George Dethlefsen, left, CEO of Corsa Coal, speaks with a miner in a coal pit in Friedens, Pa., Wednesday, June 7, 2017. Corsa Coal Corp. says the mine will create 70 to 100 new jobs and produce some 400,000 tons of metallurgical coal a year. President Donald Trump referred to the mine’s opening during a speech announcing his intent to withdraw from the Paris climate accords. (Dake Kang/Associated Press)
FRIEDENS, Pa. — President Donald Trump hailed the opening Thursday of a new coal mine as proof deregulation is helping bring jobs to the industry, even though plans for the mine’s opening were made well before Trump’s election.
Corsa Coal Corp. will supply coal used in making steel and is expected to generate up to 100 fulltime jobs. The company said it decided in August to open the Acosta mine 60 miles south of Pittsburgh after a steel industry boom drove up prices for metallurgical coal.
Under a tent perched hundreds of feet above a freshly dug coal pit, about 200 miners, business leaders, and politicians celebrated amid the surge of enthusiasm for the industry. Mining headgear lay atop red, white, and blue table cloths labeled “Make Coal Great Again.”
“We have not always capitalized on our standing as one of the world’s leaders in these resources, but we’re changing that,” Wolf said.