Questions and Answers: Why won't liberals allow Trump to bring back coal mining jobs?


To be honest, the premise of the question is not only flawed in its logic, but it reflects both ignorance (of facts) and a strong bias (of political mindset).
For starters, the “left” (i.e. Democrats, liberals, or whatever convenient “demon of the day” may be for Trump supporters) is not responsible for the decline in the coal mining industry. There are various factors involved here, but essentially, it is not the “left’s” fault.
Coal mining, by its definition, involves the extraction of fossil fuels from the ground. Fossil fuels - including petroleum and natural gas - are plentiful but not infinite. So once coal miners have extracted x amount of coal from the ground at a specific mine until the coal is exhausted, that’s it…there’s no more coal to be had there.
Also, coal mining creates its own subset of negative side effects, such as pollution of nearby rivers and deadly diseases that kill miners. Ever heard of “black lung disease”? It’s a deadly condition caused by the inhalation of coal dust into the respiratory system.
In addition, miners can die from mesothelioma, a deadly and incurable disease caused by asbestos fibers. If a coal deposit happens to be adjacent to an asbestos lode, the miners could inadvertently breathe in those deadly mineral fibers while extracting the coal. So, there’s that.
You can also blame the loss of mining jobs to the continuing and irreversible trend of automation. As coal deposits near the Earth’s surface become exhausted, you have to dig deeper in order to get the coal that remains in the mines. Most of the big coal extracting companies have turned to automated methods that are cheaper to use than human labor and spare miners from horrible deaths if a mine collapses or if coal dust suddenly explodes.
Trump can promise to bring back all those lost mining jobs as much as he wants, but he won’t…because he can’t.

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