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[–] MaFishTacosDaBombBro 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Why do you think the coal jobs are lost forever? I'm asking because there's coal mines near to me, and folks on the radio are hopeful that Trump will ease regulations to start mining things again.

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[–] rwbj 0 points 6 points (+6|-0) ago 

There's a big reason we moved to natural gas. It has nothing to do with environmental policy, regulations, or pretty much anything. It's price, plain and simple. And solar power is already becoming price competitive against natural gas and the price continues to precipitously drop.

And keep in mind that coal and oil are both heavily subsidized. If Trump kills off all energy subsidies solar would be even more price competitive. However, I think since he certainly won't touch the oil subsidies he's probably not going to touch any energy subsidy to avoid overt hypocrisy about his 'government shouldn't pick winners and losers.' Of course not touching those subsidies is still doing the same thing, but that's a rant for another time!

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[–] TotallyNotAFed 0 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago 

In layman's terms: coal is inefficient and expensive. Alternatives are just cheaper.

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[–] AmaleksHairyAss 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

At this point it's much less expensive to use automated trucks and shovels for most coal mining. We could double coal output and only add 10% more jobs. Just as important, the world is moving to solar power over the next five to ten years.

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[–] ShinyVoater 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

Not to rain on your parade, but the energy storage required to even out the production of something as fickle as the sun isn't going to be cheap, both for production and maintenance. Other power sources(such as coal or gas) are pretty much flat in their production, so no storage is required.