Readers React: Coal workers caught in the transition to clean energy

To the editor: Saying that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost in the transition away from dirty coal energy is misleading. There are about 93,000 coal industry workers presently. (“Who should pay the price of clean energy?,” op-ed, July 16)

Jonathan Tasini includes transportation and power generation employees in his figures. But natural gas production increases will require more transportation workers. As power generation from nuclear, wind, solar and geothermal increase, their workforce demands will follow.

Blaming clean energy for decreasing coal production is disingenuous. The lower cost of natural gas is the prime cause for reduced coal demand. Even so, coal output has increased as personnel demand declined.

Meanwhile, as the cost of clean energy drops, jobs have been increasing; in 2014, there were 360,000 clean energy workers. Employment in 2013 and 2014 increased by more than 20%; it’s projected that solar alone will add about 36,000 jobs this year.

Finally, what industry has ever guaranteed its workers the kind of replacement pay Tasini wants for coal workers?

Joanne M. Mell, San Diego

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To the editor: Tasini slams the Sierra Club and other environmental groups for being vague about providing a safety net for workers who lose their jobs from shuttered coal mines and coal-fired power plants.

What’s vague about training them to repair our infrastructure; build and install solar panels on state and federal buildings; retrofit factories with energy-saving efficiencies and alternative fuels; install gray water systems; replenish forests, fish stocks and endangered species; clean lakes, rivers, aquifers and oceans; improve wilderness trails; abate invasive species; harvest unpicked crops; recycle rare metals from computers and cellphones; mine thermal energy, and research clean coal?

Various organizations have mentioned these and dozens of other important jobs to save the planet and improve our communities.

Jack Cooper, Studio City

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