More coal is rolling out of the pro-Trump Western Slope, but is it adding up to any jobs?

[geronl]

Two coal trains a day are rolling out of the North Fork valley, but laid-off miners aren’t being called back to work

Even coal industry executives acknowledge the rise of wind, solar and gas as cheaper, cleaner alternatives that employ more workers and questioning whether a comeback is possible.

A Chinese government curb on coal production in China, driven by air pollution and domestic economy concerns, drove up the price of coal to make U.S. exports profitable, said Clark Williams-Derry of the Seattle-based Sightline Institute energy think tank.

“What you’re seeing now is just a temporary uptick due to Chinese policy and higher natural gas prices. Be cautious,” Williams-Derry said. “We’re now at the mercy of Chinese policymakers. All the optimism in the world isn’t going to reverse the tide of this shift.”

excerpts
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/16/colorado-coal-donald-trump-jobs/

[thackney]

Coal's Colossal Comeback
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2017/04/18/coals-colossal-comeback-n2314519
 Apr 18, 2017

Buried in an otherwise-humdrum jobs report was the jaw-dropping pronouncement by the Department of Labor that mining jobs in America were up by 11,000 in March. Since the low point in October 2016, and following years of painful layoffs in the mining industry, the mining sector has added 35,000 jobs.

What a turnaround. Liberals have been saying that Donald Trump was lying to the American people when he said that he could bring coal jobs back. Well, so far, he has delivered on his promise.

There's more good news for the coal industry. Earlier this month, Peabody Energy -- America's largest coal producer -- moved out of bankruptcy, and its stock is actively trading again. Its market cap had sunk by almost 90 percent during Barack Obama's years in office. Arch Coal is also out of bankruptcy.

It turns out that, after all, elections do have consequences. The Obama administration and its allies, such as the Sierra Club, tried to kill coal because of their obsession with global warming. Regime change in Washington has brought King Coal back to life....

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Quote
Even coal industry executives acknowledge the rise of wind, solar and gas as cheaper, cleaner alternatives that employ more workers and questioning whether a comeback is possible.

I would certainly like to see those statements and who made them.  Otherwise, I believe it to be hogwash.

And this one

But energy industry analysts — pointing to the overall drop in production and the federal and state efforts to close coal-fired power plants — contend coal still will fade in favor of the cleaner, cheaper alternatives.

Seems they are using only the talking points of the Sightline Institute, a rabid, environmental group opposed to anything but clean energy.

This article is not useful for anything I can see.