In myprevious postin this series, I wrote about howcoal has become uneconomic—and how that has led to great financial risk for companies in the coal mining business. I noted that some analysts are predictinga wave of bankruptcies in the industry. As reported last month, the industry’s market value hasfallen by half in less than a year. On Wednesday Alabama-basedWalter Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcyprotection. And theWall Street Journalis reporting thatAlpha Natural Resources is now in bankruptcy talks as well.
These events are having and will continue to have real world impacts on the folks employed at these companies. Which leads me to thesecond stage of grief: anger.
This post is the third in a series onKing Coal’s Stages of Grief: Facing a Changing Future.
Anger at what?
Anger is evident everywhereyou go in Coal Country. Andit’s understandable—the communities hardest hit by these job losses are the least able to adapt to the changes, simply because there’s not a lot to fall back on. Coal mining has been the backbone of these communities for generations.
But let’s make an important distinction—between owner-operators who have gotten rich for generations, and theworkers who make them rich by digging coal.
You can see the tension as the mining company bankruptcies play out. Patriot Coal tried unsuccessfully in its first bankruptcy toavoid obligations for retiree health benefits. In Patriot’s second bankruptcy only 18 months later—whichportended the coming wave—executive bonusesaren’t being disclosed. Executives seem to get bonusesno matter how well their companies are doing.
The problem is that the industry has largely directedpublic anger around these real world impacts(layoffs) toward the Obama Administration’s EPA through acoordinated and relentless public relations campaign.
The purported “war on coal”
It pains me to watch how this “War on Coal” mantra has dominated the conversation around coal in recent years. The rhetoric seems to be日益尖锐的中风患者. Politicians are evidently in an arms race of sorts to produce the most shocking, “sky is falling” press releases, op-eds, and sound bites. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is acase in point.
Even in the face ofproposed initiatives that would actually support these communities, theycriticize environmental regulationsor worse (and inexplicably)reject the ideas outright.
Look, it’s true that additional environmental regulations affect the economics of coal production—but asI’ve discussed in detail, as have many othercommentators,这个行业面临着强大和more dominant headwindson a number of fronts. (Also, it’s worth emphasizing that environmental regulations are designed to force the coal industry to clean up its act, and begin to pay for all thoseexternalitiesI mentioned before.)
When people say “War on Coal,” they usually mean that somehow the industry’s troubles and job losses can be blamedentirely on President Obama, and that once there is a new occupant in the White House, King Coal can return to its glory days.It simply isn’t true.
The story of coal’s decline
If there’s a “War on Coal” underway,it began a long time ago. Since the mid-20thcentury, direct employment in coal mines has declined dramatically, while production has continued to increase. There are two big reasons for this—the advent oflongwall mining(greater mechanization) and the boom in strip mining, both of which require vastly fewer workers than traditional forms of mining.
This history—and the other factors helping drive the decline in employment—seems to get lost in all the rhetoric.
Is a civil conversation possible?
As Ken Wardthoughtfully points outover at Coal Tattoo, an actual war would involve people shooting at each other, sowe really ought to call it something else. In this toxic political environment, and on a topic that brings up so many emotions on both sides, I often wonder if it’s even possible to have a civil and intelligent public discourse.
I sure hope so, because the future of coal communities like the one where I grew up depends on finding solutions. That means we’ve got to get past our anger over the situation (and at each other) and learn how to work together.
Up next in blog series, the next stage of grief: bargaining.