Like it or not, much of America has a pretty poor opinion of coal. Two-thirds of Americans want the federal government to do more to reduce the effects of climate change, and three-quarters of our country want to see the country prioritize renewables over fossil fuels.
By the way, that view is not just held by liberal-Green New Deal-socialists. 49 percent of those who self-describe as “conservative” also want to see renewables prioritized over fossil fuels; and if that doesn’t surprise you, in states with coal mines, half the state’s population is in favor of phasing out all coal-fired power plants!
The Trump Administration did not bring back coal jobs for two reasons. First, as I’ve written in previous columns, coal’s true threat is not the Green New Deal but natural gas.
Which means instead of slapping a bumper sticker on your pickup that reads, If You’re Hungry and Out of Work, Eat an Environmentalist, it should say: Eat a Natural Gas Producer.
Second, except for politicians who want to use coal miners as props for getting votes, no one really cares much about our coal communities.
For the rest of this column: https://trib.com/opinion/columns/dodson-saving-wyoming-coal-communities-step-one-change-our-image/article_46872d9d-94cb-5c7d-bfdf-2e6870493695.html