I don't believe we can easily transfer 85K workers from Coal to Solar - sure, you can easily find work for the truck drivers, foremen, etc. - but the miners themselves are out of luck.
Give them a pension now. It's so much cheaper than Medicare paying for their black lung and cancers, not to mention paying for the environmental impact of coal.
Solar added 70K odd jobs in a year alone. Solar is only 1% of all power, coal is 30% & it will take time & gradually in 15-20 years, coal will likely be gone. The challenge is to retrain the coal miners & integrate them into the new economy. Unlike Factory jobs being replaced by dirt cheep Mcdonald jobs, solar jobs are decent paying, not minimum wage jobs !
Why are there no discussions & ideas about new jobs for coal workers? I remember Bernie in the WV townhall saying apart from infra investment, it is vital to develop good quality broadband in rural areas as it will lead to many different types of industries & ancillary jobs. Coal is a losing battle!
Regarding Retraining - I'd have to be convinced that this would actually prove successful - that the miners could be retrained well, within a reasonable amount of time, and actually find work in their new industry. But I'm not opposed to it in principle.
Regarding a Pension - This, however, seems to invite an image of the government saying essentially, "This industry is against our ideology, so say goodbye to it - here's some money so you don't actually die.". That sets a dangerous precedent of closing industries for ideological reasons. Sure, right now it's the "polluting, evil, horrendous coal industry", but it could easily evolve into a closure of an industry you like at some point down the line.
Also, I will say that I recognize that even without the Obama regulations, the industry will eventually die on its own. But you cannot deny that the Obama regulations have sped up its demise.
