To the editor,
I am commenting on a column that appears on your website on June 17 by Gene Lyons: “America gains nothing from denying global warming.”
Gene Lyons rejects the coal sector as “dirty” and describes the unemployment of coal miners as inevitable in his condemnation of President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, concluding, “it’s going to happen anyway.”
Lyons’ portrayal of the coal business as evil is untrue; the most recent labor figures show that mining in America is once again booming. Statistics from the Department of Labor released in May recorded an increase in mining jobs by a whopping 44,000 since last October which is significant because it contradicts the “inevitable condemnation” of coal miners.
Many homes and companies in Oklahoma have access to affordable and plentiful electricity because to clean coal. Coal accounts for over one third of the state’s electric generation because it is an affordable way to supply millions of homes and businesses with electricity.
In conclusion, the coal industry is thriving in Oklahoma, so the thought of closing the industry is not practical in the long run. The state clearly depends on coal as a huge source of energy, and needs the coal industry in order to satisfy the many homes and businesses in the state of Oklahoma.
