As pointed out somewhere else, coal adds around $20 billion to the United States' economy. Broadway adds around $15 billion to New York's economy. Snowsport tourism about $20 billion. Massage therapy around the same. Crazy how much focused attention coal and coal jobs get from the United States government when all of the above are at the same level and provide way safer jobs with much lower long term health costs (both to workers and the US government).

“ The Energy Department's Loan Program Office’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) Program will also make $200 billion in financing available for coal energy investments, such as upgrading energy infrastructure and building new facilities that utilize legacy energy infrastructure.”

From another source. We can downplay it but some significant money is being put to work

The author wrote this article on a device produced in a factory powered by coal.

In case you haven't noticed: Pretty much all the electronic devices you use are made in China and China's industry runs on coal.

Coal is nasty, the article is right about that, but it is the past, present, and the foreseeable future of industrial society.

Cost of solar+ battery has actually reached cost parity to coal in China and they have cheap labour to use coal for electricity. Trump and Co are blaming renewables for death of coal but reality it was natural gas and fracking in the past. But now renewables solar wind + batteries are already so cheap and getting cheaper that investing in coal plants will not be a good investment.

In Dubai they just signed a contract for providing 1 GW electricity 24h hours a day using solar and battery for $5 billion for 10 years. Where as a 1 GW coal plant will cost to build $1.5-2 billion and consume $3-400 million of coal a year. Coal has become uneconomical now people will fleece government money to run coal plants with your president supposedly wants to cut waste.