Exclusive: Trump 's coal job push stumbles in most states
WASHINGTON (Reuters)  - President Donald Trumpâs effort to put coal miners back to work stumbled in most coal producing states last year   even as overall employment in the downtrodden sector grew modestly  according to preliminary government data obtained by Reuters.
 Trump  made reviving the coal industry  and the declining communities that depend upon  its  jobs  a central tenet in  his  presidential campaign and has rolled back Obama-era environmental regulations to give the industry a boost.
But  the effort  has had little impact on domestic demand for coal so far  with U.S. utilities still shutting coal-fired power plants and shifting to cheaper natural gas - moving toward a lower carbon future despite the direction the White House is plotting under  Trump .
Unreleased full-year coal employment data from the Mining Health and Safety Administration shows total U.S. coal mining jobs grew by 771 to 54 819 during  Trump âs first year in office  led by Central Appalachian states like West Virginia  Virginia  and Pennsylvania - where coal companies have opened a handful of new mining areas for shipment overseas.
âYou know  West Virginia is doing fantastically well â  Trump  told Reuters in an interview this week about the state  which gained 1 345 coal jobs last year  according to the data. âItâs great coal.â
WASHINGTON (Reuters)  - President Donald Trumpâs effort to put coal miners back to work stumbled in most coal producing states last year   even as overall employment in the downtrodden sector grew modestly  according to preliminary government data obtained by Reuters.
 Trump  made reviving the coal industry  and the declining communities that depend upon  its  jobs  a central tenet in  his  presidential campaign and has rolled back Obama-era environmental regulations to give the industry a boost.
But  the effort  has had little impact on domestic demand for coal so far  with U.S. utilities still shutting coal-fired power plants and shifting to cheaper natural gas - moving toward a lower carbon future despite the direction the White House is plotting under  [TGT]  .
Unreleased full-year coal employment data from the Mining Health and Safety Administration shows total U.S. coal mining jobs grew by 771 to 54 819 during  Trump âs first year in office  led by Central Appalachian states like West Virginia  Virginia  and Pennsylvania - where coal companies have opened a handful of new mining areas for shipment overseas.
âYou know  West Virginia is doing fantastically well â   [TGT] told Reuters in an interview this week about the state  which gained 1 345 coal jobs last year  according to the data. âItâs great coal.â