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Coal mines are quiet in the hills of Appalachia. The power plants they fuel are shutting down one by one as electric utility companies switch to greener energy. At a recent coal industry conference, the outlook was grim. Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Secretary, former coal executive Charles Snavely said experts forecast coal use will keep falling. And if we’re already projecting a significant decrease over time, I think that it will probably be worse than that. Though the Trump administration has worked to weaken environmental rules, many big corporations are taking their own steps to fight global warming. Walmart, Microsoft, Toyota and other giants have set climate goals, and they are pushing state and federal governments to act, says Ali Roberts with the corporate sustainability noNPRofit Ceres.
Their ability to tackle climate change and to call on policy makers to speed up the scale of action is essential. Climate change has moved up the agenda in Washington since the 2018 elections swept a wave of left-leaning lawmakers into office. And as Democrats campaign for the 2020 presidential election, they see an opportunity to run against Republican climate denial and inaction. Hi, governor, what do you have to say about climate change? A lot. Sanders has a far-reaching plan to address climate change. President Trump says bring it on. They want to take away your car, reduce the value of your home and put millions of Americans out of work, spend a hundred trillion dollars which, by the way, there’s no such thing as a hundred trillion, you have to spend a hundred trillion dollars. And remember this, no other country except us is gonna do it. That’s a little problem too. While no other country has followed the United States out of the Paris agreement, no country has cut its greenhouse gas emissions nearly enough to avoid what scientists say will be catastrophic global warming, says UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres. Guterres says nations need to step up at the UN climate summit in New York in September.
Steve Baragona VOA News Washington.
