Thanks, Trump!
Remember how Donald Trump was going to bring back all those coal mining jobs?
Well, maybe not so much.
The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum in Benham is owned by Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. Communications Director Brandon Robinson told WYMT, they’re hoping to save money by the switch.
“We believe that this project will help save at least eight to ten thousand dollars, off the energy costs on this building alone, so it’s a very worthy effort and it’s going to save the college money in the long run,” said Robinson.
The museum says they fully understand the irony of this but they had budget cutbacks and this will save them a ton of money.
Featured in the next solar power teevee ad: The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum.
Thanks to Bernie for the heads up.
As I believe Molly Ivins said, “Some days it’s just rip and read.” And this needs to be read to a whole lot of people, especially the “save eight to ten thousand dollars” part.
1Love, love, love!
2Sometimes ya just gotta step aside!
3Next up is how most people aren’t going to reach there by horse and buggy.
4Good for the museum, go solar and leave the coal where it is. But just let the people please remember – those coal jobs left before trump. The figure to blame is McConnell. He is evil, vile and well, that says it first.
5Off topic, but this made me realize that some year soon plans will be made for the Trump Presidential Museum.
My mind boggles. And my stomach retches.
6For the life of me I don’t understand why companies who manufacture “green” products (solar panels, wind turbines, etc) don’t set up manufacturing sites in coal mining areas and the like where folks have lost their livelihood due to advances in clean energy. Wouldn’t everyone benefit from this? Sure they’d have to train folks, but why not? I’m sure they’d be good employees and would be able to support their families better than on unemployment benefits. These folks have dignity and are hard workers.
7I had to laugh.
8Isn’t this the height of hypocrisy from republicans?
They can use cheaper energy, but the rest of us?
We are suppose to use dirty more expensive energy products.
It is to laugh, chuckle and just plain cackle! This is the proverbial hand writing on the wall!
9LynnN. One can hope the book of accomplishments will have only one page. And it will be one of JJ’s cartoons
10@Streganonna: I seriously doubt the folks want to be re-trained. Hillary offered to provide education so the people could get better jobs but they obviously didn’t want to re-train/re-educate themselves because they voted for Trump who promised them the easy way out: more coal which meant more dirty water, more dirty air, more dirty land and less healthcare.
And companies look at the costs of doing business and want to establish themselves where their products are more accepted and they won’t have to pay a ton of money to ship their products to the work site. They also know that an already educated person can be easily/cheaply trained to work with their products.
11Streganonna: I absolutely agree and think if the Dem’s had/would get this very idea organized it would be a very positive benefit in that part of the country. The children of coal miners are the ones to reach out to.
12One sad thing is that many of the people who expected Trump to create new coal jobs have been listening to Repubs proclaim for 30 years that the government can’t create jobs.
Trump is America’s Darwin Award.
13It seems to me the former miners are either too lazy to be retrained or can’t pass the drugs tests to get another job so they rely on the kindness of Repugs… good luck there
14Bud, its just like the automakers when they are out of work. They have been doing this for so many years that it is part o their identity. To do something different, no matter how beneficial, would be to destroy their identity. Thats one reason. Another could be the age of the coal miner. He may consider himself past the age of learning anything new. Health is another problem. Some of them are suffering severe lung problems resulting from their occupation. Or anything that would require him to move himself and his family elsewhere. They aren’t exactly wild about strange experiences. Then we must look at the fact that there aren’t any community colleges or other institutes around offering anything the miner could learn and get decent pay.The pay-off of decent pay is a big deal since some mining companies pay miners as much as $60 big ones a year. There are even schools who won’t go into deepest Appalachia to set up any sort of school. They just don’t have the $$. So which ever way you look, there aren’t any doors or windows.
15I think it was Bill Maher who summed up Donnie’s appeal to coal miners as “Congratulations! You get to go back down that toxic hole! And as a bonus, we’re taking away your health care!”
16To all the people who think all coal miners are just to old or set in their ways – do these Trump supporting coal miners look like they are too old to change their way of life?
17http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Screen-Shot-2016-05-11-at-3.47.50-PM.jpg
Why it is tough to bring solar jobs to West Virginia.
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/mar/19/solar-power-industry-jobs-market-coal-west-virginia
18I think the biggest problem with the coal miner mindset is that they expect to stay where they are, and for things to get better. Doesn’t work like that; never has.
My parents, and my aunts and uncles, were all born in North Dakota, as were my sister and I, and most of our 40+ cousins. But when my dad needed a job, he went to Wyoming. He didn’t know a soul there. But he found a job, we moved, and that’s where I grew up. When he needed a job again, we stayed behind while he helped build the missile bases in Lompoc, CA. He was gone for months. When I needed a job after college, I moved to Denver, where my sister had lived since she started college.
I still have relatives in ND. But also in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, California, Arizona – we’re all over the place. We were born in small towns. But when we needed a job or education, we left home to get them. And it’s hard, especially if you have no money or family to help you. But that’s how it’s always been, for most people who’ve ever had to work for a living.
The Latino immigrants, so despised by the US working class, risk far more than any native worker. They break the law, risk death, abuse, deportation, imprisonment – all for the chance to work in what are often pretty brutal conditions.
So maybe what’s needed isn’t to bring jobs to West Virginia, or to so many of the small towns that are slowly perishing all across the country. It’s to bring the West Virginians, and other displaced workers, to the jobs.
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