By Paula Hernandez

In the coming years, it is clear that the 160,119 Americans currently employed by the coal industry will be out of a job. Despite his promises on the campaign trail, President Donald Trump will be unable to save the dying industry.
Rather than admitting defeat, cutting their losses and working to improve the opportunities that coal workers will have following the demise of the coal industry, the current administration has chosen to be complicit in the destruction of our environment, despite the fact that their flimsy “pro-business” excuse becomes more and more obsolete with each passing day.

On Tuesday, Oct. 10, the Trump administration announced its plans to undo the Clean Power Plan. This is another unsurprising, foolish decision that shows not only an irrational opposition to all Obama-era rulings, but also an entirely flawed perception of the role that coal plays in our society. Looking back at a similar decision – Trump’s decision to exit from the Paris Climate Accords – we can see that many businesses made the decision to continue to follow the carbon emission policies stated in the Accords. For various reasons, these companies find it in their interest to seek out new energy sources.

The Harvard Business Review reported that “onsite power generation can have a major impact on cost” and that “a 25% reduction in energy costs could add millions to a large company’s bottom line.” Other companies, like Exxon Mobile, want the consistent set of rules that the Paris Accords provide. Many continue to invest in renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, because it will benefit their energy spending in the long term.

The fact of the matter is, coal is no longer the most efficient energy source. EPA director Scott Pruitt’s claims that “the war against coal is over” and that “we [the Trump administration] are committed to righting the wrongs of the Obama administration by cleaning the regulatory slate,” but the war on coal is not a political scheme which desires to render thousands of jobs obsolete. It is a movement of advancement in technology and modernization. Soon coal workers will be as obsolete as switchboard operators and streetlamp lighters are today.

The Trump administration’s refusal to acknowledge that the era of coal is over harms the environment and cruelly ignores the coal workers who will struggle to feed their families once Trump’s empty promises fall flat. Trump is beating a dead horse by trying to save coal. He should instead focus on helping coal-workers and making the U.S. a leader in environmental technology. The reasoning for keeping Obama-era environmentally friendly legislation goes beyond being a hippie or a tree hugger. Soon we will not have the resources to sustain life as we currently know it. The coal and oil will run out. This is not debatable. They are non-renewable. Yes, helping the environment is a positive effect, but on a level of self-preservation we all must concern ourselves with these new rulings.

I cannot decide if the Trump administration’s stance on this issue stems from ambivalence, ignorance or delusion. Regardless, the impact their decisions have on the coal workers and the environment will be the same. In the near future, many of these jobs will be obsolete, and as such, it is the job of the current administration to aid those citizens who will soon be out of luck.

It is clear that technology is advancing, with or without the Trump administration. As it stands, the rulings set forth by the EPA, especially those hell bent on destroying Obama era policies with little to no reasoning, illustrate the ignorant and vengeance-seeking nature of the administration with barely qualified employees, although some, I assume, are good people.

Paula Hernandez Garaycoa, FCRH ’21, is an English major from Miami, Florida.