Essay Sample on Future of Coal Under Trump

Introduction

Coal a key fossil fuel, its constitution being predominantly carbonaceous matter occurring in the stratified sedimentary deposits. It exists in many grades according to coal type -- the nature of plant materials that guided its formation, coal rank - the extent of carbon content and coal grade -- the scope of impurities. American coal deposits are found in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming, West Virginia, Illinois, and Mississippi. The US coal reserves are the highest in the world at 246000 tons. Coal was a useful source of energy in the industrial revolution, being a source of power for locomotives and a fuel for processing goods in the industry. The course of coal mining, harnessing, and exploitation has however been hampered by risks and challenges notably: the danger of mining and processing, mining is a peril. Counts of workers in coal mining plants being maimed and loss of lives continue to soar. Another lurking menace is methane gas that is trapped via physical and chemical processes in the coal mines gets ignited. Workers inhale dust that causes respiratory disorders. The ugly scenes created after mining are an example of environmental degradation. Mining releases toxic chemical and metal ores that find their way in the air-water thus contamination in the ecosystem affecting plant and animal life. Also, is the risk of exploitation in coal-driven industries? Incomplete combustion of coal releases many chemical compounds, harmful to the environment. Combustion of fossil fuels is bound to release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Water pollution from acid run-off with heavy metals. This depletes the ozone layer and coal will have a hand in global warming, the greenhouse effect, and melting of polar ice caps.

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The posterity of the struggling coal industry under the Trump administration remains bleak, yet promising in equal measure. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive decree that relegated the environmentalists' achievement in eliminating coal production and utilization. The president is torn in between environmental conservation and protecting the American interests-jobs for the people in the coal industry and the source of energy for the industries. Miners of coal earn on average $84,000 a year. In total 53,000 people work in the industry. In his administration, the coal industry has not expected much of upheavals, overhauls, regression, or progression. One certainty is that the coal industry is ailing; much needs to be done. Trump has rolled out a raft of policies meant to resurrect the coal industry ranging from legislation, repeal of repressive laws, de-legislation, and offering incentives to the coal mining industry. More importantly, he has been strict with rolling back Obama era regulations on power plant emissions, coal mining on federal lands could benefit the industry.

Employment and the production in the coal industry have experienced a marginal rise while prices of the fuel continue to plummet owing to underconsumption. Despite this, there is optimism by the coal miners since Trump's vision is a sustainable energy America. Research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics gave a suggestion about 2000 new jobs were created in Trump's first year in office. Coal production has experienced slowed but exponential growth, an increase in six percentage points from 728 million tons to 774 million tons in 2017. Coal's stake in the American power generation is at 30%. After the inauguration of Donald Trump to the office, closed down mines in the states of West Virginia Pennsylvania Ohio, Alabama and Indiana are projected to re-open. Rebound of the coal industry is also being felt in areas that had borne the brunt of coal decline, affecting miners.

Laudable is the measure taken in the Trump administration to ensure a smooth transition to green energy where the coal industry obsolesces. By putting the American interest at heart, there has been a smooth transition to environmental-friendly fuels. This has cut on the untold misery and impact of unemployment and job losses. A case in point is the solar power industry, the source of direct employment to at least 300,000 citizens. The nations' largest coal producer, the state of Wyoming has begun the prospects of switching to wind power. Renewable energy is replacing coal in a way that the biting and adversity of the toss of change do not take a toll of the American people, a scoring point for president Trump.

Trump continues to invoke federal power to revive the industry. The policy on greenhouse gas emissions rules for power plants proved that states could keep coal-fired facilities. This is an antithesis of the Obama's policy that sought to expedite the retiring of all coal plants, creating a tempest toss by disruption of jobs and economies as he braces the population for the adoption of his policy on Green energy. Trump is keen on ensuring that scheduled retirement of coal plants is implemented to give the players an open-window period to explore other sources of jobs and business as they come to terms with the change. For example, the US Department of Energy issued an edict requiring grid operators to purchase electricity from the straining coal plants for at least two years. These powers invoked are only used in acute emergencies and national crisis like disasters.

The withdrawal from the Paris Climate change agreement is another issue. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report puts global warming index at alarming levels. Working to reverse this is the Paris Agreement that seeks to cap it to just 1.5C. All these objectives require utilization of coal power to drop, a move that Trump vehemently rejected and withdrew from the Paris Accord, yet with the hope of reengaging it to meet the agreement half-way. On one side, he demoralized the international efforts in controlling the menace of global warming. On the flip side, the move was well-intended for the American job industry and energy sources for their industries.

Trump administration also took a drastic measure to replace the Obama era's Clean Power Plan (CCP) with a workable plan to reduce greenhouse gases released to the atmosphere. This plan is called the "Affordable Clean Energy Rule." It aims at empowering states and improving the efficiency of coal-fired power plants. In the same vein, over 24 states were parties in a joint suit seeking to scrap out Obama's Clean Power Plan on the grounds of its unconstitutionality. A positive milestone is the incorporation of technologies -- supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal plants. This has down-sized coal emissions from the plant by 50%. These techs are collectively known as "High Efficiency, Low Emissions." HELE technologies. The efficiency is realized by employing the lowest cost method to reduce all emissions offering a big deal possibility of eliminating the release of greenhouse gases. The U.S. has thus been in the frontline to ensure clean coal energy, spreading this idea to other countries such as India and China planning to step up their coal production to 200 million tonnes. Bailouts of Oil mining and exploration companies that have filed for bankruptcy. To illustrate is Ohio's FirstEnergy solutions. Amid public outcry, and hostility from activists and environmentalists arguing that the move would hurt health with the elderly and young kids being at risk and produce unclean power. Trump administration scrapped Obama's Clean Power Plan that was predesigned to trim carbon emissions from power plants by 30% in 2030. The Environmental Protection agency EPA signed a legal development, repealing President Barack Obama's consent to the policy curtailing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. This fanned a state of showdown and conflict of policy in the effort to check global warming. The movers of this action stand up for it since it will fast-track the progression of the energy sector in the country and eliminate the legal bureaucracy in tapping and exploiting energy sources. The pro-environment will support that the effects of Carbon dioxide have led to premature deaths, heart attacks, asthma among other respiratory disorders. It would mean an even proliferation of these fatal cases.

President Donald Trump's administration softened the stance on disposal of toxic coal ash in water sources. The government eased the standards that allowed companies to discard the toxic coal ashes. The Environmental Protection Agency recommended the move by saying that it saved $31.4 million incurred as regulatory cost. The impacts of this legislation are pervasive - a study at run-off waste into water sources, soil, and the environment in general. Poisonous metals like lead, arsenic have been seeped to the underground water aquifers, fronting a biohazard. To illustrate are the far-reaching cases in Kingston, Tennessee and Eden, North Carolina. Families are much exposed to the danger of cancer triggered by these carcinogenic elements. It will also mean insecurity for our drinking water. Trump also froze the moratorium on coal lease on federal land. The Trump government was embroiled in a national controversy after motivating more coal mining on the federal government-owned land. Part of the cause for this was to pep the sickening American coal industry and put land under full utilization. This is a retrogressive move since the Obama administration had adjourned new coal leases on public lands considering the consequences on the environment. This repaired the already dented US coal exports that were on the risk of being overshadowed by Asian coal plants, gaining some revenue from exports. Environment aggrieved by this measure went to court seeking to bar it as it is blatant encroachment of the landmass. Another hotter issue was how much tribune miners should remit to the federal governments. This now pushed the fight to be of predatory land commercialization versus environmental protection. The groups behind this move say that the move was justifiably right since it was backed up by Science and understandable economic facts. Here Trump was driven by the sole objective of relieving miners. There were cases of expanse parcels of land in the waste and would be put into better use by coal mining. However, the situation, this order did not change the onslaught by market forces of the economic viability of coal.

Trump, being an ardent supporter of coal fuel influenced the Interior Department ordered to a halt a scientific study that had been initiated by the president Obama administration to hone in on the risks of mountaintop-removal coal mining. The report was underway with National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine investigating health effects of mountaintop coal removal in Central Appalachia. Trump employed ingenuity, and discreetly meddling into the $1 million studies. The research was adjourned due to budgetary constraints. From one side this exposes Trump's dirty tricks and hellbent on subverting public access to information. The research was to be informative in increasing awareness of the residents of Appalachia about the risks of coal mining in their ambient habitation. Mountaintop removal has clogged streams and waterways with heavy metals, intoxicating water sources. The report was to probe into the effect of this before the government spearheaded its kill. This endangers public health - increased prospects of congenital disabilities, cancer, and mortality births. There is a need for a review of this issue and a roundtable discussion with the parties as this action proves discriminatory against the residents.

Finally, Trump lifted the requirement that coal plants install equipment reducing toxic mercury emissions. His sentiments during the first State of the Union address in 2018 "We have ended the war on beautiful, clean co...