In order to clean up our air and water and try to slow down the rapid warming of our planet, cleaner energy must become the dominant source of power. Trump and conservatives have pushed a mythology of working class nobility surrounding coal production, all in the service of a fossil fuel industry that wants to squeeze the last drop of any and everything dry.
One of the fossil fuel lobby’s big goals is to hamstring any and all subsidies being offered to the wind and solar industries. However, it’s hard to fight time and necessity and, according to a new study released by Energy Innovation Policy and Technology, even the Republican Party’s inaction on climate change has not stemmed the country’s move away from coal. According to the study:
Our research finds that in 2018, 211 gigawatts (GW) of existing (end of 2017) U.S. coal capacity, or 74 percent of the national fleet, was at risk from local wind or solar that could provide the same amount of electricity more cheaply. By 2025, at-risk coal increases to 246 GW – nearly the entire U.S. fleet.
Mike O’Boyle, a co-author of the study, tells The Guardian that “Even without major policy shift we will continue to see coal retire pretty rapidly.” He also tells the outlet that we could clearly be moving away from fossil fuel much faster, saying, “The fact that so much coal could be retired right now shows we are off the pace.” Calling the change from coal to renewable a “cross-over” point, the authors explain what has been known around these here parts for some time: coal isn’t cost effective.
The costs are too high, and with new environmental safety regulations in place—something that Trump’s administration has been trying to change with an almost Edward Gorey-like humor—the costs have become economically pointless. Coal’s waning economic viability is the reason that conservatives like Trump are handing out golden parachutes to soften the fall.
