Victory on Horizon for US Coal? How Trump Plans to Save 130,000 Jobs

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump initiated a review Tuesday of former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, which restricts greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants.

The move by the Trump administration is aimed at rolling back Obama's efforts to curb global warming.

A War on Coal?

It was controversial from the start. Before the Supreme Court blocked it last winter, Obama called his Clean Power Plan necessary to protect the environment.

Critics, like Luke Popovich of the National Mining Association, called it a war on coal.

"When the government decides to set standards that are designed to keep your industry out of the marketplace, that means without the power plants you don't need the mines, without the mines you don't need the miners, without the miners the communities that are supported by these miners, payroll - they blow away," he told CBN News.

With the swipe of his pen, Popovich estimates President Trump will save about 130,000 jobs that would have been lost to the Clean Power Plan.

Meanwhile, some states were looking at the dilemma of cutting their carbon dioxide emissions by nearly half in the next 13 years.

In a major reversal of the Obama administration, the Trump's proposed budget cuts the Environmental Protection Agency by more than 30 percent.

And his budget director, Mick Mulvaney, says the Trump administration considers it a waste to spend tax dollars on climate change.

Why Killing US Coal Is a Bad Idea

The U.S. has the largest coal reserves in the world, which translates into affordable electricity. Popovich warns that without an innovative American coal industry, less industrialized nations will suffer.

"Without a coal industry, if we're going to keep all the coal in the ground as President Obama wanted to do, there will be no incentive for any clean coal technologies," he explained.

"And that means the rest of the world that's using more coal, like India and China, will not have the benefit of those technologies. They'll simply be burning the coal without that advantage," Popovich said.

He hopes the president continues to restore what he calls "commonsense" to the regulatory process.