OPINION: Community victory demonstrates why coal isn’t coming back

Before it stopped burning coal in 2015, Milwaukee’s Valley Power Plant was responsible for 26 deaths, 42 heart attacks and 450 asthma attacks each year, according to the Clean Air Task Force. Residents of the nearby neighborhood were predominantly low-income people of color who bore the burdens of burning coal for far too long.

During the presidential campaign, and since taking office, President Donald Trump and people in his administration have spoken glowingly about putting coal miners back to work. But despite these statements — and a lot of pressure on politicians from coal lobbyists — the irreversible reduction in burning coal for electricity is well underway....