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10 www.coalage.com May 2017 news continued d a t e l i n e w a s h i n g t o n The President Donald Trump Administration is a peace-loving group of men and women as far as coal is concerned. First, the president himself, then his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administra- tor, and finally Vice President Mike Pence all pro- claimed the end to our government's "war on coal." The administration, with bipartisan support from Congress, has done much to halt Washington's reg- ulatory barrage on coal production and use. Spiking the cannons that former President Barack Obama relentlessly fired from his regulatory agencies has likely spared the coal industry from a steeper, perhaps irreversible decline. Trump's regulators have not only stopped waring on coal, they've un- abashedly begun to represent the value we add to the country. The De- partment of Energy's (DOE) website now features infographics that spell out coal's economic contributions. The EPA's website pictures actual coal miners — not as war criminals but as proud American workers. Predictably, this dramatic change doesn't please the losers in last year's election. A former EPA official, distraught over the EPA's new Back to Basics mission, complained to The New York Times that the agency's website now "looks like the National Mining Association's." We'll take that as a compliment. The Sierra Club whined about the DOE's positive depiction of coal — how dare the Office of Fossil Energy say anything positive about a major energy source! Some members of Congress are so angry about the use of the Con- gressional Review Act (CRA) to reset the regulatory agenda that they've offered legislation to gut the CRA and deprive themselves of this option. "Stop us before we again defend our constituents from regulatory over- reach!" Carpet bombing your enemy is of course only one way to wage war. A subtler way is to arm your allies against him. That's in effect what Washington has been doing by heavily subsidizing the renewable fuels industry. As Dynergy's CEO put it at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commis- sion (FERC) conference last month, "subsidies are the new 'war on coal.'" Bad enough for coal that natural gas hovers around the displace- ment price of between $3 to $3.50 per million BTU. But when the growth of wind and solar is juiced by tax credits that prompt affluent consumers to install solar panels and renewable portfolio standards that mandate market share, the attacks on coal have not ended. They've just become less overt. The largest subsidies — more than $6 billion annually — help wind developers deliver power to where the wind doesn't blow. That's a lot of cash for only 5,140 jobs needed to keep the blades spinning. So, keep this in mind when you read about the growth in wind (still only 5.6% of generation) and solar power (0.1%): renewable fuels subsi- dies are the functional equivalent of steroids for athletes. It's not growth in green power that's the problem; we don't oppose fuel diversity or market competition. It's how and for whom renewables are growing. Massive government intervention mocks the claim by environ- mental nongovernmental organizations (NGO) that this is organic growth arising from a nation clamoring for clean energy. When a friendly govern- ment lowers your operating costs with tax breaks, as it simultaneously raises your competitors' costs with regulations — all the while shielding your customers with "net metering" from paying for the grid they use — it's fake news to announce this growth as real, much less revolutionary. It's easy to get pricing power if you have enough political power. What about job creation? We hear a lot about this from the wind indus- try. But measured by the jobs required to generate electrons, renewable subsidies are very inefficient. According to the Energy Information Adminis- tration (EIA), wind creates 2,200 jobs per MWh; solar, 98 jobs; coal, 7,800. Another problem from this subsidized growth in renewables should concern social justice advocates. From turbines to solar panels, the green subsidy boom is for the yoga mat set. Nothing wrong with yoga. But the bottom 50% of Americans with only 1% of the nation's wealth have little or no taxable income to write off. Those who do are often renters with no incentive to upgrade their energy source. And the 50% of Americans who now describe themselves as "lower class" have more basic needs than to be "green." Whoever said "politics is war by other means" could have been in the coal business. Luke Popovich is a spokesperson for the National Mining Association, the industry's trade group based in Washington, D.C. Ending The 'War on Coal' by luke popovich "Trump's regulators have not only stopped waring on coal, they've un- abashedly begun to represent the value we add to the country."