Why coal jobs aren't coming back, despite Trump's actions

Quote:

Despite Trump's best intentions and regulation-busting actions, experts don't believe they will be enough to save coal.
That's because coal has a fierce competitor in the form of natural gas. It's cheap, it's clean and there's a ton of it in the U.S. Plus, Trump himself supports expanded drilling of U.S. shale, the chief source of the boom in natural gas.
"The coal jobs aren't coming back," said James Van Nostrand, director of the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at West Virginia University College of Law.
He called it "nonsense" to think lighter regulation will change that. The coal industry is being pounded by market forces. It's not regulation," he said.
The White House website calls out Obama's Climate Action Plan as a "harmful and unnecessary" policy Trump wants to eliminate.
Aimed at meeting America's commitments under the Paris agreement, the Clean Power Plan requires that by 2030 power plants cut their carbon emissions by 32%.
But CPP is being challenged in court and experts believe Trump may try to dismantle or choose not to enforce it.

@mrmhead Said

I've read that in some oil fields they burn off natural gas because the profit margin isn't there to capture and transport it.


... they burn off methane at landfills.