For better or worse, the bulk of coal industry jobs are in Appalachia - and when that coal is gone, so are the jobs.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The end of coal in Appalachia doesn't mean that America is running out of coal (there's plenty left in Wyoming). But it should end the fantasy that coal can be an engine of job creation - the big open pit mines in Wyoming employ a tiny fraction of the number of people in an underground mine in Appalachia.
The coal industry is a huge industry when we're talking about polluting the environment, our air and our waterways.
Even the biggest coal boosters have long admitted that coal is a dying industry - the fight has always been over how fast and how hard the industry will fall.
Coal is cheap, but up to what extent are we going to allow coal plants to operate?
If you want improvements in coal, you've got to keep people in the business.
Coal mining is an industry rife with mismanagement, corruption, greed and an almost blatant disregard for the safety, health and quality of life of its work force. Everyone knows this. Everyone has always known it.
The coal mining industry is very destructive and it doesn't have to be.
Shale gas, if left to flourish, could create several hundred thousand more jobs.
From the industry's point of view, the problem is not that coal companies blast the top off mountains, turning the area into a moonscape and polluting the air and releasing toxic chemical into what's left of the local streams and aquifers. It's that the people who live near the mines are too cozy with their cousins.
Coal is a big deal here in Wyoming.