By Mike Tobin
January 16, 2014
Photo courtesy lesstonepublishorperish.blogspot.com
Far below the Appalachian Mountains, in a space barely big enough to stand up straight, Bobby Combs works a job his father and his grandfather worked.
Coal-mining is the highest-paying job available to him in eastern Kentucky. As he skillfully maneuvers a massive machine and rips into a seam of coal, though, Combs wonders if the family tradition ends with him.
“It’s not looking good,” he says, dirt smudging his face.
Coal has come under the crosshairs of the Obama administration in the push to transition to renewable energy sources. Coal mines are burdened with a never-ending stream of federal regulations.
The owner of the mine where Combs works said the cost of getting coal out of the ground has tripled. For him, that means job insecurity.
“It seems like everything on the coal industry is under siege, everything is under attack,” he said.
Many miners, particularly in Appalachia, have labeled the administration’s policies the War on Coal. “I just believe the Obama administration has taken a huge impact on the coal industry and Appalachia. Anymore, you just never know from day to day if you are going to have a job or not,” said miner Phillip Conley.
When he was a candidate, President Obama made it clear he was not a friend to coal.