Do you like your home? Do you like having light and heat in your home? Do you like the community you live in? I’m asking these questions because I already know your answer. Of course you like all those things and you want to continue to have them. Everything I asked in those questions is made possible by, guess what, coal. Coal makes all those things possible for you, your family, and your friends. Here is another important question. Do you want to have a good economy in the United States of America? Of course you do! The answer to having one? COAL. Coal is a major part of many of our lives and without it the United States is going to crumble piece by piece. We need to stop the war on coal NOW! First off, coal is a major factor in electricity, …show more content…
As coal jobs decrease, unemployment rates rise. Families begin to lose their homes, cars, and other things they use to be able to afford. Budgets are drawn up and children are unable to do everything they could before. Income is a major part of life and when that drops, so does every other aspect of your life. In 2008, all these losses began. Barack Obama was elected as the President of the United States of America in 2008 and from then on the coal on war has been in full effect. In 2008, Kentucky had an unemployment rate of 5.6% and in 2010, Kentucky’s unemployment rate had risen to 10.7%. In a span of 2 years, the unemployment rate in one coal dependent state rose by 5.1%. The unemployment rate in Kentucky has not been below 7% since the war on coal began. These rates are the same for other coal dependent states. Families have suffered tremendously and continue to suffer from this war. Our president should take care of his people, not ruin their lives. This war on coal must stop so the people of America can strive. Some may argue that coal is bad for the economy, but that is not true. Coal is good for the economy, especially Kentucky’s economy. The Kentucky coal industry brought $3.1 billion into Kentucky from out-of-state during Fiscal Year 1996-97 through coal sales to customers in 29 other states and 15 foreign countries. In Kentucky, it paid over $800 million in direct wages, directly employing