There's a recent video from Hank Green outlining the very compelling argument for abandoning coal power in strictly economic terms. It turns out that even if you ignore the big picture environmental impacts like global warming and acid rain, and you also ignore the localized impacts like air pollution and chemical waste, and you ignore the other negative externalities like long term health effects on the workers, then coal is still hard to justify because natural gas plants are simply more profitable.

Not to say that we should be ignoring any of those things, but just to make a point about how impossible it is to make a good faith argument for coal in today's world.

https://youtu.be/IfvBx4D0Cms

I assume there's a cartoon where they burn him?

It's a Stoner!

As someone who grew up in a mining town I cannot wrap my head around how anyone would want it back. (Money, ofc.)

We grew up playing in dead, bright orange sulfur creeks that are just now beginning to heal 40 years later.

We watched our community die from black lung.

The streets and homes were filthy with black dust.

Fuck coal.

This is so embarrassing.

just waiting for the coalie labubu

What's funny is that coal power puts 100x more radiation into the environment than nuclear power.

Just put some eyes on a hunk of coal, and it's cute! Y'know, for the kids! This is going to save our whole dying industry!

This little guy looks like he'd be introduced to me by Troy McClure.

Now, people are gonna say this is meant to brain-wash children.

But you see, the lead-brained troglodyte, drooling demented dumb fuck boomer generation that has gleefully and passionately supported Trump through racism and child rape, are cognitively declining at record setting rates. 

This is for them, to be pur on their TVs they don't know how to use so they can stare at it all slack jawed and stupid while they murmur under their breath and slowly clap their hands together before they have the good graces to finally liberate this planet from their presence already.

If course it's also low effort ai slop

Jesus.. and I thought Towelie was lame.

Kimmel had a pretty good roast of it but it’s already such a sad satire of itself it was barely necessary

Guaranteed this slop was made by the "Conservative Bluey knock-off" dip-shits...

It's like a joke from The Simpsons for crying out loud

They're just fucking with us now.

"Miners with black lung disease, meanwhile, have had to the Trump administration’s move to roll back safety protections for the coal industry..."

From OSMRE website:

Each year, OSMRE transfers more than $1 billion to the United Mine Workers of America Health and Retirement Funds to support health care and pension benefits for eligible coal miners and their beneficiaries.

The US spends billions every year subsidizing coal and paying for the toll it takes on coal workers' health. And yet, the MAGA folks I know seem to be more supportive of coal than they were 5 years ago. Like a lot more.

I don't get how this plays in MAGA favor when the coal miners themselves are getting shafted and when coal energy represents a complete and total grift - exactly the same type of stuff that had these same folks so excited about Trump and Musk cutting government programs. Any argument for coal falls apart immediately because natural gas is better in almost every way.

Why are these "coalfare kings" getting away with it?