‘Mother Nature is not waiting on our political calendar, and neither can we…’
(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) While U.S. progressives aim for the permanent destruction of the American coal industry, the world’s highest population countries are ramping up an unprecedented coal boom.
India and China, comprising roughly 35 percent of the world’s population, are building coal-fired power plants at a record pace and investing in coal energy production for decades of future low-cost, high-yield gains.
In other words, coal energy isn’t going anywhere.
But the effect of radical climate-change proposals like the Green New Deal, or Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion plan to eliminate coal energy and greatly reduce U.S. reliance on fossil fuels in favor of unproven renewable energies, will be the continued hollowing of blue-collar rust-best economies with no impact on global coal emissions.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced last week that he is shedding anti-coal policies of past governments and unleashing the subcontinent’s vast coal resources. India has the world’s fourth-largest coal reserves and a population of 1.35 billion people.
“Today, we are not just launching the auction of commercial coal mining but are also pulling out the coal sector out of years in lockdown,” Modi said on Thursday.
His reasoning mirrors the position of many pre-climate-change U.S. Democrats. According to international news reports, the Modi administration sees coal development as essential to creating widespread employment opportunities in rural areas, overall economic prosperity and less reliance on foreign energy sources, which is a national security issue.
India’s longtime neighboring enemy, Pakistan, has also vowed to boost coal energy development. The Pakistani government recently said it would ramp-up coal production to account for 30 percent of the nation’s energy portfolio by 2030.
Modi scoffed when asked about the threat of climate-damaging coal emissions and said that coal energy and India’s environmental commitments are not at odds with each other.
China, population 1.4 billion, is planning a new wave of coal power plants after two decades of building its coal-based energy infrastructure. China’s plans include 300 new plants in other countries spanning three continents.
According to Bloomberg News, China mines and burns about half the world’s coal and views it as “an important source of cheap power and mass employment.”
Ironically, Michael Bloomberg, a multi-billionaire financial services mogul and owner of Bloomberg News, pledged $500 million of his personal fortune last year to eliminate U.S. coal—and by extension, cheap consumer energy and coal industry jobs.
“We’re in a race against time with climate change, and yet there is virtually no hope of bold federal action on this issue for at least another two years,” he told The New York Times. “Mother Nature is not waiting on our political calendar, and neither can we.”
But as evidenced by India’s and China’s vast new coal commitments, Bloomberg’s elitist efforts to destroy one of the biggest industries in Appalachia and some Western states will yield no net gains regarding greenhouse emissions.
Former President Barack Obama famously waged a “War on Coal,” and in 2016 Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton said she would “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” Clinton later said that admitting her intentions was her biggest campaign regret.
Presumptive 2020 Democrat nominee Joe Biden is now carrying the anti-coal mantle, even claiming that coal workers should learn to code.
“Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for God’s sake!” he said on the primary campaign trail.