Coal mining towns would become ghost towns, coal miners homes will lose most value (who wants to live in a ghost town), they'll have to move for new work, losing their friends and community in the process.
A lot of coal miners and oil workers (probably most) only have a high school diploma. You get rid of coal and oil you get rid of some of the last well paying jobs that don't require college.
Finally, this doesn't just effect the coal miners. This effects railword workers, suppliers, the people working at the gas station where miners buy their coffee, who'll soon be out if a job when the gas station closes, etc. Literally the entire town, except those who are retired or close to, will be forced to move and will lose a lot of their wealth in the process, lose friends, etc.
In Wyoming for example, this will also impact other parts of the state. When coal was doing poorly a few years ago, the loss in state budget caused layoffs at the University of Wyoming, for example. The impact will be far reaching. It makes sense that politicians that work to avoid that are popular in these areas.
I think this is a myth that desperately needs quashing. There are still tons of trades that pay well especially in home construction like electricians and plumbers. Getting more people into these fields could also help alleviate some of the housing crunch by increasing the number of houses we can build at once.
...if anything, I think the coal export terminals run under the radar of the local community. The people who live close to the terminals are too poor and lack enough power to do much about them, and the terminals are basically ignored by everyone else. There's also a lot of other port traffic in Hampton Roads, including shipping containers and vehicle carriers as well as a lot of military vessels, and that accounts for more traffic and far more revenue than the coal terminals. If anything, Hampton Roads is known for its military bases (all branches of the military) and ship building.
The thing about coal is it's still very cheap and so is responsible for very small amounts of revenue given its enormous environmental footprint. Oil produces over ten times the revenue per unit energy than thermal coal (and generally has lower economic footprint per unit energy since it's more gravimetrically energy dense and has lower ash and carbon content per unit mass) so is more economically important for a given environmental cost.
Additionally, what's odd about these facilities is they're for metallurgical coal exports, meaning they're contributing to the off-shoring of the US steel industry.
Apparently the original shift to oil (started by churchill before ww1) was done in large part because it was far less labor intensive and so it took political power out of the hands of coal miners.
I can imagine how it felt to have income, camaraderie, identity and political power stripped from you all at the same time. Not great.
Mechanization and automation already did far more than eliminating the rest of the coal industry would.
Perhaps if these kinds of videos got more popular attention the industry would feel more "fun"...
So if the mine goes, everything goes, you lose your job, the people you know lose their job, but you also lose who you are. If you work in a coal mine, you are a miner in a way that working in a supermarket doesn't make you a check out assistant.
I'll agree there is some appeal to clanking machines, but its missing most of the point to reduce it to that.
Ps IMHO a massive wind turbine can hold its own with any steam engine or tonka toy any day of the week.
But the thing that really stood out to me was this: men who had worked in the mines were happy with their lot and had lots of positive things to say about their working lives, but when they were asked if they would want their children to work in mines their answer was a definite no.
But that was the only way that a Britain at war could get enough coal miners. Conscripting them
You were talking about "rails lines". I remember living in a coal town like you're describing and it was fascinating how much the coal terminal seemed like a massive Tonka Truck set. Big trains, cars and ships coming in out and constantly and the men who were fascinated by all of it. Those who owned and operated it, like a huge toy train set. I mean it was interesting.
Most people who worked there just loved the coal industry and what it was about, comradery, big shiny trucks etc.
I'd actually love to know if anyone has actually found any research on the euphoria and attachment people have to fossil fuel industries and if that has anything to do with part of their ongoing popularity and support for mining jobs (obviously asside from just the money part).
It honestly seems like some people would feel like a part of them were dead if it's all shut down. I did once see a documentary on post coal mining depression in some places in the UK and it's real.
Renewable energy doesn't really have the same kind of boyish appeal I guess.