[Hoot Gibson]

Barack Obama waged an 8-year publicly declared war on the U.S. coal mining industry. Understandably, the new gains in coal mining employment have been more modest as the industry begins the long process of recovering from an all out war waged by the most powerful government official in the world.

In fact, approximately 3,400 new coal mining jobs have been created since Trump won the 2016 presidential election. The image below shows data extracted from BLS databases for coal mining jobs and covers the same periods that were included in The Hill's recent article.

Trump has stopped the bleeding of the coal industry and renewed optimism among industry leaders. It takes time to obtain mining permits and to recruit and train coal miners after a prolonged period of mine closures. Other sectors of the mining industry were not engaged in an open war with Obama for 8 years. The coal industry survived Obama and is beginning to recover, which is a great accomplishment.

I personally believe that Obama destroyed eastern Kentucky coal mining jobs that will never be restored, but I am certain things will continue to improve until another socialist president is elected. The possibility of another socialist such as Obama winning the presidency will continue to discourage large capital investments in eastern Kentucky coal mines, IMO.

[Image: http://www.bluegrassrivals.com/forum/att...1536820366]