It’s well past time Congress stood up to President Donald Trump and his administration as they continue their march to undermine the environment and Americans’ health to benefit the coal industry.
While many conservatives have applauded Trump’s efforts due to opposition to government regulations, they also like to describe themselves as fiscally responsible. If that’s really true, their defense of Trump’s coal policies simply don’t add up.
According to the National Resources Defense Council, the United States spends $26 billion annually on fossil fuel subsidies; Vox reports about 20 percent of that benefits the coal industry. In addition, the outdated process for determining fair market value for coal has cost taxpayers more than $30 billion over the last 30 years. In one example, companies were paying fees for a sale valued at only $1 per ton when the open market price was anywhere from $10 to more than $100 per ton of coal, the NRDC reported.
All this for an industry that employs as few as 50,300 people. As the Washington Post noted, more people work for Arby’s than in the coal industry.
By comparison, Forbes reported in January 2017 that nearly 374,000 people work in the solar industry, more than coal, gas and oil power generation combined (187,000). Another 101,000-plus are employed in wind power. Yet, Forbes reported earlier this year, federal subsidies to those industries declined from $15.5 billion in 2013 to $6.7 billion in 2016.
Other figures that are important to keep in mind: Between 7,500 and 52,000 people in the United States meet early deaths because of small particles resulting from power plant emissions. According to the World Health Organization, 7 million people worldwide died from breathing air pollution in 2012. A 2014 study said air pollution, including coal, “is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk,” the Post reported.
All this for an industry that is on its last legs. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projected earlier this month that the country will end 2018 having used less coal than at any time since 1979.
We in the Pacific Northwest can empathize with those in the coal industry. While logging is still viable, it’s a shadow of its former self due to changing regulations, market forces and automation. And while we don’t want to diminish the hardship logging’s decline caused many people and places, our region overall is thriving today. If coal country puts its mind to it, it too can find a new way forward.
A good example is developing in our state.
The TransAlta coal-fired plant near Centralia will be transitioning to natural gas beginning in 2021, with renewable energy being added down the road. Further, the company is reclaiming the site of a former coal mine just south of Bucoda and, if all goes according to plan, will turn it into the largest solar project in the state.
TransAlta’s path is one other power plant owners are taking. At least six plants that relied on coal have closed or announced they will close since Trump’s 2016 election, the Washington Post reported. This includes the main plant at the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona, the largest in the West. Another 40 coal-fired plants are projected to close during the president’s four-year term.
Businesses don’t pursue courses of action they don’t think will pay off, and actions such as TransAlta’s could serve as a positive template for the industry — and one the federal government should be actively supporting.
