In a speech yesterday full of half-truths, demi-truths and, of course, alternative facts, US President Trump doubled down on his campaign promise to reinvigorate America’s long-ailing coal and steel industries, promising that under his administration “dying industries will come roaring back to life”. Sure. Meanwhile, in a move that more closely reflects market reality, China announced it is cutting 500,000 coal and steel jobs as it begins shifting its economy away from heavy manufacturing.
Image: AP
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2017/02/why-trumps-plan-to-bring-back-coal-jobs-makes-no-sense/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/gor00qldvjxgpwmzmkgn.jpg” title=”Why Trump’s Plan To Bring Back Coal Jobs Makes No Sense” excerpt=”On Thursday, US President Trump signed legislation blocking the Stream Protection Rule, a key Obama regulation that limited mining companies from dumping excess spoil into waterways. Waste from mining operations can contain sulphur-bearing minerals which, mixed with water, create what the EPA calls “acid mine drainage”. It’s a fair trade-off, in Trump’s mind, for stimulating coal industry job growth. Trump is set to kill even more regulations. The problem. Deregulation won’t bring back coal jobs.”]
The layoffs in China are part of a multi-year plan announced in 2016 to cut 1.8 million combined jobs across the coal and steel industries. China is the world’s second largest economy, but its overall economic growth has slowed recently. In part, this is due to bloated manufacturing industries, like steel. China has been accused of selling steel at less than cost in order to mask its surplus crisis, choking off production across the globe.
Since the campaign trail, Trump has taken aim at the EPA’s environmental regulations, calling them job killers that have crushed the coal and steel industries. China, meanwhile, is notoriously lax when it comes to environmental regulation, yet its own steel and coal industries are dwindling because of market realities.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2017/01/eerie-time-lapse-shows-beijing-engulfed-by-a-relentless-wall-of-smog/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/cpaq2cwptv5sahjzwazf.gif” title=”Eerie Time-Lapse Shows Beijing Engulfed By A Relentless Wall Of Smog” excerpt=”A new time-lapse taken over the course of just 20 minutes shows the mind-boggling extent of Beijing’s ongoing pollution problem.”]
While Trump has been remarkably consistent in his disdain for climate change policies and environmental regulation, his promises to miners are completely at odds with his business practices. His push for pipelines and fracking will only cheapen the already rock-bottom cost of oil and natural gas, discouraging growth in the coal industry. He’s also promised emission trading system similar to California’s. Trump has yet to endorse either carbon trading or a carbon tax, though Republicans support the latter, and historically supported an emission trade system. China’s also invested heavily in infrastructure projects that utilise renewable energy sources, setting new records on wind power and utilising the world’s largest solar farm. Trump’s $US1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) infrastructure plan is only hazily sketched, but unlikely to draw on renewable energy.
Even if Trump isn’t interested in China’s climate policies, there’s at least one lesson to be learned: China is reportedly spending $US15 billion ($19 billion) on training and job placement services for out of work coal and steel miners. If Trump is going to peg the careers of out-of-work miners to a dwindling industry, this Plan-B might be a lifesaver when the jobs, and the industries sustaining them, collapse.
[CNN]