Coal has been displaced by cheap and plentiful natural gas and the rapid growth of wind and solar energy — forces that President Trump will struggle to do away with.
It was invested in coal. Then there were technical improvements which let mine owners replace people with equipment. So coal mining is now a fairly minor source of employment.
Somewhat related: I recently took a tour through the now-defunct local coal plant. Before 1990, there were 4 teams of 20 people each running this single coal plant.
Right now, just 4×5 people run power generation for the entire city (mostly fossil gas, but also some solar, wind and a large battery), although actually the plants are designed to work safely for 72h without manual intervention.
You absolutely shouldn’t do this, but one Japanese operator was caught running a nuclear plant where the only people on the night shift were cleaners, who hadn’t even been told what their radiation badges were. They got a minor fine.
It was invested in coal. Then there were technical improvements which let mine owners replace people with equipment. So coal mining is now a fairly minor source of employment.
Somewhat related: I recently took a tour through the now-defunct local coal plant. Before 1990, there were 4 teams of 20 people each running this single coal plant.
Right now, just 4×5 people run power generation for the entire city (mostly fossil gas, but also some solar, wind and a large battery), although actually the plants are designed to work safely for 72h without manual intervention.
You absolutely shouldn’t do this, but one Japanese operator was caught running a nuclear plant where the only people on the night shift were cleaners, who hadn’t even been told what their radiation badges were. They got a minor fine.