Trump Pitches Coal as Bombproof at West Virginia Charity Dinner
By Nicole Hensley
July 4, 2018 - President Trump traveled to coal country on Tuesday and touted the struggling energy industry as a safer bet than oil, just weeks after the administration reportedly explored plans to throw coal companies a lifeline.
Trump told guests at a West Virginia charity dinner for veterans that oil pipelines are a national security risk and susceptible to bombings. He suggested the vulnerability could boost the coal industry as natural gas and green energy gains steam.
“You bomb a pipeline, that’s the end of the pipeline,” Trump said during rambling remarks at the “Salute to Service” event.
“With coal, that stuff is indestructible. You can move it around on a truck. Dump it at a plant. It can rain on top of it for a long time,” he mused. “You hit those pipelines, it’s gone and that’s the end of it.”
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, a coal mining tycoon, attended the dinner.
Last month, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration drafted a memo outlining the Energy Department’s plan to revitalize the industry by declaring it a critical necessity to national security, defense and infrastructure in case of an “adversarial attack or a natural disaster.”
Trump's remarks at The Greenbrier resort appear to be the public attempt to breath life into the leaked memo.
The feds argue that “natural gas pipelines are increasingly vulnerable to cyber and physical attacks” and that coal and nuclear energy is a superior alternative. The 40-page document, dated May 29, could be used to justify a last-ditch effort to save coal producers, according to the news site.
Bloomberg also reported last week that Robert Powelson’s pending resignation from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could help the Trump administration’s proposed bailout.
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