FRANKFORT —
FRANKFORT — It was a bad week for coal and nearly 600 coal miners in eastern Kentucky.
Arch Coal announced it is laying off miners and idling mines because of “the unprecedented downturn in coal-based electricity.”
Demand for coal to fuel coal-fired utility plants have been dropping steadily and coal inventories are high after a mild winter and falling natural gas prices.
The bad news didn’t take Kentucky lawmakers by surprise, especially those who represent districts in the coal fields.
Rep. Fitz Steele, D-Hazard, and Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, said they expect more bad news as other coal operations scale back and reduce work forces this year.
Only two weeks ago, John S. Lyons, the director for Air Quality for the state Department for Environmental Protection, told the Interim Joint Committee on Natural Resources that new air quality regulations “kind of rule out coal-fired plants.”
Lyons said the only way utilities can meet newly proposed standards is to convert to natural gas, which is cleaner and cheaper.
The layoffs create serious hardship for miners, their families and other businesses that depend on the coal industry and its high wages in an area of high levels of poverty and unemployment. Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett and House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said the impact of the layoffs reach far beyond those employed in the coal industry.
Gov. Steve Beshear announced the Cabinet for Education and Workforce Development will assist laid off miners in searching for new jobs.
Political leaders, most of them Republican but also Democrats like Beshear, blamed the policies of President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky; U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Fifth District; and state House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown; blamed “Obama’s war on coal.”
Blaming Obama isn’t politically risky in a state where he is held in such low regard anyway and can’t win in November. Republicans know that and hope Obama’s name on this fall’s ballot will undermine support for their Democratic opponents. Stumbo, too, said Kentucky is under attack in a “war on coal.”
But coal won’t soon go away. It will continue to be part of our energy portfolio but it is increasingly under assault as environmentalists, health advocates and market conditions pressure utilities to find cleaner ways to generate power.
That means tough decisions for Kentucky, which gets about 90 percent of its electricity from coal-fired plants and depends heavily on the industry for jobs in the eastern and western parts of the state.
Policymakers will justifiably continue to look for ways to boost coal production and employment while calling for research into “clean coal technology.”
But at the same time, they must also look to the future and prepare for what looks like an inevitable decline in this country’s dependence on coal, which exacts greater costs than just its production and purchase prices.
Even if a majority of people and politicians in Kentucky refuse to acknowledge the science that says coal’s extraction and burning damage the environment and our health.
As Kentucky’s best-known author Wendell Berry observes, the health of the land in the end is inseparable from the health of the people living on it: “To cherish what remains of the earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.”
Kentucky has lived through this sort of thing before. Our politicians fought the war on tobacco long after the war was lost. Because we didn’t prepare for the inevitable, our farmers, our health and our state revenues paid a high price. We shouldn’t repeat that mistake with coal.
Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.
Viewpoints
Related Photos
-
Ronnie Ellis
‘War on coal’ won’t go away
- Viewpoints
-
-
Graduation Day
It is that time of year again.
Some years ago, I was invited to speak at the graduation ceremonies of a liberal arts college. Later, many in the audience told me they expected a very political speech. Some of them were relieved; others were disappointed. I don't do politics at graduation.
Graduation is about life.
My high school graduation was OK. I gave a speech. My family was there, intact, probably as happy as they ever were (But did I know?). We went out for Chinese food afterward. -
Coal problem worth tackling in Washington and Frankfort
Despite hysterical cries from radical environmentalists, neither Sen. Rand Paul’s Defense of Environment and Property Act nor Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Coal Jobs Protection Act would allow activities that bring harm to Kentucky’s wildlife or waterways for the sake of propping up the coal industry.
-
Peter Perlman — Life lessons from a lawyer’s lawyer
One of the great moments of my life was sitting next to legendary Louisville attorney Frank Haddad at a luncheon when he learned he had received the first Peter Perlman Outstanding Trial Lawyer award from the Kentucky Academy of Trial Lawyers.
As they started his bio, the surprised Frank started crying like a baby. A sudden heart attack took him less than a year later. Winning the Perlman award was the crowning achievement of his career. -
Credit score insanity
Frequently, people stop me and ask me personal finance questions.
The most common is how to improve their credit history score.
If you need to improve your credit score, it means you have lousy credit. Before fixing the score, people need to ask how their credit got so bad to begin with. -
‘Tells’ about who will blow their money
Kentucky Derby week is one where gambling takes a forefront in my life. Along with the non-stop activities in my home state, I am speaking at a dinner for the Society of Settlement Professionals in Las Vegas and a film crew from Italy is flying in from Rome to interview me for a documentary about lottery winners.
-
Viewpoints change when critics gain power
Scandals like those roiling Washington often look more or less nefarious as time and facts unfold. After all, what at first looked like a third-rate burglary turned into Watergate.
I doubt the scandals around Benghazi, the IRS and subpoenas of Associated Press phone records reach Watergate status — but we must await more information and time to know. -
Trouble’s last ride
When announcing my retirement, I made reference to letting “Trouble” having one last ride.
-
Going from school to work requires preparation, faith
(Editor’s Note: After graduating from EKU on Saturday, Seth Littrell came to work Monday at the Richmond Register as a reporter/photographer.)
This past Saturday weekend I graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with my bachelor’s in journalism.
It was the single goal I had been working toward for the past four years, and as I walked across that stage I realized I was the first person in my family to do so. -
Report on former EKU Center for the Arts director called 'biased, unfair'
I am writing in response to the Richmond Register’s May 3, 2013, article concerning the former Executive Director of the EKU Center for the Arts. The article I reference appeared on the front page of your newspaper with the headline “Sexual harassment, other offenses alleged in Hoskin’s records in 740 pages of documents.”
-
Recognizing those who provide care
How fitting it is that the beginning of National Nursing Home Week is Mother’s Day, May 12.
- More Viewpoints Headlines
-
Mayor: Person Killed in San Antonio Flooding
Raw: Apple 1 Computer Sells for More Than $650k
Hagel Urges Cadets to End Scourge of Sex Assault
Raw: Gay Rights Activists March in Ukraine
Bus Fire Kills 16 Children, Teacher in Pakistan
Raw: Pakistan Election Results Protested
Raw: Trucker Bumps I-5 Bridge Before Collapse
Raw: Texas Deputy Shot by Colo. Suspect Honored
Major Detours Following Wash. Bridge Collapse
American Held in Grisly Czech Murders
Raw: Jersey Shore Reopens for Summer
UK-bound Pakistan Plane Diverted, 2 Men Arrested
Officials: Tsarnaev Friend Linked to Slaying
Obama:Sexual Assault Threatens Trust in Military
Bridge Collapse Survivor: 'Rough Day'
Jersey Shore Open for Business
Raw: Memorial Day Flags Placed at Arlington
New Wheelchair Lift Promises More Access
First Person: Mom Discusses Famous Tornado Photo
Raw Video: Washington State Bridge Collapse
