The EPA Doesn't Kill Coal Jobs. Better Mining Does
This article is for subscribers only.
In the two weeks since President Obama proposed new rules to regulate power-plant carbon emissions, legislators from from coal states have rallied around a cry to save jobs. But job-killing environmental regulation historically doesn't kill as many jobs as mechanization and low natural gas prices.
The U.S. has lost more coal jobs since 1978 than it has today, and climate policy isn't the reason. There wasn't any. Coal companies are in the business of producing coal, not jobs. Between 1978, when the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration started collecting data, and 2013, the U.S. shed more than 132,000 coal jobs, or nearly 52 percent of its workforce, according to MSHA data.