coal.jpg

Coal mining.

(David Goldman)

Clete Wetli is a liberal political activist living in Huntsville and a regular contributor to AL.com. Email Clete at decaturclete@gmail.com or visit cletewetli. com.

Surely the last remaining members of the Flat Earth Society are enthusiastically applauding the Trump administration's roll back of clean energy initiatives. Maybe, "Make America Great Again" is nothing more than a nostalgic wish for typewriter ribbons, lawn darts, and asbestos siding. Sigh, don't we all miss the glory days of thalidomide or literacy tests for voting?

Well, this week in Trump's crusade to turn America's clock back, his anti-environmental head of the agency devoted to protecting the environment, Scott Pruitt, decided that coal had been callously mistreated. Although, more efficient and cheaper forms of modern energy exist, including those that don't wreak havoc on the environment, Pruitt wanted America to know coal was making a comeback!

That's right, the same as glass bottle milk deliveries and gaslight street lamps. Oh, for old-school lobotomies and outhouses! Yes, Pruitt understands that coal is the miracle future fuel, just like leeches once cured blood imbalances.

Look, we all get that climate change has become ridiculously politicized, but do Republicans really think that there's been a war on coal? Do they not understand that modern fuel technology left coal behind a long time ago? This isn't a partisan issue, it's an economic one and a practical one.

Under the Trump regime, it seems that everything pertaining to environmental regulation is cast as an evil and burdensome stranglehold on business. It's sad, because Americans decided long ago that they were fond of clean drinking water. They voted overwhelmingly for clean air. They decided that clean energy was a good and economically sound idea. They really despised having to look at rivers catching on fire. But, Trumpism is determined to roll it all back. It's not about what makes sense, it's about scoring cheap points with the base.

The problem with the Trump base is that they think any environmental law is wrongheaded regardless of its content or effect. In fact, the entire Trump environmental agenda seems to be nothing more than facilitating pollution and the wanton destruction of the earth so that ideologues can say they opposed a liberal agenda. Ironically, it hurts the conservative base that hunts and fishes and camps and claims that wildlife is so important to them.

So, why are we pretending that we desperately need coal? Is fracking not creating enough cheap fuel and residual pollution to make fossil-fuel loving conservatives happy? In fact, can anyone explain why Republicans and conservatives are so in love with fossil fuels anyway? Hasn't anyone explained how much money they can make in new fuel technologies?

It seems that common sense has been slayed by political ideology. In fact, the Trump policy on the environment seems to be nothing more than a concerted effort to just undermine bipartisan, sensible policy that helps everyone. But, this isn't a joke or a partisan bias, it's about the future of our only planet and about the economic future of our society.

There are no easy answers to our environmental crisis or the increasing scarcity of our natural resources, but it's certainly not pretending that these issues don't exist. Trump can continue to have his henchmen, like Pruitt, lay waste to our environmental laws, but Americans on both sides of the aisle will soon tire of this ham-handed approach.

Our natural resources are finite and it only makes sense to improve our ability to create more renewable energy. It's not Democratic or Republican, it's about the survival of our planet and our species.

Fighting a war against coal in 2017 is pointless and moronic. Renewable energy is our future, regardless of what Trump believes.