Coal Stories by NPR Embedded

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ThinkingSapien

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I thought this was an interesting piece that NPR did. It was on some of the transformations of the coal industry and the people that worked in communities that were primarily dependent on it. The stories start before the election and continue a year into the current presidency. It’s a mixture of the changes in the coal industry and the personal narratives of some people effected by it.

This is all Audio. Though they have made the transcripts available for most of the stories.
  1. The “war on coal.” Getting Appalachia wrong. Which side are you on? What it’s like to live a decline.
  2. After the election. The price of a certain kind of coal goes up. People’s lives start changing. Some think it’s because of Trump.
  3. It’s not all about Trump. Kyle makes progress. Gary has decisions to make. Brad makes a change.
  4. We meet someone new. Derek.
  5. It’s been a year and a half. Gary, Kyle, and Brad move on.
 
Though I like some of these stories by NPR as human interest,
it’s disingenuous to imply there should be a quick turn around in this industry.

It took years for Obama to put the screws down on coal, a recovery will take some time, where it is even possible. Even with relaxed regulations investors are scared of another short term flip flop. Running a modern coal mine is a huge investment with a long ROI.
 
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Theo520 said:
it’s disingenuous to imply there should be a quick turn around in this industry.
[…]
Even with relaxed regulations investors are scared of another short term flip flop.
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From listening to the stories it sounds like a more recent increase in american coal was primarily for chinese manufacturing and compensating for a drop in Australian supply. I’m not confident that they will come back at all. Some type of investment to help the communities to get into new industries would be good.
 
From what I’ve read, it won’t go back to prior employment levels but it can/is recovering to a solid steady rate.

We do have quality coal that is good for base load power production, and with our push for balanced trade it makes sense we will see a real growth in exports.

US usage will be driven by whether ‘climate change’ and the war on coal resurfaces. I think we do need our modern coal generators for base load power, renewables have not measured up to their hype and coal has benefits over natural gas.
 
CD45 said:
If we are going to invest in coal, let’s bring back asbestos and lead based paint also. Could be good money to be made. Just need to get rid of those regulations that prevent profit.
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Ahh, CD45 and hyperbole
I’m not surprised
 
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