The War on Beautiful, Clean Coal

The War on Beautiful, Clean Coal

by C.A. Matthews

"The war on beautiful, clean coal is over!" triumphantly declared  President Donald Duck Trump during his State of the Union address. Many scratched their heads in wonder upon hearing that statement. "When was there ever a war on coal?" Americans asked each other. "How on earth did we miss something as big as a military conflict against a fossil fuel?"

"Don't you mean there's been a war against the coal miners?" some remarked as over 78,000 coal miners have died from Black Lung disease since 1968.  "Haven't communities been attacked by water, land and air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels? Aren't deaths and injuries caused by asthma and heart disease caused by coal burning on the rise? How can this be construed as a war on coal? How can anyone even think that coal is clean in the first place?" 

Ah, but these are all "fake news" stories according to Mr. Trump. No one has ever died or been injured by beautiful, clean coal (which bathes daily) says the fossil fuel execs who now advise the tiny-handed man behind the big desk in the Oval Office. There are literally dozens of jobs to be created by extracting what remains of coal from deep in the ground. How can there be more people working for Arby's than for coal mining concerns as many left-leaning publications cite?  No one needs to eat food nearly as often as they need to burn coal, do they? (It's as absurd as saying coal miners can be retrained to work in the green energy industry!)

Beautiful, clean coal has had its shining reputation sullied by such books as Death in the Air. It tells the story  of the 12,000 persons who died (by coincidence) during a huge smog event in London in 1952 that was at least partially blamed on coal burning power plants. After those deaths during the horrific "pea souper" (which had nothing to do with burning coal, we swear!),  laws were passed to make the burning of coal cleaner than ever (fingers crossed). 

You'd think that 66 years later, coal burning has to be the cleanest thing on the planet, much cleaner than those dirty solar panels or ugly wind turbines. Besides, we can't risk soaking up all the sun's rays or the wind. How will we get a tan or enjoy a nice summer's breeze if solar panels and wind turbines hog all the sunlight and breeze, right?

Of course, a handful of individuals will make quite a bit of money from Trump's recent decision to slap a 30% tariff on foreign made solar panels. It's not like big GOP supporters like the Koch Brothers became billionaires from their dealings in the fossil fuel industry and denying climate change. (Oh...so they did.) Of course, some in the administration are invested in putting coal before so-called "clean green energy" sources in order to make even more money, but that doesn't take away from the inherent cleanness of coal, now does it?

The "experts" do tend to yammer on about the negatives of coal burning plants, but when did scientists ever know what was good for Americans, right?  (You wouldn't go to a person who spent a good amount of time in an elitist higher institute of education to diagnose your illness or perform surgery on you, would you? I thought not.)  Scientists actually believe in fairy tales such as "climate change" and "global warming," so their credibility rating is fairly strained as it is. Get a load of this nonsense from this U.S. News article from a couple of years ago:

"If we want to reduce air pollution, the source we want to focus on eliminating is in coal burning," says George Thurston, a professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine and one of the report's authors. "The message is that the source that is the biggest problem for climate change is also the biggest air pollution problem for health.

With adversaries like these pseudo-scientific-climate-whiners frightening the public all the time, no wonder Americans didn't realize there was an actual war going on against beautiful, clean coal. (There are only so many hours in the day in which to close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears and hum loudly to block out all that fake science news.)

Our fearless orange leader in the White House has defeated the naysayers with a mighty stroke of his pen and  taken the lead on making coal our number one energy source above the burgeoning renewable energy market. (Coal-powered plants will be everywhere!) It's him we'll have to thank come next year this time when you (or a loved one) are sitting in an emergency room with an oxygen mask strapped to your face and a crash cart nearby.

Until then, here's some "fake news" articles and videos you might find entertaining and informative:

Clean coal memes from: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2015/jul/10/fossil-fuel-memes-coal-mining-environment-pollution 

What Trump's Tax on Solar Power Means:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/trumps-tax-on-solar-power-heres-what-you-need-to-know-w515823 

White House to Ask for 72 Percent Cut in Renewable Energy Programs:
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/48217-white-house-to-ask-for-72-percent-cut-in-renewable-energy-programs-report 

The entire coal industry employs fewer people than Arby's:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-coal-industry-workers-20170331-story.html 

US coal miners are offered free training to work in the wind turbine industry:
https://qz.com/990192/a-chinese-company-wants-to-retrain-wyoming-coal-miners-to-become-wind-farmers/

Coal burning is the most toxic pollution for your heart:
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/12/02/coal-burning-is-most-toxic-pollution-for-your-heart

Black Lung Incurable and Fatal Stalks Coal Miners Anew:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/24/opinion/sunday/black-lung-incurable-and-fatal-stalks-coal-miners-anew.html 

Nebraska GOP lawmakers trying to restrict wind power development by labeling it "not renewable."
https://www.nationofchange.org/2018/02/06/republicans-nebraska-trying-restrict-wind-power-development-labeling-not-renewable/

A review of Death in the Air: http://nstbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/02/death-in-air.html

The Fossil Free Fast Livestream (event starts at approx. 58:39): https://youtu.be/YcbiXp_HGDk
These guys really know how to spin the story about clean coal... 

  https://youtu.be/wgaXcYHuP5Q

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February is Black History Month and many organizations are hosting events to celebrate African-Americans' contributions throughout history--and today. Watch this panel discussion held at University Church in Toledo, Ohio. These ladies gave some great insights.

 
https://youtu.be/qbmjGKPfPBk 

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More "wars"  worth fighting for...

Why do we deserve dignity? It's simple.   Make & share YOUR sign now. We will carry your message to Memphis on Feb 12.

BIG news – on February 12, we're protesting across the country to call out the billionaires, corporations, and politicians working so hard to hold us back.

The day marks fifty years since black sanitation workers in Memphis kicked off a historic strike to demand higher pay and union rights.

Martin Luther King Jr. marched with them. Now, we carry on the same fight.

Add your voice.

Make a sign right now with our simple tool and we will carry it along the historic march route in Memphis on February 12.

The sanitation workers and Dr. King demanded fair pay for hard work. They demanded union rights.

They said, simply: "I AM A MAN."

We say the same. We need fair pay of $15 an hour. We need strong union rights.

And we deserve this for no other reason than that we are men, we are women, we are people – we work, and sweat, and breathe just like the billionaires and corporate politicians who hold us back.

Why do you #FightFor15? Let us know. Make a sign using our simple tool and we will carry it with us to Memphis.

February 12 is just the beginning. This spring, we will join with tens of thousands in the Poor People's Campaign to launch six weeks of protests and direct action all across the nation.

Just like the sanitation workers in Memphis 50 years ago, we will make our voices heard.

Make and share your sign now – and we will let you know soon more ways you can join the fight.

Thanks,

Latierika Blair
McDonald's Worker
Memphis, TN
Fight for $15

*** From Care 2 Petitions: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has a personal fortune of more than $105 billion and has been heralded as "the richest man in the world."  Yet, his company's employees are struggling to pay for their most basic needs. Recent reports found that workers in Ohio have had been forced to resort to food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) just to keep food on their tables. This isn't unique to Ohio. Underpaid employees can be found in Amazon facilities from coast to coast. That makes it even more appalling to learn that Amazon employees can't even use these benefits at the newly launched Amazon grocery store, Amazon Go.  Take action today and sign the petition demanding that Amazon Go accept SNAP.  Amazon (and its CEO in particular) has made billions off of the backs of their underpaid employees. The least they could do is allow them to shop in their stores.  Sign the petition today and demand Amazon GO accept SNAP.  Thank you, Corey Hill The Care2 Petitions Team

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From Friends of the Earth:

Donald Trump and his administration could soon allow pipelines to cross our National Parks.

This is just one piece of Trump’s disastrous infrastructure plan. Last week, leaked documents showed that the plan will allow Trump and his corporate cronies to sidestep environmental protections, public health, and worker safety. Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry could reap huge benefits.

This plan still has to go through Congress. So we need your help to push your Senators to stop it!

Tell your Senators: Stop Trump from allowing pipelines to cross our National Parks!

Trump wants to give Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke unilateral authority to allow pipelines to cross our parks. That’s the same Ryan Zinke who gutted Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. He’s all too eager to hand over our wild places to his buddies in the fossil fuel industry.

At the same time, Trump’s plan would allow many infrastructure projects to sidestep key analyses of their adverse health and environmental impacts. It would allow his administration to sell off public lands to oil and coal interests. And it would eliminate requirements that projects comply with the Clean Air Act.

The only winners in Trump’s infrastructure proposal are corporate polluters and special interests. So we need to send Congress a strong message that any infrastructure bill should prioritize people and the environment over corporate profits.

Tell your Senators: Stop Trump’s destructive infrastructure scam!

Trump’s vision for our environment is clear. He thinks our public lands are first and foremost meant to be exploited for the benefit of Big Oil and other extractive industries. And he thinks clean air and clean water can be sacrificed to increase those industries’ profits.

But the American people don’t want our environment handed over to polluters. Together, we can pressure Congress to stop these attacks on our wild places. Will you join us?

Tell your Senators to stop Trump’s infrastructure scam and protect our wild places!

Standing with you,
Nicole Ghio,
Senior fossil fuels program manager,
Friends of the Earth 

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We've come a long way since the Unity Reform Commission was unanimously adopted by 4,500 Democratic convention delegates in Philadelphia.

Recently, DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee took up the URC's final recommendations, and Chairman Tom Perez said publicly that he wants them passed in full. Our mandates are not aspirations. They have already been debated and negotiated. The DNC should adopt and implement these reforms.

We're working with progressive partners across the country to push these changes over the finish line. Join us in taking the first step by signing the petition to your state's DNC members today and tell them to support the URC recommendations.

Here are the major URC mandates:

• Sixty percent reduction in unpledged delegates—from 715 to 300.
• Reform caucuses to include same-day registration, same-day party switching, and voting by mail; push for state law reform for same-day registration, party switching and voting by mail in primary states.
• Party financial transparency and eliminating conflicts of interests.

Most of these actions require state party reform, a critical step to opening the Democratic Party to the grassroots. Our reforms are meant to deconstruct those obstacles and promote grassroots participation in our democracy.

Sign the petition to DNC members in your state and tell them to support all of the URC recommendations.

Our team spent nine months negotiation these reforms which required compromise from all sides. It wasn't always easy and, in the end, we may not have gotten everything we wanted. But we believe that these are important reforms that should be implemented to begin the long work to rebuild our party. It's time to implement these changes so that we can have real unity and reform.

In solidarity,

Larry Cohen
Lucy Flores
Gus Newport
Jane Kleeb
Nomiki Konst
Nina Turner
Jeff Weaver
Jim Zogby

SIGN THE PETITION »