On Dec. 19th, The Lima News published a column entitled “Path for Coal’s Comeback Is Driven by President Trump’s Dramatically Different Vision.” The author is Betsy B. Monseau, identified at the end of the piece as “chief executive officer of the American Coal Council.”
The column is essentially a paean to coal, to its many virtues and excellencies. It is also a paean to Donald Trump’s efforts to resurrect a moribund coal industry. “Some new U.S. coal mines have opened and others are expanding, adding good jobs and tax revenue for states and localities… . U.S. coal production has increased by about 8 percent over 2016. Coal mining employment is trending similarly.”
Yes, since Donald Trump’s ascension, it’s all sunshine and bluebirds in Coal Country. Zippity-do-dah.
Here’s the problem: At no point in this long column does the writer acknowledge the overwhelming scientific consensus that, as the main driver of anthropogenic global warming, the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal, is destroying our planet.
Let me offer an analogy. It would be like a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist penning an editorial singing the praises of synthetic opioids such as oxycontin — their effectiveness, their safety, and most importantly their profitability — while ignoring the epidemic of opioid abuse raging through this country and causing the deaths of thousands of citizens per year.
Yes, it’s all sunshine and bluebirds in Coal Country. Except that the coal smoke is blotting out the sun, and all the bluebirds have contracted black lung.
Kelly Anspaugh, Ada
