Whoops! No wonder the republican President Donald Trump and his GOP partners in the US Congress are hard at work to keep a presidential promise, the building of the president’s US SW border wall. This pledge is important to the president’s base of anti-immigration hardliners who are supporting him on this issue.
But, the president is certainly not delivering on his campaign promise to increase coal mining jobs.
Here is the rest of the story…
On January 14, 2019, Scott DiSavino of Reuters penned the following report, “President Trump can’t stop U.S. coal plants from retiring”
Excerpts:
“More U.S. coal-fired power plants were shut in President Donald Trump’s first 2 years than were retired in the whole of Barack Obama’s first term, despite the Republican’s efforts to prop up the industry to keep a campaign promise to coal-mining states.”
“In total, more than 23,400 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired generation were shut in 2017-2018 versus 14,900 MW in 2009-2012, according to data from Reuters and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).”
“Trump has tried to roll back rules on climate change and the environment adopted during the Obama administration to fulfill pledges to voters in states like West Virginia and Wyoming.”
“But the second highest year for coal shutdowns was in Trump’s second year, 2018, at around 14,500 megawatts, following a peak at about 17,700 megawatts in 2015 under Obama.”
“One megawatt can power about 1,000 U.S. homes.”
“The number of U.S. coal plants has continued to decline every year since coal capacity peaked at just over 317,400 MW in 2011, and is expected to keep falling as consumers demand power from cleaner and less expensive sources of energy.”
“Cheap natural gas and the rising use of renewable power like solar and wind have kept electric prices relatively low for years, making it uneconomic for generators to keep investing in older coal and nuclear plants.”
“Generators said they plan to shut around 8,422 MW of coal-fired power and 1,500 MW of nuclear in 2019, while adding 10,900 MW of wind, 8,200 MW of solar and 7,500 MW of gas, according to Reuters and EIA data.”
“The predictions come from estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters and U.S. Energy Information Administration data.”
“Since taking office in January 2017, the Trump administration has announced its intention to leave the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and is relaxing Obama-era rules on emissions from power plants as it seeks to boost domestic production of oil, gas and coal.”
“U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, spiked in 2018 after falling for the previous three years as cold weather spurred gas demand for heating and the booming economy pushed planes and trucks to guzzle fuel, according to a study by Rhodium Group, an independent research group.”
After falling to 5,144 million tonnes in 2017, the lowest since 1992, the EIA projected U.S. energy-related carbon emissions will rise to 5,299 million tonnes in 2018.
“There will be a limit to what increasingly cheap renewable power and continuously cheap natural gas can deliver with respect to emissions reductions,” said John Larsen, a director at Rhodium Group who leads the firm’s power sector research, noting the rising use of gas to produce power as coal plants shut. Natural gas emits about half the carbon as coal.”
“The Trump administration has also tried to slow the retirement of coal and nuclear plants through a directive in 2017 from Energy Secretary Rick Perry to subsidize the aging units because they make the electric grid more resilient.”
“That plan was bashed by advocates for gas, renewable power and consumers and unanimously rejected by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), led by former Chairman Kevin McIntyre. The plan could resurface now that Trump has a chance to replace McIntyre, who died on Jan. 2.”
Link to entire report/ graphs: reuters.com/article…
Gronda Morin 
This is one of his promises that I’m glad he failed to be able to keep. Well, come to think of it, all his promises were of a destructive nature and I hope he fails with his abominable wall, as well. Clean energy isn’t an option, it’s essential to sustainable life on this planet. It is a responsibility, and one that Donald Trump has shirked, to the detriment of us all. OFF with his head! 😉
Hugs!!!
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Dear Jill,
I’m not unhappy with the closing of coal mines but Dems have to figure out a plan to help the miners to acquire alternate good paying jobs.
By now there are other folks like the soy bean farmers who supported President Trump who are getting their rose colored glasses fogged.
As President Trump keeps up his shutdown, he’ll start losing even more supporters.
I’ve been trying to think who is the most like Darth Vader? I’m thinking that the Senate Maj Ldr Mitch McConnell, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin or our own US President Donald Trump are tied.
Hugs, Gronda
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At one time, there was a good plan in place for re-training displaced coal miners. And then … along came Trump and promised them that which wasn’t his to promise. And with that specter of hope on the horizon … the miners … some of them … took heart. I have family (in-laws, but family nonetheless) in Wise Country, Virginia … coal mining country. Tonight, one of them posted on Facebook, announcing that like so many of his friends, he had just been diagnosed with cancer and wondering why the cancer rate is so high there. Need I say more?
Other nations will push forward with renewable energy sources, while the U.S. struggles to try to revive a dead body. And people who have no idea what the truth is, for they get their news from either Facebook or from Fox News, meanwhile, will continue to cheer and applaud Trump. Despite the fact that nearly a million federal workers are without pay. Despite the fact that we have lost the respect of the rest of the world. Yes, some are losing their rose-coloured glasses, but very few. His approval ratings really haven’t dropped very much, and now he has a new “enemy”, a new migrant caravan moving this way, that he can weaponize to stir fear and hatred … as if there weren’t already enough.
I think we have many in our government who could qualify for the role of Darth Vader. I never saw Star Wars, so I don’t know what happened to ol’ Darth, but I know what needs to happen to our Darth … we need to cut off the head of the serpent.
Hugs!
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Dear Jill,
And it only gets worse.
The president had planned to do this shutdown over his not getting the funds he wanted for his wall in 2017 but cooler heads working in the WH were able to restrain him from acting on this impulse. But since then, he’s gotten rid of all those cooler heads to where he feels free to act in whatever way he wants.
There’s breaking news about the president having given serious consideration for having the US withdraw from NATO as of a year ago. The cooler heads were able to stop him but now they are gone,
Sen. Lindsey Graham just did one of his rants where he is pushing for the complete dismantling of the FBI as it is beyond fixing.
There is no doubt in my mind that we are under attack from within. Russia has done damage, bigly.
Hugs, Gronda
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All the cooler heads, those who might have prevailed, are gone … by design. And now … we are ripe for the picking, as they say.
How much more of this can we take? Where is the breaking point? I think mine is close.
Hugs.
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Gronda, I think I was traveling when you posted this, so I missed it. Thanks for the link. These two paragraphs copied from your post speak volumes:
“Cheap natural gas and the rising use of renewable power like solar and wind have kept electric prices relatively low for years, making it uneconomic for generators to keep investing in older coal and nuclear plants.
“Generators said they plan to shut around 8,422 MW of coal-fired power and 1,500 MW of nuclear in 2019, while adding 10,900 MW of wind, 8,200 MW of solar and 7,500 MW of gas, according to Reuters and EIA data.”
The present value cost of coal exceeds others forms, in part because the cost to maintain the coal ash, lasts beyond the life expectancy of the coal plant. The Dan River spill by Duke Energy was a shuttered plant ash site, for example.
We are well passed the tipping point on coal. Shooting straight with coal miners would be appropriate. Whether folks like what he says or not, Senator Bernie Sanders was the only Presidentiak candidate to shoot straight with coal miners.
These coal states are ideal for wind and solar energy. These coal companies should have pivoted a few years ago to invest in a future that is sustainable for their energy and employment needs. They still can. Keith
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