To the Editor,
How much contempt does our President have for American workers? He advocates replacing green infrastructure and high paying renewable energy jobs with coal mining, one of the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the world. How does he justify it? By asserting that coal miners are the “little people” he thinks them to be:
“They want to mine coal. That’s what they love to do.” What is it about coal mining that they love? Black lung? Roof collapses? Gas explosions? The highest death rate in the entire energy sector?
Here’s how coal compares to other energy sources in terms of deaths per terawatt-hour (TWh) of electricity produced – a cradle-to-grave figure that includes both workers and the public:
Energy Source Deaths per TWh
Coal 24.6
Oil 18.4
Natural Gas 2.8
Biomass 4.6
Hydropower 0.02
Nuclear 0.07
Wind 0.04
Solar 0.02
(Source: Our World in Data)
If the President respected coal miners and wanted to better their lives, he would support the creation of clean energy firms in their locales, and encourage a transition to their safer and higher paying jobs.
Joel Lidstrom
Caledonia, Minn.
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