Trump signed the executive order based on lies, claiming it would create coal mining hobs and decrease energy dependency from other countries.
This is whay both of those claims are lies:
ON ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
According to The New York Times, the United States already uses coal and natural gas produced locally to generate energy (electricity). I quote:
...energy economists say the order falls short of both of those goals — in part because the United States already largely relies on domestic sources for the coal and natural gas that fires most of the nation’s power plants.
“We don’t import coal,” said Robert N. Stavins, an energy economist at Harvard University. “So in terms of the Clean Power Plan, this has nothing to do with so-called energy independence whatsoever.”
ON COAL MINING JOBS
The NYT also points out that the executive order would allow older coal mines to stay open a few more years, but those plants are not going to hire more workers because they are relying on automation:
The new order would mean that older coal plants that had been marked for closing would probably stay open for a few years longer, extending the demand for coal, said Robert W. Godby, an energy economist at the University of Wyoming.
But even so, “the mines that are staying open are using more mechanization,” he said.
“They’re not hiring people,” he continued.
“So even if we saw an increase in coal production, we could see a decrease in coal jobs,” he added.
And there's another issue: Obama's policy was frozen by the Supreme Court, so technically Trump can't repeal the policy right away. It will take years to do so.
Why making such a spectacle about the signing of that executive order then, even having coal miners present? Wellm because Trump is desperate for ANYTHING to help him look like he's winning. In this case, winning against the Democrats after Trump was defeated in Congress with Trumpcare.
The problem is, that executive order does nothing. It doesn't create jobs, it doesn't reduce the need for foreign oil (and the Keystone pipeline is the proof of America relying more on foreign oil from Canada), but it will help to wreck the environment worldwide.
By the way: Coal mining jobs represent a very small part of the US economy. The NYT points out that while in 2008 coal mining companies employed 87,755 workers, in 2015 they employ 65,971 miners.
Ironically, economists point out the loss of coal mining jobs was the result of an increase in production of natural gas through fracking, which is cheaper than coal. Trump's executive order won't change that.
Thus, Trump's executive order not just is a lie, but it is also a lie intended to be just for the purpose of boosting Trump's image among conservatives, not as a real solution.
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