Coal isn’t the future of the American economy – it’s renewable energy. The sooner Donald Trump realizes that, the better
In the wake of President Trump’s latest executive orders to undo Obama’s efforts on climate and energy, it has become clear that climate science denial isn’t the only blind spot of this administration. It also suffers from what Australian commentator Waleed Aly calls “commercial denialism” – an attempt to fulfill the campaign promise to protect the dying coal industry all while ignoring the market forces that are leading to its demise.
You know something is wrong when Robert Murray, a coal industry giant and CEO of Murray Energy, tells President Trump to rein in the rhetoric about bringing coal jobs back. Trump is ignoring the reality that the world is moving beyond coal, just as we moved past horses and buggies, landline telephones and cigarettes. The transition is not complete yet, but coal jobs are not coming back substantially. It is time that we move on. We should plan for that.