conversation.

I wonder how long it takes to turn around eight years of destruction?......I noticed that your article mentions a new coal generation plant opening in 2019......that may actually be pretty damned fast......looking at your chart it seems it took Reagan a while as well.....

[kudzu]

I wonder how long it takes to turn around eight years of destruction?......I noticed that your article mentions a new coal generation plant opening in 2019......that may actually be pretty damned fast......looking at your chart it seems it took Reagan a while as well.....

Coal Country's Decline Has a Long History - The Atlantic

A loss of jobs in the coal industry is not a recent development. Employment in this sector has been declining steadily for the past 30 years. National Journal

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...istory/453144/

But for all the rage over Obama's environmental agenda, mining jobs began disappearing in the region long before he entered the White House, for reasons that have nothing to do with regulations now coming out of Washington.

By comparison, West Virginia and Kentucky coal-mining payrolls have been relatively stable during Obama's first four years in office: In 2009, there were just under 43,000 coal miners in the two states combined. In 2012, the latest year for which MSHA has final data, the count totaled just over 41,000.

So what's driving the decline? First and foremost: changes in the industry.

Despite mining employment being cut nearly in half since 1983, the two states' combined coal output has basically held steady, dropping from 245 million short tons in 1983 to 240 million short tons in 2011.

In fact, coal mining jobs in Appalachia fared far worse under the Reagan, Clinton, and George H.W. Bush administrations than they have under Obama.Advances in mining technology have made miners more efficient.

Indeed, the traditional images of coal mines — dark holes filled with men swinging pickaxes and pushing carts — are no more. Today, it is machines that are ripping coal from the mines' walls, and then automatic conveyor belts whipping the fuel back to the surface.

And much of the production has moved above ground entirely, thanks to a practice known as mountaintop-removal mining, in which miners use controlled explosions to open mountains and mine the newly exposed coal seams.

According to employment counts from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, from 1983 — the earliest year for which MSHA had data — to 1989, combined coal jobs in West Virginia and Kentucky fell from 79,000 to 64,000.

In the following four years under the first President Bush, coal jobs in the two states fell to 56,000. And by the final year of the Clinton administration, the states' combined total of mining jobs had fallen to a nadir of 33,000.

Advances in mining technology have made miners more efficient.

For the miners and other industry employees who still hold jobs, the increased productivity has paid off. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nominal average annual coal industry employee wages in West Virginia sat at $54,000. By 2012, the average employee was taking home nearly $85,000.

The starring role of mechanization, however, does not mean that federal policies have no effect on the number of coal jobs.

The region saw its fortunes reverse under President George W. Bush, who in 2002 relaxed rules on mountaintop-removal mining to give companies more leeway to dump their leftovers into the region's waterways. From 2001 to 2008,

Indeed, the traditional images of coal mines — dark holes filled with men swinging pickaxes and pushing carts — are no more. Today, it is machines that are ripping coal from the mines' walls, and then automatic conveyor belts whipping the fuel back to the surface.

And much of the production has moved above ground entirely, thanks to a practice known as mountaintop-removal mining, in which miners use controlled explosions to open mountains and mine the newly exposed coal seams.

continued...

[kudzu]

This is the sort of comment that earns you the epithet moron. Coal generation plants closing has doubled in 2018, this has already been shown but you are too drug addled to follow the conversation.

These macho old men can't face change... like Trump they must whine and complain and blame someone.

[PostmodernProphet]

Coal Country's Decline Has a Long History - The Atlantic

A loss of jobs in the coal industry is not a recent development. Employment in this sector has been declining steadily for the past 30 years. National Journal

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...istory/453144/

But for all the rage over Obama's environmental agenda, mining jobs began disappearing in the region long before he entered the White House, for reasons that have nothing to do with regulations now coming out of Washington.

By comparison, West Virginia and Kentucky coal-mining payrolls have been relatively stable during Obama's first four years in office: In 2009, there were just under 43,000 coal miners in the two states combined. In 2012, the latest year for which MSHA has final data, the count totaled just over 41,000.

So what's driving the decline? First and foremost: changes in the industry.

Despite mining employment being cut nearly in half since 1983, the two states' combined coal output has basically held steady, dropping from 245 million short tons in 1983 to 240 million short tons in 2011.

In fact, coal mining jobs in Appalachia fared far worse under the Reagan, Clinton, and George H.W. Bush administrations than they have under Obama.Advances in mining technology have made miners more efficient.

Indeed, the traditional images of coal mines — dark holes filled with men swinging pickaxes and pushing carts — are no more. Today, it is machines that are ripping coal from the mines' walls, and then automatic conveyor belts whipping the fuel back to the surface.

And much of the production has moved above ground entirely, thanks to a practice known as mountaintop-removal mining, in which miners use controlled explosions to open mountains and mine the newly exposed coal seams.

According to employment counts from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, from 1983 — the earliest year for which MSHA had data — to 1989, combined coal jobs in West Virginia and Kentucky fell from 79,000 to 64,000.

In the following four years under the first President Bush, coal jobs in the two states fell to 56,000. And by the final year of the Clinton administration, the states' combined total of mining jobs had fallen to a nadir of 33,000.

Advances in mining technology have made miners more efficient.

For the miners and other industry employees who still hold jobs, the increased productivity has paid off. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nominal average annual coal industry employee wages in West Virginia sat at $54,000. By 2012, the average employee was taking home nearly $85,000.

The starring role of mechanization, however, does not mean that federal policies have no effect on the number of coal jobs.

The region saw its fortunes reverse under President George W. Bush, who in 2002 relaxed rules on mountaintop-removal mining to give companies more leeway to dump their leftovers into the region's waterways. From 2001 to 2008,

Indeed, the traditional images of coal mines — dark holes filled with men swinging pickaxes and pushing carts — are no more. Today, it is machines that are ripping coal from the mines' walls, and then automatic conveyor belts whipping the fuel back to the surface.

And much of the production has moved above ground entirely, thanks to a practice known as mountaintop-removal mining, in which miners use controlled explosions to open mountains and mine the newly exposed coal seams.

continued...

you could have avoided that mindless post and just looked at the graph that was in the OP article......by the way, did you notice that the article doesn't refute the fact Obama fucked over the coal industry?......