XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.politics.democrats.d, alt.pol   
   tics.democrats.d   
   XPost: alt.global-warming, alt.rush-limbaugh, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: xeton2001@yahoo.com   
      
   Trump, one of the few remaining homosexual pedophile politicians appears   
   to only be followed by those loyal to our enemies and those who are   
   mentally unstable and a danger to themselves and society.   With an IQ of   
   less than 90, the lies of blowhard Trump are only believed by gullible   
   losers-in-life and spineless rightwing traitors who will be better off   
   when burned as a coal substitute, alive if possible.   Trump has said that   
   a special tax on his low income, low intelligence followers could be a   
   solution to paying for the $billions in free socialist handouts he's given   
   to the coal conglomerates.   
      
      
   Trump’s pledge to save US coal is failing, leaving coal country in crisis   
      
   No state is harder hit by the coal slump in the U.S. than Wyoming, the   
   nation’s largest coal producer, accounting for more than 40% of the   
   nation’s output.   
   Coal production statewide through the first half of this year is down 30%   
   from the same period five years ago, according to the Wyoming State   
   Geological Survey.   
   A wave of layoffs and bankruptcies has the state searching for new uses   
   and new markets for its most abundant mineral resource.   
   GP: Donald Trump digs coal lUS-POLITICS-TRUMP 1   
   US President Donald Trump holds up a “Trump Digs Coal” sign as he arrives   
   to speak during a Make America Great Again Rally at Big Sandy Superstore   
   Arena in Huntington, West Virginia, August 3, 2017.   
   Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images   
   Pledges by President Donald Trump to save the U.S. coal industry and boost   
   so-called clean coal technology are proving to be no match for the free   
   market. Competition from lower-cost natural gas and renewables has led to   
   a wave of bankruptcies and layoffs as coal production declines.   
      
   Government forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration call   
   for a 10% drop in coal production nationwide year-over-year in 2019, with   
   further declines expected next year. In the past five years, output is   
   down 27%.   
      
   The cuts come as power companies drastically reduce their coal use,   
   retiring coal-fired plants or converting them to natural gas. Last year   
   alone, utilities retired 13 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity — the   
   equivalent of about 25 power plants — according to the EIA. That is the   
   second-highest annual figure on record. The agency projects another 17   
   gigawatts to go offline by 2025. Coal stockpiles at U.S. power plants are   
   at their lowest level in a decade.   
      
      
   Coal output is down nearly 30 percent. Here’s why that’s a problem in   
   Wyoming   
   Trump administration efforts to prop up the industry, which include   
   replacing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with the new Affordable Clean   
   Energy Rule, giving states more flexibility to keep coal-fired power   
   plants open, have thus far made little difference. That is because the   
   economics increasingly favor natural gas and renewables.   
      
   A 2018 analysis by Lazard, a financial advisory and asset management firm,   
   put the cost of coal power at between $60 and $143 per megawatt-hour. But   
   newer technologies, like fracking, make natural gas considerably cheaper,   
   at $41 to $74 per megawatt-hour. Wind energy is even cheaper, at $29 to   
   $56.   
      
   No state is harder hit by the coal slump than Wyoming. It is the nation’s   
   largest coal producer, accounting for more than 40% of the nation’s   
   output. And the lower-sulfur coal mined in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin is   
   key in the efforts to make coal more environmentally friendly. But demand   
   has collapsed. Two of the state’s largest mining companies — Cloud Peak   
   Energy and Blackjewel — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection within   
   two months of each other this year. Blackjewel’s filing abruptly threw   
   nearly 600 miners out of work in July.   
      
   GP: Coal Mine Gillette, WY - Gillette, WY   
   The Eagle Butte coal mine in Gillette, Wyoming, is one of two mines that   
   closed abruptly in July, throwing 600 miners out of work, when owner   
   Blackjewel LLC declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.   
   Matt McClain | The Washington Post | Getty Images   
   All in all, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, coal mining   
   employment in Wyoming is down 13% in the past year.   
      
   Even in the heart of coal country, where low transportation costs make   
   coal much less expensive than in other parts of the country, utilities are   
   reducing their coal use and turning to alternatives like wind and solar.   
      
   “Renewables are coming into the market, and our customers are making the   
   choices,” said Mike Easley, CEO of Powder River Energy, a member-owned   
   cooperative serving some 27-thousand customers.   
      
   Coal production statewide through the first half of this year is down 30%   
   from the same period five years ago, according to the Wyoming State   
   Geological Survey. A key state revenue source, bonuses paid to the state   
   by mining companies based on their federal coal leases, has all but dried   
   up. The payments totaled nearly $220 million as recently as 2016. That   
   figure plummeted to around $5 million last year.   
      
   Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, said the decline is leaving a   
   mark.   
      
   “The difficult thing for Wyoming really comes to our education funding,”   
   he told CNBC. ”[The lease bonuses] allowed us to build schools that will   
   help a workforce stand up to be more nimble, and technically able to take   
   on other jobs.”   
      
   The state has been steadily slashing education spending, including an   
   estimated $100 million in budget cuts since 2016. But the state still   
   faces an education shortfall that could reach $1.8 billion by 2022,   
   according to legislative analysts.   
      
      
   Energy transition to renewables will unfold rapidly, expert predicts   
   Earlier this year, the governor directed all state agency heads to “look   
   for efficiencies” as he prepares a new two-year budget for the fiscal   
   period beginning in July. Those cuts would come on top of widespread cuts   
   in the current budget, which officials say was the smallest state budget   
   in more than 15 years.   
      
   In the heart of the Powder River Basin in Gillette, Wyoming — which bills   
   itself the Energy Capital of the Nation — Mayor Louise Carter-King says   
   they are bracing for the impact.   
      
   “We only operate with cash on hand,” she said. “We don’t use forecasted   
   money, because we just don’t know.”   
      
   So far, the nationwide worker shortage, along with strength in oil prices   
   — boosting another Wyoming resource — have helped blunt the impact of the   
   coal downturn. Unemployment in Campbell County, where Gillette is located,   
   jumped to 5.7% immediately following the Blackjewel layoffs in July. But   
   it quickly fell to 4.5% the following month, according to the Wyoming   
   Department of Workforce Services. Unemployment statewide was 3.7% in   
   August, in line with the national average. But officials are not resting   
   easy.   
      
   “It’s not like we ever relax and say, ‘Okay, good. We’re back to normal,’”   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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