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Speaker 1

00:00

-♪ ♪ -♪ ♪ Coal. Basically, cocaine for Thomas the Tank Engine. We have heard a lot about coal this past year, particularly from President Trump. In fact, arguably, a key reason that we have this cautionary Bible story in the White House was his ability to connect with mining communities during the campaign, even doing this in West Virginia.

Speaker 2

00:23

Nice. Nice. Y'all put it on, right? -♪ Yeah...

Speaker 2

00:27

Yeah... Yeah... Yeah...

Speaker 3

00:28

Yeah... Yeah... Yeah... Yeah...

Speaker 3

00:30

Yeah...

Speaker 1

00:34

♪- Okay, okay. Let me stop you right there. It is not easy watching someone, I doubt, has done a day of hard labor in his life, show how he thinks coal mining works.

Speaker 1

00:45

It's like watching a four-year-old play store. Oh, that's right, Aiden, you just hand them your ducky and then you get cookies, you idiot. But what that crowd probably remembered from that day was how Trump's speech ended.

Speaker 2

00:57

We'll start winning, winning, winning, and you are gonna be very proud. And for those minors, get ready, because you're gonna be working your asses off. All right?

Speaker 2

01:07

Thank you, everybody.

Speaker 1

01:08

That's right, you're gonna be working your asses off, like that, right? That's how you do it. Maybe some of this you'll do, or maybe this.

Speaker 1

01:15

Maybe you'll do some... You're mimers, right? You're going back to the coal mimes, aren't you? I don't know what you people do.

Speaker 1

01:23

But Trump promising to bring back coal jobs is undeniably potent, and to listen to his EPA administrator, it's a promise that he's already keeping.

Speaker 4

01:31

Since the last, fourth quarter of last year to most recently, added almost 50,000 jobs in the coal sector. In the month of May alone, almost 7,000 jobs.

Speaker 1

01:39

Okay, so the only problem there is that those numbers are bullshit.

Speaker 3

01:45

The Bureau

Speaker 1

01:45

of Labor Statistics says the actual number of coal jobs created since last year has been just 1,300. So that 50,000 new jobs claim was off by 48,700. Which for this administration, is actually uncharacteristically accurate.

Speaker 1

02:00

I just assumed that the figure would be more like 12 mining jobs, and they're not actually jobs, they're lobsters, and Trump didn't create them, he just remembers 12 times in his life that he saw a lobster. -... But look, there is no doubt, Trump claims coal is a huge priority for his White House. And let's set aside tonight, the fact that it is environmentally catastrophic, which we shouldn't, because it is.

Speaker 1

02:22

But this president clearly doesn't care about that. He pulled out the Paris Agreement, citing coal as 1 of the reasons. He's lifted a freeze on new coal leases on public lands, and revoked a rule to limit coal mining companies from dumping debris into local streams, with miners behind him both times. So, if coal jobs are so important to him, let's talk about them.

Speaker 1

02:41

And let's begin with a number, because it's smaller than you might think.

Speaker 5

02:46

While President Trump has talked about reviving the coal industry, which employs 76,000 people, retailer JCPenney, on the verge of bankruptcy, employs 114,000

Speaker 3

02:57

alone.

Speaker 1

02:58

Wow. So, there is a lot that is surprising there. For a start, I didn't even know that JCPenney had employees anymore. I thought anyone who walked into a JCPenney was just handed the keys to the store saying, -"Here, see if you can make it work.

Speaker 1

03:11

Good luck." -$1,000. But 76,000 coal workers is less than you'd expect. Although in the areas where they are concentrated, coal mines are central to the community. Some schools have miners as mascots for their sports teams, or even they have coal industry sponsored fairs, where kids make a variety of projects, perhaps none as awesome as this 1.

Speaker 6

03:33

It's about a lump of coal named Lumpy. Who's on a journey to figure out what he's gonna be and what he could be when he... Grows up.

Speaker 6

03:43

-♪ Upbeat

Speaker 1

03:45

music ♪ -I love that kid. And by the way, top-notch use of air quotes there, because you and I both know, kid, that Lumpy is not going to grow up. Lumpy is going to live a short life underground until 1 fateful day, his friends notice he's missing.

Speaker 1

04:00

Where's Lumpy? They'll say. Has anyone seen Lumpy? They'll form search parties and put posters up around town, but in the back of their minds, they know the truth.

Speaker 1

04:09

They've always known. And 1 day, there's a knock at the door. It's the news they've all been dreading all along. Lumpy has been burned to death in a horrifying ritual alongside the entire Lump family.

Speaker 1

04:20

This is why we don't name them, because then we get attached. -♪

Speaker 3

04:23

Laugh track ♪ -♪ Laughter and groaning

Speaker 1

04:25

♪ Anyway, the point is, when coal jobs go away, communities feel it. Especially because these jobs are high-paying. A coal miner can make upwards of $80,000, so that's not easy to replace.

Speaker 1

04:39

And the industry itself points much of the blame for lost jobs at President Obama, with 1 of the loudest voices being this guy.

Speaker 7

04:46

These are my employees. I care for them deeply. Barack Obama and his Democrat followers are destroying entire segments of America.

Speaker 7

04:54

Mr. Obama is an outlaw.

Speaker 3

04:59

I pray every day that

Speaker 7

05:00

this man's incompetence will be overcome. That his evil agenda will be overcome. When you have a 52-year-old coal miner in your office crying because you were forced to lay him off, that's what Obama has never seen, because he's never had a job.

Speaker 7

05:15

What

Speaker 1

05:16

are you talking about? He had a job. Listen to yourself.

Speaker 1

05:20

His job was destroying entire segments of America with his evil incompetence. Or his name was not Baric Obama. Now, that man was Bob Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy. And we will get to him later.

Speaker 1

05:34

But his claim that Obama's regulations have been job killers is worth taking a look at. Because while coal mining jobs undoubtedly did decline under Obama, it's worth noting that coal mining jobs have also been declining for decades. I mean, just look at that trend line. Coal industry jobs declined at roughly the same rate as careers in the Zeppelin industry and babies named Adolf.

Speaker 1

05:55

Oh, some still exist. There's just not nearly as many of them anymore. And I'm not saying that Obama's regulations had no effect, but researchers have found that they had very little impact relative to other factors. When they studied the decline in expected demand for coal from a decade ago, they found that nearly half of that drop was owing to the drop in natural gas prices, and another 18% was due to the growth in renewable energy like wind and solar.

Speaker 1

06:23

And there is perhaps no more dramatic evidence of coal losing out to solar energy than this.

Speaker 8

06:28

Work has begun to power the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum, not by coal, but by the sun.

Speaker 7

06:34

We believe that this project will help save at least 8 to 10000 dollars off of the energy cost on this building alone.

Speaker 1

06:41

It's true, the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is now using solar energy. It's like finding out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was brought to you by Smash Mouth. -♪ Smash Mouth theme song ♪ -And the hard truth is, even if consumption wasn't declining, companies would still be cutting jobs, as they are increasingly replacing miners with machines.

Speaker 9

07:02

You had all this mechanization going on, the people leaving, but it's come to the point now where they don't do underground mining if they can get away with it. They do mountaintop removals and surface mining. You can mine a whole mountainside, And I'm talking about a whole mountainside within a year or 2, with around 7 to 12 people.

Speaker 9

07:24

And you,

Speaker 1

07:24

that's all you need. He's right. Coal mining, like almost all industries, is facing increased automation.

Speaker 1

07:31

And I say that well aware that in 5 to 10 years, I am probably going to be replaced by a robotic English tea kettle that screams depressing money stats at you. And look, the rise of alternative energies is a good thing for the Earth as a whole. And some point out that as coal jobs go away, new green jobs are opening up, which is true, but not where coal miners live. West Virginia and Kentucky, for instance, rank near the bottom in solar jobs per capita.

Speaker 1

07:58

So, for the people who face layoffs, the future can look bleak.

Speaker 10

08:02

It gets really depressing whenever you... You know, you have kids and you gotta work 1 day and they say, well, you don't work here no more. And you gotta go home and...

Speaker 10

08:15

At least your family is saying that you don't have a job no more.

Speaker 1

08:18

Yeah, and that is devastating. And I know that it does not help someone in his situation to be told statistics by someone like me in a TV studio, possibly powered by coal, who doesn't have the skills or muscle mass to be a miner, and who looks like the result of a drunk threesome between Chris Hayes, Austin Powers, and a potato. But I know that.

Speaker 1

08:39

But the question is, what does help someone in that situation? Donald Trump insists that he's helping miners by reducing regulations on coal companies. But too often, people conflate coal, coal miners, and coal companies, and imply that when you help 1, you help them all. But they are not all in the same boat.

Speaker 1

08:59

Although they may insist otherwise. For instance, when the coal company Alpha Natural Resources filed for bankruptcy 2 years ago, their CEO stressed how painful that was.

Speaker 7

09:09

Are more mine closures possible? They are, unfortunately.

Speaker 11

09:13

And for Crutchfield, That's clearly the hardest part of it all. When I asked him about this photo displayed prominently at Alpha headquarters, a photo called Daddy's Hands, the emotions were hard to hold back.

Speaker 7

09:26

That is the backbone of America. And we have that photograph just to remind everybody who we serve.

Speaker 1

09:33

That's a nice sentiment, just slightly undercut by the fact that according to court documents, Alpha later asked its bankruptcy trustee if it could save 3000000 dollars by terminating the health and life insurance benefits of around 1,200 retirees, while at the same time, seeking permission to pay bonuses totaling up to around $12 million to top executives, including that guy that you just saw. Which is the sort of thing that might make Daddy's hands want to do something like this. And you wouldn't really blame them for that.

Speaker 1

10:06

And yet, coal CEOs constantly claim to workers that it's us against them. Take Don Blankenship, ex-CEO of Massey Energy. He once held a rally featuring Ted Nugent, Hank Williams Jr., and a rousing speech from Blankenship himself.

Speaker 12

10:20

I know that the safety and health of coal miners is my most important job. I don't need Washington politicians to tell me that, and neither do you. -♪ Yeah

Speaker 1

10:30

♪ -♪

Speaker 3

10:30

Whoo! Yeah!

Speaker 1

10:30

♪ Okay, so speech aside, that's a hell of a look. It takes a brave man to go for half Kerry Strug and half the time to make the doughnuts guy. And if you thought, if you thought the presence of a man who's just been ejaculated on by a flag was as upsetting as that rally could get, well, guess who else was there?

Speaker 13

10:55

We believe in God, right? Yeah! Faith, family, country.

Speaker 13

11:01

We believe America's a shining city on a hill. Freedom! Right? We believe in freedom.

Speaker 13

11:05

How you doing, darl? By the way, there's a really hot-looking chick in the third row there. How you doing, man? I'll take you backstage to meet Hank a little later, if you want.

Speaker 13

11:17

You want to meet me later?

Speaker 1

11:20

What the fuck was that? In the course of his speech, he referenced God, quoted Reagan, and engaged in sexual harassment. That man really is Fox News.

Speaker 1

11:33

But notably, notably, just a few months after his rally against Washington's safety rules, Blankenship's company had a massive explosion killing 29 miners. And Blankenship denies responsibility. But in the wake of that disaster, he was sentenced to a year in prison for conspiring to violate mind safety and health standards. He actually just got out, and now has to rebuild his life with absolutely nothing but his estimated golden parachute of 86 million dollars.

Speaker 1

12:03

And that will help you get back on your feet. 86 million will help you get back on anyone's feet. You want to get back on Fred Astaire's feet? That's no problem.

Speaker 1

12:12

For 86 million, grab a hacksaw, we are digging up Fred. -... Blankenship is already lobbying the Trump administration to oppose more onerous criminal laws for mine owners, saying they will not improve mine safety. And I would like to think that Trump would not listen to him, because, you know, he loves the miners so much.

Speaker 1

12:31

But there's not much evidence of that. What there is evidence of is his affection for mine CEOs. His Secretary of Commerce is Wilbur Ross, who ran the company that had the deadly Sago mine disaster. And he's also close to that man that you saw earlier, Bob Murray, who claims that Trump called him shortly after the election to deliver a special message.

Speaker 7

12:51

He said, tell your coal miners I've got their back. And then he said, I love you, man.

Speaker 1

13:00

Well, congratulations on that, Bob. -♪ I love you too ♪ -♪ I love you too ♪ You're now in the very select group of people that Donald Trump has said, I love you to. Along with presumably the worst Baldwin, exactly 1 of his 2 daughters, and the hollow-eyed business ghost that greets him in the mirror every morning.

Speaker 1

13:17

And Murray actually illustrates the divide that can exist between a coal company's interests and those of its workers. And I'm going to need to be careful here. Because when we contacted Murray Energy for this piece, they sent us a letter instructing us to... And telling us that...

Speaker 1

13:41

And a cease and desist letter is incredibly something that we've never received before on this show. Not even the nation of New Zealand has sent us 1, and we wallaby kick those imminent burglars in the balls almost every week. So, I have to proceed with caution. I'm not going to say, for instance, that Bob Murray looks like a geriatric Dr.

Speaker 1

14:03

Evil, even though, even though, he clearly does. Because Murray Energy has sued people in the past. Just last month, they sued the New York Times for libel. They also sued everyone from a contributor to The Huffington Post to these 2 papers in Ohio.

Speaker 1

14:19

In fact, Murray's current general counsel told reporters that this paper had inflicted a potential economic loss of, and I am not making this up, 1000000000 dollars. Which, when you think about it, is exactly what you'd expect from a geriatric Dr. Evil. -♪ ♪ -♪ And though Murray Energy have insisted in the past that they only sue news outlets as a matter of last resort and never to chill free speech, their letter also tells us that they might...

Speaker 1

14:51

And that would actually be a real mistake, because we have a personal relationship with those judges. And I'll give you a fun fact, if you scratch Justice Alito just behind his left ear, he pees on the floor. That's true. That's true of the dog and the man.

Speaker 1

15:06

So, as we have been explicitly told to cease and desist, let us do neither of those things, and let's talk about Bob Murray. Because He often speaks on TV in defense of coal workers. But let's take a look at his actions, shall we? Because Murray's company recently unsuccessfully sued to block a rule aimed at reducing miners' exposure to coal dust that causes black lung, a disease which killed as many as 10,000 people between 1995 and 2005.

Speaker 1

15:38

Murray insisted that the rule was illegal, destructive, and did nothing for minors, nothing for their health. Although, last year, with the rule in effect, government reports indicated respirable dust levels fell to historic lows. And, look, if you even appear to be on the same side as black lung, you're on the wrong fucking side. That's the equivalent of watching My Girl and rooting for the bees.

Speaker 1

16:02

And... And some of Murray's employees have clashed with the company over safety. A few years back, Murray proposed a program where miners could receive bonuses based on the amount of coal they extracted. It was voted down by employees who believed it would have an adverse impact on safety in the mines.

Speaker 1

16:19

But the company did it anyway, saying if workers didn't like it, they could just write, void on their checks. And amazingly, around 62 employees did just that, with 2 going even further. 1 returning a check for $11.58 by writing, -"Kiss my ass, Bob," on it. -$11.58 And another taking a check for $3.22 and writing, -"Eat shit, Bob." And I have to say, Well played, miners, because you could have sent that message on a cake, or you could have sent it on a bear with a big stuffed heart.

Speaker 1

16:51

But to write it on your three-dollar bonus check, well played to you, sirs. And then there was the deadly collapse at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah. Murray attracted attention for a bizarre press conference in which, while rescuers were still working, he was making bold claims about the cause of the accident.

Speaker 7

17:10

This is the first major accident I've ever had in 1 of my coal mines, in 20 years of being in existence. The first major accident. And this was caused by an earthquake.

Speaker 7

17:24

Not something that Murray Energy, or Utah American did, or our employees did, or our management did.

Speaker 1

17:32

So, here is the interesting thing about that. To this day, Murray says that the evidence proves he was correct that an earthquake caused the collapse. But that was decidedly not the conclusion of the government's investigation, which found it was caused by unauthorized mining practices, and there was no evidence that a naturally occurring earthquake caused the collapse.

Speaker 1

17:52

Murray does not want us talking about the accident, saying it was an incredibly difficult time for the families. And though he admits that he was unable to satisfy the expectations of the family members, he says he showed them honesty, sincerity, and compassion throughout the crisis. Although, according to both a Department of Labor investigation and congressional testimony by some of them, their pain was exacerbated by Murray's behavior while they waited for news of their loved ones.

Speaker 14

18:19

All we heard was, earthquake, earthquake. We did not want to hear about earthquakes, but wanted to know when we were going to see our loved ones again. Murray more than once yelled at us when we asked questions.

Speaker 1

18:35

Wow. Yelling at distraught families when they ask questions is not okay. It is barely okay to do it with five-year-olds, and they ask over 42 million questions a day. I give up.

Speaker 1

18:48

Why are birds is not a question. I know the fucking answer to, Kyla. Google it! Google it!

Speaker 1

18:55

-...Google it! -...Google it! -...Google it! -...Google it!

Speaker 3

18:58

-...Google it! -...Google it! -...Google it!

Speaker 3

19:00

-...Google it! -...Google it! -...Google it!

Speaker 1

19:02

And there is 1 more Bob story, Bob Murray story, that I would like you to know about. It's an apocryphal tale concerning how the company began. Union miners claim that Murray used to tell them that he was sitting on his back porch, contemplating his future, when he was approached by a squirrel.

Speaker 1

19:19

Who hopped up next to him, looked him in the eye, and said, Bob Murray, you should be operating your very own minds. And we asked Murray's company about that story, and they told us it never occurred. And you know what? I actually believe Murray on that 1.

Speaker 1

19:35

Because I think deep down we all know, if squirrels could talk, they wouldn't be giving career advice to coal executives. They'd be loudly listing their favorite nuts. Okay, let's go. Acorns, chestnuts, walnuts, almonds.

Speaker 1

19:46

Cashews are good, although of course, technically, not a nut. Brazil nuts, not my favorite bowl. I wouldn't kick them out of bed either. Do you feel me, guys?

Speaker 1

19:53

Do you feel this? And look, to get back to jobs, Murray argues that he has provided thousands of them to mining communities, and he's right about that. And for those communities, that fact might understandably outweigh everything else, especially if Murray and Trump can bring coal back. But notably, even Murray himself is careful regarding that.

Speaker 3

20:15

Can those jobs come back if it's a Donald Trump presidency?

Speaker 7

20:18

I don't think those jobs can come back, ma'am. But we can stop the destruction. I don't think it can come back to where it was, but we can stop it, and that's what I've told Mr.

Speaker 7

20:27

Trump, and he gets it.

Speaker 1

20:30

Hang on there, Bob. No, he doesn't. He doesn't...

Speaker 1

20:33

A, he barely gets what mining is. He may well think it's just running up to things that he wants and yelling, -"Mine!" And... That's possible. -$MINE!

Speaker 1

20:44

And... And B, B, he's repeatedly told miners that they're going to be working their asses off. If Trump really cares about miners, he'll be putting a plan in place for their futures as mining continues its long-term decline. But he isn't doing that.

Speaker 1

21:00

Now, luckily, there are some small things being done by others. 1 company called BitSource in Kentucky has been hiring minors as software programmers and paying them through their retraining.

Speaker 12

21:10

I've learned numerous code languages. I've learned CSS, I've learned PHP, HTML, JavaScript, Twig, and YAML.

Speaker 1

21:19

And that's really impressive. So much so that I will ignore the fact that Twig and YAML sounds like a bootleg Russian DVD knockoff of Lilo and Stitch. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That program is encouraging, but it won't suit everyone, and at present, it only has 9 jobs for former miners.

Speaker 1

21:38

And Trump is actively hurting the chances of other projects like it. His new budget proposes cutting funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission, which helps revitalize communities affected by coal mining job losses by funding employment programs that have helped, among other things, BitSource. And you might wonder, well, why would a guy who says he loves miners all the time do that? Well, for a sense of how he really feels, just read a Playboy interview from 1990, where he said, and I quote, If I had been the son of a coal miner, I would have left the damn mines.

Speaker 1

22:11

But most people don't have the imagination, or whatever, to leave their mine. They don't have it. And you know what? They certainly don't have what Trump has, specifically inherited wealth and hair like the wispy pubes of an aging yeti.

Speaker 1

22:25

-♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ -The point here is, Trump needs to stop lying to coal miners. We all do. Stop telling them that their jobs are all coming back when they're not. Stop telling them that coal is clean when it isn't.

Speaker 1

22:39

And stop pretending that this isn't an industry in the middle of a difficult and painful, albeit necessary, transition. An honest conversation about coal and its miners needs to be had, and we should neither cease nor desist from having it. Which actually reminds me, 1 more thing here. Bob Murray, I didn't really plan for so much of this piece to be about you, but you kind of forced my hand on that 1.

Speaker 1

23:04

And I know that you are probably going to sue me, but you know what? I stand by everything I said. Although, just to reiterate, I do not think you claimed a squirrel talk to you. Even by your standard, that would be a pretty ridiculous thing to say.

Speaker 1

23:18

So I believe that you have never been spoken to by a squirrel. Until that is... Tonight. -...tonight.

Speaker 1

23:24

-- AUDIENCE GROANS, CHEERS

Speaker 3

23:24

AND APPLAUSE Look, Bob! Look! Look, Bob!

Speaker 3

23:30

It's Mr. Nutterbutter, Bob! Look! Look!

Speaker 3

23:33

Bob! Look! AUDIENCE CHEERS AND APPLAUSE It's Mr. Nutterbutter!

Speaker 3

23:40

Hiya, Jack! Hey there! Hey there! Hey there, Mr.

Speaker 1

23:43

Nutter Butter. I understand that you have a message for Bob Murray.

Speaker 3

23:46

I do. Okay.

Speaker 15

23:48

Hey, Bob. Just wanted to say, if you're planning on suing, I do not have a billion dollars. But I do have a check for 3 acorns and 18 cents.

Speaker 1

23:57

Oh, that's very nice of you, Mr. Nutterbutter.

Speaker 15

24:00

It is. It's made out to... Eat shit, Bob!

Speaker 15

24:05

Never mind. Kiss my ass!

Speaker 3

24:08

Thank you, Mr. Nutterbutter! You