Trump’s hollow promise to miners

To hear then-candidate Donald Trump tell it, he would as president bring back all coal-mining jobs by undoing climate policies initiated by President Obama. Yessir, he was going to get rid of regulations costing jobs and hurting the economy, even if that will make the air and water more polluted for coming generations.

Sure enough, the president now has signed an executive order starting to dismantle climate change regulations from President Obama, and he was flanked by coal miners when he signed it. But the truth is that most coal mines use mechanized “miners” and aren’t doing a lot of hiring. Just one little fine point on Trump’s bombast. The president also wants to halt inducements to improve fuel efficiency in cars, end a short-term ban on coal mining on public lands, and forget about Obama’s efforts to join an international campaign against global warming. That will all but guarantee the U.S. won’t live up to commitments under the Paris Agreement to fight climate change.

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This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Trump’s hollow promise to miners."