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I am of the opinion that the reasons the industry lost jobs, are primarily: 1. Price of natural gas is very competitive. 2. Automation. Mechanisation inside c
by greendesk 10y ago
I am of the opinion that the reasons the industry lost jobs, are primarily:
1. Price of natural gas is very competitive.
2. Automation. Mechanisation inside coal mines becomes more effective.
3. As old coal plants are retired, their replacements require exceptionally high capital expenditures. While running an already built coal plant can be feasible, competition for building new plants is not economically competitive.
In the end, it is the free market that took those jobs. In the end, the market always wins.
- pmorici 10y agoDoesn't really matter 83k unemployed people aren't going to care about the nuances of which factors contributed how much. If the industry was already on it's way down the smart thing to do would have been to let it run it course instead of pushing regulations that wouldn't matter any ways and swung the state against you. Similarly if the factors killing coal really are not driven by government regulation than installing a pro-coal guy at the EPA shouldn't have any effect.
- jljljl 10y agoCoal was regulated before concerns of climate change became mainstream because it kills people. The pollutants it releases poison people not just in the state where the plant is located, but in neighboring states. None of the costs of medical treatment or loss of life were borne by the coal industry itself prior to regulation.