“Personal income has gone down in several Eastern Kentucky counties where coal employment has been decimated in recent years, according to a report from the Appalachian Regional Commission,” Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky. “Studies have cited competition from cheap natural gas for electricity generation as the biggest factor in coal’s decline, though other factors have played a role, including efforts to beef up environmental rules in the Obama administration and the rise of renewable energy such as wind power.”
There has been no significant increase in coal jobs in Kentucky during President Trump’s tenure, and “the ARC report shows that the average unemployment rate went down across the region over the last three years, but that the gap widened between the rate in Appalachia and the rest of the country, showing employment in the region is not improving as quickly as in the nation,” Estep reports.
But Trump’s newly announced replacement for the Obama-era Clean Power Plan aims to narrow that gap that by softening coal power plant regulations.
Written by Heather Chapman Posted at 8/23/2018 12:58:00 PM
