Politics & Power Quote by Martin C. Smith

There’s a quiet brutality in the way the sentence leans on “cheaper” as if it were a natural law rather than a political choice. Smith isn’t just reporting a policy argument; he’s staging a collision between two stories governments like to tell at once: national sovereignty and market inevitability. The coal industry isn’t “declining” or “transitioning.” It’s being “shut down,” a phrase that assigns agency and invites blame. Then comes the distancing move: “they say.” It’s a small jab, but it matters. It signals that the official rationale is both rehearsed and contestable, a slogan standing in for accountability.

The real punch is in the geographic triangulation. Nuclear power “off the French grid” and coal “from Colombia” turn domestic deindustrialization into a kind of outsourcing of consequence. If the lights stay on by importing electrons and the steel keeps being made by importing fuel, what exactly is being cleaned up or saved? The subtext is that emissions, labor risk, and community collapse don’t disappear; they get relocated. A nation can meet a spreadsheet target while exporting the mess.

Contextually, this reads like a snapshot of late-stage energy politics in Europe: coal phased out under climate pressure, nuclear re-litigated as “pragmatic,” and global supply chains used as pressure valves. Smith’s intent is less nostalgic than accusatory: if cost is the only language the state speaks, it will always find a cheaper place for the damage to land.