Trump’s promise to coal miners will hurt jobs in other Republican states
22 Dec 2016
Donald Trump’s energy plan promises something for everyone.
On the one hand, there are “more jobs, more revenues, more wealth, higher wages, and lower energy prices.” At the same time, “clean air, and clean, safe drinking water for all Americans.” These are bold claims with little detail, so far, about how the Trump administration will balance competing priorities.
But a few things are clear.
Trump’s election came after emphasizing the importance of fossil fuels, particularly coal. He also has made claims about climate change that indicate a hostility towards renewable energy, calling climate change a Chinese hoax and vowing to pull out of a global agreement to limit warming agreed in Paris last year. He recently nominated a climate change denier to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, and named the head of ExxonMobil as Secretary of State. On the campaign trail, he said solar power is too expensive and wind turbines kill birds (“they’ve killed so many eagles”).
Trump’s focus on the energy industry is shrewd, given that the bulk of America’s energy resources are located in states that voted for him. But favoring one over the other could put the incoming president in a bind. Coal states are not the same as those that will benefit from the burgeoning wind industry, which are in turn different from those where solar power is increasingly generating jobs. Republican-leaning states may find themselves in conflict with one another for preferred status in Trump’s energy policy; will the losers, so to speak, waver in their support for a leader who promised to “make full use of our domestic energy sources” to create millions of jobs?
SOurce: QZ.COm