No matter how much the left has come to believe in its own
delusions, for any reasonable observer, it's shockingly clear that the Obama
years have left a lasting toll on America. If more proof were
needed, look no farther than America's energy system. After an eight-year
environmental crusade, the Trump administration was recently forced to step in
and underwrite the
country's ailing coal and nuclear plants in a last-minute bid to avoid
imperiling the reliability of the nation's power grid.
Despite
renewed political will to shore up America's energy dominance, hard-line
liberal and environmentalist lobbies are not letting go of the renewable
dream. Worse still, not only is the determination of the left in
sidelining American coal jeopardizing American jobs, but its militant
shortsightedness comes at a time when the world's appetite for coal is rising.
The
U.S. Department of Energy didn't mince words last year when it released
a report recommending that power markets revise how they value coal
and nuclear power. After years of inadequate review, it was finally
revealed that Obama-era federal tax credits for wind and solar, as well as
state renewable portfolio standards (RPS), were eating away at "baseload
profits." Under Obama-era regulations, this forced federal
agencies to expedite ever more permits for renewables in an attempt to obscure
the symptoms without tackling the underlying structural
problems. Energy secretary Rick Perry said it the clearest: the
nation's power grid simply cannot
afford more coal-fired power plants closing down – unless, of course,
a grid collapse is an acceptable option for the world's leading economy.
Steps
have been taken since to reinvigorate the domestic coal industry, especially
thanks to Trump's light-touch regulations. In his first year,
Trump declared the
American departure from the Paris Agreement, repealed the Clean
Power Plan for better support of American power plants, reversed
a ban on new coal leasing on federal lands, wrangled
runaway renewable research funding and held firm his stance as a
public advocate of resource exports. National coal production
has increased
by six percent and coal exports by a whopping 60 percent.
Indeed,
despite what some may say, growing global demand for coal shows that anti-coal
activists are in the wrong. Thanks to foreign demand – especially
demand for thermal coal used in power plants and metallurgical coal – the
country's energy backbone is looking at a strong future as the formerly ailing
industry is turning itself around. Coal firms that were bankrupted
by a toxic regulatory environment, such as Missouri-based firm Peabody Energy
or Tennessee's Alpha Natural Resources, have returned or willreturn to
the stock market, having shed their debt load.
However,
the story goes beyond the mere domestic domain. The overseas coal
boom has opened an extraordinary window of strategic opportunity for those
willing to strengthen U.S. global leadership – it only needs to be
seized. That's exactly what happened at the U.N. climate talks in
Bonn, Germany last year, where Trump proposed
the creation of an international clean coal alliance to promote the
continual use of coal in developing countries. The proposal found
allies in countries highly dependent on the fuel, with India, Nigeria, and
Bangladesh, among others, quickly signing
on.
Since
any action has an equal and opposite reaction, professional naysayers like
Canada, Denmark, and France formed an anti-coal
coalition in response with the aim to phase out coal power generation
before 2030. Their barking, however, diminished to no more than a
whimper. After all, they conveniently have little to no coal
production of their own, meaning their weight in determining the direction of
global energy policy in this regard is rather irrelevant.
Meanwhile,
the clean coal alliance has made headway and is taking shape as a global
institution. The Trump administration is currently considering formalizing
the alliance around "a new, central institution" advocating natural
gas and coal technology exports. According to administration
documents, the renamed "Clean and Advanced Fossil Fuel
Alliance" seeks
the participation of scientists, industries, and policy-makers to
"explore the vast potential of clean and advanced fossil fuels,
specifically clean coal and natural gas." This will
include sharing
carbon capture and storage (CCS) and high efficiency, low emission
(HELE) know-how with developing economies, all of them desperate for the chance
to bridge energy poverty gaps.
The
new institution will also add further weight to last year's updated Treasury
Guidance for U.S. representatives on the executive boards of
Multilateral Development Banks. Washington has pushed for ending the
World Bank's limit
to financing of coal plants and is now aiming to provide backing for
coal-based energy projects where they are needed most. With the
U.S., and soon a major U.S.-led international organization behind it, MDBs may
be facing a game-changer that forces them to reassess their attitude and
approach to coal power.
What
these developments unequivocally show is that the clamoring of the disconnected
left can be rightfully discarded. Coal is far from dead, as is the
political will to use it to the benefit of American families and those beyond
American borders. Fast-tracking HELE and negative emissions
technology is a surefire means to catapult the U.S. to energy dominance and
strengthen it as a global energy leader. Unlike those decrying the
clean coal alliance as a pipe dream, the Trump administration isn't wasting any
time turning the lights back on.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/06/the_left_will_not_succeed_in_killing_coal.html
