What Congress and the president can do to help coal communities

During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump did a lot of talking about coal communities. Trump repeatedly visited towns that were once the backbone of America’s energy industry and promised them that he would bring back thousands of jobs. He promised to revitalize coal while painting a vision for voters of an American coal industry that would once again thrive.

This vision is impossible for Donald Trump to deliver and his promises impossible to keep– as even his own supporters will tell you. In response to Mr. Trumps comments, Energy CEO Bob Murray told reporters “I’ve asked President-elect Trump to temper his comments about bringing coal miners back and bringing coal back. It will not happen.”  Natural gas and renewable energy are outcompeting coal—as cheaper, cleaner alternatives.

{mosads}Flipping an imaginary switch to revive the American coal industry is simply not possible. The decline of American coal is more about the global energy markets than policies that a president can change. As these markets have shifted away from American coal, our communities and coal workers have been left behind by policies that cater to companies that are going bankrupt at an alarming rate. Some coal companies have let go up to 30% of their workers. Instead of supporting these people, our tax dollars are being used to prop up corporations that have failed.

In the Western U.S., we have a unique opportunity to support our coal economy through these changes.  As the demand for coal declines, implementing long-overdue updates to the way that we lease coal on public lands would help us to provide coal communities and abandoned workers with the resources they need to diversify their economies. Simple changes would help communities be less vulnerable to impacts of shifting markets.  

When coal companies fail, they tend to simply abandon the communities they operated in. They do not honor commitments to their workers, often they do not clean up the lands they have mined and they leave these communities worse off than when they arrived. By simply charging a fair market rate for our publicly owned coal, we can help ease the transition away from coal for these Western communities.

In addition to the abandoned workers, the landscape is also often left in a devastated state by failing coal companies. Our federal coal program is outdated and riddled with loopholes – one of which allows coal companies to set aside no real money for restoring and cleaning up lands and waters. This means that as these companies go bankrupt, they are leaving Western communities and the American taxpayer to foot the bill for cleaning up their mess.    

Donald Trump may not be able to deliver the thousands of coal jobs he promised on the campaign trail, but there are things he can do now to help coal communities. By ensuring that American taxpayers and states are getting a fair price for their coal, Donald Trump could create a very meaningful positive change for Western communities. Updating the public lands coal program would generate resources that could help these communities make smart investments in education, broadband and other community needs, and the other industries that can help secure their economic future. Donald Trump could ensure that communities have the funds they need for mine cleanup by obligating the coal industry to pay upfront for restoring the lands – in contrast to the way it has been done in some states where companies have left local communities with the clean-up bill for billions. 

Caring for the people in our communities and providing the clean air and water we all enjoy should not be partisan issues. Ensuring that American taxpayers receive a fair return for the use of our natural resources on public lands should be the goal of every president. If Donald Trump truly cares about the lives of the people in coal communities, he must work with Congress and act to protect them and ensure that our nation’s natural resources are not being exploited for pennies on the dollar. 

Dan Smitherman is the Wyoming representative for the Wilderness Society. He is a retired Marine Corps Officer and former outfitter and wilderness guide in the Wyoming Range, Bridger, Teton and Gros Ventre Wilderness areas

The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.