"In addition to providing an affordable, reliable source of low-cost electricity, domestic coal holds the key to our nation's long-term energy security - a goal that cannot be overlooked during this time of international instability and economic uncertainty.
And in addition to being an "affordable, reliable source of low-cost" fuel, coal is POISONING US. And that is one goal of mine and of many others: this crap out of our waters and stop poisoning us.
Coal is also a fossil fuel. That means it is NOT infinite.
Further, the strip mining the way the coal industry is conducting themselves, is destroying not only mountaintops in many areas of Applalachia (I'm not well read in other areas of the country, sorry), it is sending gigantic mudslides down stream, destroying people's homes and livelihoods. AND those mudslides are creating sedimentation to a degree I've never even heard of, except in third-world countries. That means these rivers and streams that are part of the larger ecosystem are clogged. And that just continues to screw up a whole heck of a lot of stuff, not the least of which is water quality. I take that very seriously. You should too.
You want cheap fuel? Fine, me too. I'm with you on that. But the coal industry is not hte way to go about it. It's poisoning us. MERCURY is not good for you.
If Obama wants to force the coal industry to literally clean up their act, fine by me. FINE BY ME.
Thank you for posting the link, btw. I do apprecaite that.
edited to add this:
Mountaintop-removal mining is devastating Appalachia, but residents are fighting back | By Erik Reece | Grist | Main Dish | 16 Feb 2006
Check this out. You approve of this? Come on, you can't tell me that you do, can you?
The problem, in many ways, is one of perspective. From interstates and lowlands, where most communities are clustered, one simply doesn't see what is happening up there. Only from the air can you fully grasp the magnitude of the devastation. If you were to board, say, a small prop plane at Zeb Mountain, Tenn., and follow the spine of the Appalachian Mountains up through Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia, you would be struck not by the beauty of a densely forested range older than the Himalayas, but rather by inescapable images of ecological violence. Near Pine Mountain, Ky., you'd see an unfolding series of staggered green hills quickly give way to a wide expanse of gray plateaus pocked with dark craters and huge black ponds filled with a toxic byproduct called coal slurry. The desolation stretches like a long scar up the Kentucky-Virginia line, before eating its way across southern West Virginia.
I also want to add that not only do the coal-burning factories produce particulates with mercury . . . these particulates, being what particulates are, spread elsewhere, through the air, via the wind. That means that even states that do not use a lot of coal (they're using nuclear power, some of them) are having to deal with the literal fallout from the mercury particulates. What's that mean? They've GOT SMOG!! LOADED WITH MERCURY!
One such state is North Carolina, dealing the particulate matter coming from neighboring states. NC has some of the worst air in the country, believe it or not. It's got smog that gets trapped east of the Applachians, and a lot of this smog is caused by those coal-burning plants.
Check this out:
North Carolina sues Tennessee Valley Authority for excessive air pollution
and this:
Bush urged to clean up TVA smog (forgot to add the link, so edited to include it)
The entire North Carolina Senate has asked President Bush to clean up the Tennessee Valley Authority's coal-fired power plants, whose smokestacks pump out much of the pollution that is choking North Carolina's mountains.
A letter hand-delivered to Bush during his North Carolina visit Wednesday carried signatures of all 35 Senate Democrats and 15 Senate Republicans and a plea for action on what has become one of the state's most serious environmental problems.
"The time to correct this problem is now and the primary culprit is the TVA system of power plants owned and operated by the federal government," the senators wrote.
The TVA's power plants are located in Tennessee and other states upwind from North Carolina.
"TVA is a federally owned and operated facility and it ought to be the model of environmental excellence," they wrote.
Instead, the senators cited graphic statistics about the decline of air quality in the mountains. More Western North Carolina residents reportedly die from lung-related illnesses than those in other parts of the state, while average visibility in parts of the region has dropped from 65 miles in 1980 to 15 miles today.
Burning coal creates dangerous filth, period.
As for me? I support nuclear energy. It's cheap and it's clean IF IT IS DONE PROPERLY.
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