After a year of Trump drastically cutting regulations, Wyoming adds a total of five coal mining jobs

Authored by dailykos.com and submitted by NotaNotSee

Coal mining jobs in Wyoming fell from 7,054 in 2008 to 5,756 in 2016. If neither of these numbers seems massive—it’s because they’re not. But for a state with no income tax, whose revenues are almost entirely dependent on the excise taxes charged on extraction industries, that 19 percent decline represented a matching hit to state coffers. After years in which the state filled “rainy day funds” to overflowing, Wyoming’s legislature found itself facing a $770 million shortfall in 2017. Wyoming legislators reluctantly tapped some of those savings to address the drops in revenue.

In fact, Wyoming’s absolute dependence on a single source of revenue, which has allowed it to be one of seven states with no income tax, keep sales tax low, and still have a generally high level of infrastructure, would seem to be a particularly dangerous position. It makes the state absolutely subject to the ups and down of a volatile energy market—and precariously positioned at a time when both renewable and cheaper natural gas are set to permanently dam Wyoming’s revenue stream.

But Donald Trump digs coal. So after Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement. After Trump dismantled the Clean Power Plan put in place by President Obama to reduce greenhouse gases. After Trump revoked the Stream Protection Rule allowing mine waste to be dumped directly into streams and rivers. After signalling a lax attitude to safety that saw a surge in coal mining deaths. And after an uptick in demand from China that brought up US coal exports.

After all that, just what did Wyoming get in return?

Wyoming coal companies only added five full-time jobs between the bottom of the bust in 2016 and last year, according the Wyoming State Mine Inspector’s annual report on the industry.

And what did continuing to depend on coal revenues cost the state?

elways_love_child on March 30th, 2018 at 00:39 UTC »

To be fair that’s like a 25% employment spike for Wyoming.

shagieIsMe on March 30th, 2018 at 00:14 UTC »

For any interested in pulling up the raw data, Annual Report of The State Inspector of Mines of Wyoming (year ending December 31, 2017).

The relevant data is on page 6:

2017 - Coal Employment - 5,687 employees 2016 - Coal Employment - 5,682 employees 2015 - Coal Employment - 6,646 employees

strokingchunks on March 29th, 2018 at 23:23 UTC »

It only cost hundreds of millions in subsidies and tax breaks. WINNING!!