U.S. Coal Use Is Plunging at Fastest Rate Since Eisenhower Era

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Bloomberg

U.S. coal use plunged more than 13% in 2019, the most in 65 years, as power plants shut down across the country. That’s poised to happen again this year.

Total consumption slumped to 596 million tons in 2019 from 688 million tons in the prior year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This year, the figure is expected to slip again, to 517 million tons.

The decline reflects the rapidly changing U.S. energy mix, as coal is increasingly struggling to compete on price with natural gas, wind and solar. The dirtiest fossil fuel is also facing growing pressure for its role in climate change, prompting states from California to New York to mandate a transition to clean energy. President Donald Trump’s efforts to revive the industry have done little to stem the inexorable shift away from coal.

“It’s definitely a stark rebuke to to all of Trump’s promises that he’s going to bring the coal industry back,” Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, said Thursday in an interview.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-05/u-s-coal-use-is-plunging-at-fastest-rate-since-eisenhower-era?srnd=premium

[guillaumeb]

1. Trump promised to bring back coal.

Can he blame Obama for this situation?

[keithbvadu2]

2. Of course he can.

Of course he can.

Lies replace truth whenever convenient for Donald.

[Shermann]

3. Dig, baby, Dig!

The coal industry needs the unique talents of Sarah Palin during this moment of crisis.

[denem]

4. No. Sarah is needed on VP Pence's coronavirus task force,

as a field officer.

[marble falls]

5. Good. Less coal use, AND Trump looks like a schnook.

[dhill926]

6. would love to see the Dem candidate...

come up with a comprehensive plan to retrain miners in another energy field. Coal ain't coming back, and we need to help these folks...

[Shipwack]

9. We tried that already...

Hillary had a plan to train them for clean energy jobs and it was mocked and rejected by the people it was designed to help.

[Polybius]

11. Yup

Somehow Trump won WV with over 68% of the vote. Insane.

[Turin_C3PO]

15. WV sure has changed.

It used to be reliably Democratic in presidential elections. A shame they seem to have drunk the kool aid.

[tclambert]

7. I think we should recruit and train all former coal miners to hack Russian elections.

[IronLionZion]

8. Any real Trump supporter will invest in coal stocks

and steel and retail. They should bet their retirement savings on Trump saving these iconic American industries to bring back the jobs or they don't actually believe he can make America great again.

[Journeyman]

10. ETTD: Everything Trump Touches Dies, even the dead (plants that formed coal) . . .

[Warpy]

12. During Eisenhower's seond term

is when central heating began to be converted away from coal in old housing. In the new suburbs, other things were used, usually but not always oil and sometimes natural gas. All electric houses began to come in about the time Keneedy did.

Coal central heating was foul, nasty stuff, creating a grey-brown blanket of pollution just over rooftop level and filling the air with fly ash and cinders, the reason for the "never wear white after Labor Day" tradition. If you tried to, it was grey by noon.

While we need and produce steel, there will be coal in use, so it's not going away completely. It will be wonderful to have fewer coal fired power plants pumping garbage into the air, replaced by renewables or gas from carbon sequestration plants that will likely be the future.

So much for making coal king again. I just wonder how many people will be fooled again by that particularly empty promise.

[truthisfreedom]

13. He needs his nose rubbed repeatedly in this bullshit promise.

[llmart]

14. Or maybe just rub his orange face in some coal dust.

Coal mining has destroyed some of our most beautiful land. There was a time when it was necessary but those days are long gone.

[SWBTATTReg]

16. Another broken promise by none other than the greatest liar of all time, rump!