President Donald Trump lifted a moratorium on federal coal leases Tuesday, paving the way for excavation of a fossil fuel on public land in the West that few mining companies seem to want.
The order follows the president’s campaign promise to revive the struggling coal industry and bring back thousands of lost mining jobs in rural America.
But industry experts say coal mining jobs will continue to be lost, not because of blocked access to coal, but because power plant owners are turning to natural gas. At least six plants that relied on coal have closed or announced they will close since Trump’s victory in November. Another 40 are projected to close during the president’s four-year term.
