For a long time, the threat of climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions was distant and abstract. But the evidence suggests it's now an immediate reality. Globally, the last five years have been the hottest five on record.
Melting ice sheets, rising sea levels, severe droughts and hurricanes--all provide a picture of what a warmer planet will bring, if it hasn't already.
So you might think a federal body called the Environmental Protection Agency would be doing all it could, within reason, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the harm of the carbon dioxide already pumped into the atmosphere. But President Donald Trump's administration has chosen a different approach that places the immediate interests of coal companies and miners ahead of everything else.
Despite Trump's support, use of coal is now the lowest it's been since 1979, and production is down as well. In May, the nation's third-biggest coal company declared bankruptcy. Seven other coal firms have done so since 2015.
A recent study found that "local wind and solar could replace approximately 74 percent of the U.S. coal fleet at an immediate savings to customers. By 2025, this number grows to 86 percent of the coal fleet."
The coal industry is not coming back, however much some would like it to happen. Coal is the past. But by trying so hard to keep it in use, the administration puts a cloud over the future.
Editorial on 06/25/2019