5 Charts Show the High Job Costs of EPA’s Clean Power Plan

Via The U.S. Chamber of Commerce: 

Because of previous EPA regulation, states in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic have witnessed thousands of coal-related jobs cut. “Combine coal extraction losses with coal generation declines nationwide and the coal industry has lost more than 47,500 jobs already, with the promise of more to come by 2030,” Sam Batkins of the American Action Forum wrote in 2015.

According to Batkins, EPA expects the Clean Power Plan to cost as much as 34,000 jobs by 2030.

As you can see in the five charts below, even with the Supreme Court putting a pause on any work on the Clean Power Plan while legal issues are settled, administration anti-coal policies are costing jobs.

1. Since 2008, 19,000 coal mining jobs have disappeared nationwide.

 2. In Kentucky 37% of coal mining jobs have vanished since 2008.

 3. In West Virginia, 5,200 coal mining jobs have been lost since 2011.

 4. In Pennsylvania, almost 1,100 fossil fuel electric power jobs (includes coal) have vanished since 2008.

 5. In Ohio, nearly 1,400 fossil fuel electric power jobs have been lost since 2008.

If EPA wins its legal battle and the Clean Power Plan is fully implemented, it will be tough for anyone whose job revolves around coal.