Current Events > Awaiting Trump's coal comeback, miners reject retraining

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trump-effect-coal-retraining-insight/awaiting-trumps-coal-comeback-miners-reject-retraining-idUSKBN1D14G0

When Mike Sylvester entered a career training center earlier this year in southwestern Pennsylvania, he found more than one hundred federally funded courses covering everything from computer programming to nursing.

He settled instead on something familiar: a coal mining course.

I think there is a coal comeback, said the 33-year-old son of a miner.

Despite broad consensus about coals bleak future, a years-long effort to diversify the economy of this hard-hit region away from mining is stumbling, with Obama-era jobs retraining classes undersubscribed and future programs at risk under President Donald Trumps proposed 2018 budget.

Trump has promised to revive coal by rolling back environmental regulations and moved to repeal Obama-era curbs on carbon emissions from power plants.

I have a lot of faith in President Trump, Sylvester said.

But hundreds of coal-fired plants have closed in recent years, and cheap natural gas continues to erode domestic demand. The Appalachian region has lost about 33,500 mining jobs since 2011, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Although there have been small gains in coal output and hiring this year, driven by foreign demand, production levels remain near lows hit in 1978.

A White House official did not respond to requests for comment on coal policy and retraining for coal workers.

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The Pennsylvania Department of Labor has received about $2 million since 2015 from the federal POWER program, an initiative of former President Barack Obama to help retrain workers in coal-dependent areas. But the state is having trouble putting even that modest amount of money to good use.

In Greene and Washington counties, 120 people have signed up for jobs retraining outside the mines, far short of the target of 700, said Ami Gatts, director of the Washington-Greene County Job Training Agency. In Westmoreland and Fayette counties, participation in federal job retraining programs has been about 15 percent of capacity, officials said.

I cant even get them to show up for free food I set up in the office, said Dave Serock, an ex-miner who recruits in Fayette County for Southwest Training Services.

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For Sean Moodie and his brother Steve spent the last two years working in the natural gas industry, but see coal as a good bet in the current political climate.

I am optimistic that you can make a good career out of coal for the next 50 years, said Sean Moodie.

Sigh....
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They dug their own grave by picking trump and worshipping coal
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They're gonna be real disappointed
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No one has accused Trump supporters of being realistic...

Despite the multi billion dollar media machine dedicated to brainwashing them into this idiocy I still have a hard time feeling bad for Trump voters...
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the GOP conning uneducated people yet again, what a surprise
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Spooking posted...

Honest question: do those people live in a bubble? How can you NOT see the direction the world is going. They have the Internet out there, don't they? One person I can understand, but entire communities?

Because

metralo posted...

the GOP conning uneducated people yet again, what a surprise

I feel kinda bad for them, but at the same time it's their fault
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Godspeed to him lol
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Trump: "I rolled back Obama war on coal regulations! Trickle down any minute now!"
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I swear its like I could go talk to a coal miner and they would say Black lung is fake newz!

I think its pretty well established and they should have that, plus more, motivation to leave the field, but hey they can waste their life with coal if they want. I give no fucks at this point; its pretty clear that some of them will never open their eyes to new possibilities.
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Fuck it, they voted for this.
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