While many people in New Jersey are busy looking for NJ online casino coupons for something to do this weekend or custom bridesmaid dresses by Azazie for their wedding, others are worried about the latest local news that can greatly affect them in the years to come.
Just recently, President Donald Trump signed an executive order at the Environmental Protection Agency. This executive order will unravel the 2015 Clean Power Plan signed by former president Barrack Obama.
The executive order recently signed by Trump will remove the restrictions on emissions from coal-fired power plants. It also promotes the establishment of many power plants that use fossil fuels.
This new order aims to address the rising energy problem in America. Moreover, this move is said to add more jobs in New Jersey by helping the existing power plants to expand their operation and by encouraging new industry players to come in and to promote the mining industry as well.
For Trump, this is how America should regain its old glory and become rich again. Apparently, job creation is given more priority than the climate-change policy.
In the 2015, the Clean Power Plan power plants were urged to decrease their emissions. After a while, most coal-fired power plants invested heavily in converting to natural gas. As a result, some power plants have chosen to close their operations instead.
Now, Trump wants to restore and revive these companies and attract similar ones in order to make New Jersey the center of energy production.
New Jersey is situated along the coastal area with 127 miles of the coastal line. Because of this, it’s vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by carbon dioxide emissions. This is evident in the devastation caused by superstorm Sandy in 2012.
In addition, the American Lung Association has consistently given New Jersey low grades in terms of the quality of air. The association hoped the 2015 Clean Power Plan would reduce the number of asthma attacks every year from 90,000.
However, such hope may no longer become a reality with Trump’s executive order. Fossil fuels such as coal are the biggest contributor to the emission of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
On the other hand, the proposition suggests that coal-mining will produce more jobs. According to federal data, the mining industry in the US has consistently been cutting jobs every year for a couple of decades under previous presidents from both the Democratic and Republican parties. No regime has ever stopped this trend.
This is because more and more mining companies resort to automation. According to Energy Department, only 75,000 jobs have been created by the coal-mining industry as a whole.
This only means one thing: that supporting coal-fired power plants will not make any significant effect on job creation. Therefore, only a few people will benefit from this executive order and not the people of New Jersey as a whole.
Trump’s executive order may boost the energy supply in America, but this will be at the expense of the locals in New Jersey. Nevertheless, it will take time for this policy to have a significant effect as the process is long.
Many power plants in New Jersey cannot simply convert back to coal as they have just invested heavily in converting to natural gas. Converting again back to coal would require huge investments, and this would hamper the implementation of such a new policy.
Author’s Bio:
Carl Aamodt
Title: Super-Connector at Outreach Mama Carl is a super-connector with OutreachMama, who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking. He frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing, and focuses his efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending upon the industry and competition.
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