Natural gas production has drastically reduced US carbon emissions in recent years, largely due to power plants switching from burning coal to natural gas. There’s also the increasing competitiveness of wind and solar power and the coal industry’s “long-term business model of producing more coal with fewer workers”, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which Fears quoted in his story. A ruling in favor of the carbon restrictions from the D.C. appeals court could help blunt the Trump administration’s efforts to undo them and put the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court. For every one of the 70,000 coal miners in the USA, there are almost 10 workers (650,000) in the renewable-energy sector.
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While Trump’s order on Tuesday does not officially end USA compliance with the Paris Accord, the decision to end restrictions on coal-fired power plants was widely seen as a clear rejection of the accord by the US administration. He argued that Trump’s changes regarding the Clean Power Plan will bring relief and optimism throughout the state’s energy economy. “So I would say it’s ridiculously short term and short sighted to progress with coal industries”. The moratorium jeopardized numerous 14,000 miners whose livelihoods depend on federal coal, he added. Former President Barack Obama ‘s initiatives to rein in the impacts of climate change have hastened the retirement of old, inefficient coal-fired plants and the switch to cleaner-burning natural gas. That will make the transition easier for both those in the industry and the rest of us who depend on affordable and reliable sources of energy.
“I cannot tell you how many jobs the executive order is going to create, but I can tell you that it provides confidence in this administration’s commitment to the coal industry”, Mr.
Tom Crowther, who recently led a global warming report that is already being adopted by the United Nations, also said the US President’s short-sighted approach was “brutal” and “insane”. Climate change is the most pressing issue of our time – one that we can not wait to address – and the United States can not afford to cede its leadership in addressing it. We need jobs on the Western Slope.
“Companies must be resilient and learn to adjust to political volatility all over the world”, Immelt wrote Wednesday in an internal company blog post obtained by Politico.
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Other leaders have been more direct. Trump has committed to reviving the U.S. coal industry, but the economic forces are too strong for Trump to overcome. The natural gas boom, fueled by fracking, is a huge factor. But the EPA’s own analysis showed they would reduce potential future global warming only by 0.019 degrees C by 2100 – an amount too small to be accurately measured by even the most sophisticated scientific equipment.
