My thoughts on the big news that Arch is accelerating its exit from thermal coal: Our country has been shifting away from coal for the last ten years, because coal can no longer compete with the affordable clean energy that the public is demanding. 1/ https://www.marketwatch.com/story/arch-resources-to-shrink-coal-operations-2020-10-22

Arch's decision to finally act on that reality is a clear signal that the decline of coal in the US won't be reversed, which is why it's so essential to support a fair and robust national transition for workers and communities as we move to a clean energy economy. 2/

Arch and other coal companies must avoid the 'cash grab' that we are seeing around the country, where companies renege on their workers' promised benefits and refuse to help local jurisdictions economically deal with the coal industry's shrinking presence. 3/

Arch must put together a transition plan that helps people other than their executives and shareholders, and focus instead on paying back and paying forward what local working families and governments have sacrificed for them. 4/

That's the only way the transition away from coal will be fair, and the only way we can successfully build a just clean energy economy. END