… What I want to do is with West Virginia to figure out how we can seize that future. But to do that, that means there’s going to have to be some transition. We can’t operate the coal industry in the United States as if we’re still in the 1920s or the 1930s or the 1950s. We’ve got to be thinking, what does that industry look like in the next hundred years?
President Obama, speaking today in Baltimore, took questions from Republican members of the House of Representatives, including West Virginia’s own Shelley Moore Capito.
Rep. Capito quizzed the president about his policies on coal. Here’s what she asked:
As you said on your — in the State of the Union address on Wednesday, jobs and the economy are number one. And I think everyone in this room, certainly I, agree with you on that. I represent the state of West Virginia. We’re resource rich. We have a lot of coal and a lot of natural gas.
But our — my miners and the folks who are working and those who are unemployed are very concerned about some of your policies in these areas: cap-and-trade, an aggressive EPA and the looming prospect of higher taxes. In our minds, these are job-killing policies.
So I’m asking in — in to — if you would be willing to re-look at some of these policies, with the high unemployment and unsure economy that we have now, to assure West Virginians that you’re listening.
And here is what President Obama said:
Well, I — look, I listen all the time, including to your governor, who’s somebody who I enjoyed working with a lot before the campaign and now that I’m president.
And I know that West Virginia struggles with unemployment. And I know how important coal is to West Virginia and a lot of the natural resources there. That’s part of the reason why I’ve said that we need a comprehensive energy policy that sets us up for a long-term future.
For example, nobody’s been a bigger promoter of clean coal technology than I am. In testament to that, I ended up being in a whole bunch of advertisements that you guys saw all the time about investing in ways for us to burn coal more cleanly.
I’ve said that I’m a promoter of nuclear energy, something that, you know, I think over the last three decades has been subject to a lot of partisan wrangling and ideological wrangling. I don’t think it makes sense. I think that that has to be part of our energy mix.
I’ve said that I am supportive — and I said this two nights ago at the State of the Union — that I’m in favor of increased production.
So if you look at the ideas that this caucus has, again, with respect to energy, I’m for a lot of what you said you are for.
The one thing that I’ve also said, though — and here we have a serious disagreement and my hope is we can work through this agreement — these disagreements; there’s be effort on the Senate side to do so on a bipartisan basis — is that we have to plan for the future.
And the future is that clean energy — cleaner forms of energy are going to be increasingly important. Because even if folks are still skeptical in some cases about climate change in our politics and in Congress, the world’s not skeptical about it.
If we’re going to be going after some of these big markets, they’re going to be looking to see is the United States the one that’s developing clean coal technology? Is the United States developing our natural gas resources in the most effective way? Is the United States the one that is going to lead in electric cars?
Because if we’re not leading, those other countries are going to be leading.
OBAMA: So what I want to do is with West Virginia to figure out how we can seize that future. But to do that, that means there’s going to have to be some transition. We can’t operate the coal industry in the United States as if we’re still in the 1920s or the 1930s or the 1950s. We’ve got to be thinking, what does that industry look like in the next hundred years?
And it’s going to be different. And that means there’s going to be some transition, and that’s where I think a well-thought-through policy of incentivizing the new while, you know, recognizing that there’s going to be a transition process and we’re not just suddenly putting the old out of business right away. That has to be something that both Republicans and Democrats should be able to embrace.
And here, you can watch for yourself:
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I’m not real good with understanding government-speak so what is specifically the transition that he speaks?
When he says “recognizing that there’s going to be a transition process and we’re not just suddenly putting the old out of business right away”, is he saying that he’d like to put the coal industry out of business but just not immediately?
Also does he think that the coal industry operates the same as it did in the 20′s to 50′s? Does he realize the many laws since passed and the copious regulations that now apply to mining?
Speaking of “transition” in the coalfields, here’s a link about the new Appalachian Transition initiative that’s just getting ramped up: http://appalachiantransition.org/
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When he said there will be a transition process he is saying that the old days and old ways of producing energy, mainly from coal, has to change. Coal is the dirtest of our minerals and causes the most environmental damage across the country.
That has to change with a development technology that will reduce the carbon emissions from coal. Plus, coal will be mined out in about 20 years, so it’s imperative that we develop other forms of energy. He also said that if we don’t do that we are waging a losing battle in energy competition with european and asian countries.
It dosn’t take a rocket science to see that we either change, especially in way we mine coal, or we’re not only going to lose the energy battle, but in the process put more carbon in the atmosphere causing expanded chronic health problems.
In addition, the devastation to mountains, streams, ecosystems, and aquatic life from mountain top coal removal is a travesty to people and the land.
If West Virginia is going to keep processing coal and dumping the slurry all across the coal patch then the only path I see that’ll make the transition towards truly “clean” coal is Superfund.
The problem is that none of the local government officials will pick up the phone to call the Superfund agents in to start cleaning up after the coal operators.
I wonder why?
I have to agree with Herb. Coal isn’t going to be around forever. Besides, the coal industry itself is responsible for more job losses than the any government regulation. The natural gas industry in WV has more employees than the coal industry. We need to start thinking about the future and implement new, innovative ideas. We can’t be the same ‘ol “Aww shucks” West Virginia that we’ve been for the last 70 or so years. Its time we lead the nation in innovative energy and not sit back and depend on outdated natural resources.
I still do not see the gain for our gov. in be so outspoken against the epa and the president. Both being in the same party and WV being so close to DC it would make far more sense politically for the Gov. to become the right hand man of the President on this (energy and coal ) issue.
It looks to me like coal is going down the same road as natural gas, The gas storage units have been full for some time.Sales are slow. Too much over production, and too few markets will bring down the prices of both fuels, resulting in fewer state & local tax revenues
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Laws to regulate coal mining and worker safety have been passed since the early days. The problem is, most of the laws were never really enforced and regulatory agencies have never really incorporated (or enforced) those laws in the permit process. I think if the law was strictly enforced, most strip mine permits would not be issued.
I agree with former Congressman Ken Hechler, and many others, that strip mining can’t be regulated. It must be abolished.
I truly believe in a just transition for strip miners and there is some reclamation work in trying to repair the damage that has already been done. But we need new jobs as well.
We must prepare for the near future, when most of the coal will have been mined out in West Virginia. At our meeting with Governor Manchin, he admitted that he thinks that there might be 30-50 years of mine-able coal left here in West Virginia.
We should have started to diversify our economy 40 years ago and our elected officials must focus on transitioning now. We don’t have a day to lose. Citizens must take responsibility and lead our officials to act now to bring other (different) businesses to southern West Virginia.
West Virginia (and Appalachia) has given it’s blood, sweat and tears to fuel the nation and now it is time for America to give back.
I understand Congresswoman Capito and the other representatives worry about jobs and our economy, as we all do. But we are also worried about the health of our people as well. Our health and the environment also relates to the economy.
It greatly bothers me that Representative Capito and other West Virginia representatives, with the exception of the Honorable Senator Byrd, has not addressed or acknowledged the impacts of surface/strip mining to the innocent people that live near and downstream of these sites.
Jobs at any cost, and at the health of innocent people, our children and our future is not the answer to our problems. It only creates more problems and it is immoral, indefensible and unacceptable.
These comments obviously come from people who don’t work in the coal industry. JOBS may not be the answer to your problems, but they are the answer sought by tens of thousands of West Virginians. Unemployment in this state has DOUBLED in the first year of the Obama administration — from 4.5% in Dec. 2008 to 9.1% in Dec. 2009.
What is immoral, indefensible and unacceptable is a White House that would force such a radical “transition” of our energy economy, by fiat if necessary, in the midst of a depression, knowing full well the widespread suffering and destitution it causes.
I moved to S.C. 1988 to have employment then came NAFTA and destroyed that job market.My family moved back to WV, in 2004 and now I work in the coal indusry.I guess what I am trying to point out is the big GOV. policies destroy more jobs than it creates.
Anne: the drop in employment was put in motion long before Obama became president. That was all Bush’s fault. He helped support sub-prime mortgage lending and placed the housing market on a bubble. He didn’t stop the downfall of the auto industry. If you remember, Bear Sterns occurred under Bush. And then came the rest of the banks and lending institutions. All of them got into trouble under Bush. Obama is having to deal with the mess. West Virginia, being a raw materials exporter, is always the last to be affected, but it’s employment crash is always inevitable when the nation’s manufacturing industry and economy starts sliding downhill. So don’t blame Obama for the economic recession. All that started under Bush.
And MinerMike. NAFTA is not big government. It’s exactly the opposite. It’s aim was to eliminate government and export/import tariffs and open the door for more international trade. It actually undermines government labor and environmental laws by defining them, more or less, as impediments to trade, and therefore undersirable, and even punishable, under NAFTA. That’s why alot of our nation’s manufacturing went overseas. It made environmental and labor laws in other countries more or less inapplicable to US corporations operating overseas. And the reduction and elimination of tariffs under NAFTA made it more economical for US corporations to move overseas and then import their goods into the US. That is small/zero government, not big government, and look where it left us. By extension, it forced companies still operating in the US to look toward more immigrant labor in order to remain competitive with the companies that had moved overseas, and with companies based in China and elsewhere.
So it’s always interesting to me when someone says they’re against big government but then complain about the loss in jobs. Or when they say they’re against big government but then they complain about immigrant labor. Or when they say they’re for free trade and free markets, but against NAFTA and against immigration. That’s all backwards.
As a final history piece, NAFTA was initiated under Reagan and Bush I, if I recall. It was implemented under Clinton, and pushed to extremes under Bush. Republicans love it. Most Dem’s love it. Corporations definitely love it. But it’s destroying our economy, and destroying the environment. It open’s up our world to more domination by banking and financial institutions such as Citi and JP Morgan Chase and the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and the US Federal Reserve (unregulated US government agency). These are the same institutions that played a large part in driving our economy into a hole. They’re the same institutions that, under Bush, were largely unregulated.
And look where it got us. Might want to re-think whether you’re for or against big government. It was small government and deregulation and lack of implementation of the laws that led to our current economic situation. Not the other way around. And while Obama may not be handling the situation very well, he isn’t to blame for causing it. All that was put in motion a good 20+ years ago, and it all came crashing down b/c of support from the Bush Administration.
When history looks back at the past ten years, just remember that fact.
Anne Lieberman;
You are wrong when you say our comments come from people who never worked the mines; or had reletives who did. I am an ex miner, and have relatives now employed in coal producing.
Kathy Mattea, our WV songbird, is also an environmentalist. She has brothers working the mines. Our choices havent been easy, but we believe in whats good for the state’s future
Anne,
I sincerely apologize if my comment about jobs seemed flippant and upset you. I was not talking just about coal mining jobs.
I am a coal miners daughter- grand daughter and my family worked in the coal mines. Coal miners are some of the hardest working people I know.
We are not against underground mining and we are insisting on a just transition for surface mining.
We know this transition will be hard but as Senator Byrd said, we must embrace the future.
We find it ironic that the poorest parts of West Virginia are the coal producing counties and communities. It will be a very tough time for us all and my heart aches but I know we West Virginians are tough.
Please consider that there are people suffering in communities who live near these surface mining sites. According to a study by Dr. Hendryx, a woman is losing 10 years off her life just because she lives near a mining site. We want sustainable jobs for our people and many of us are working on projects to bring diversity to West Virginia but we lack the money, prestige and connections that our elected officials have.
I want to commend Ken Ward for this blog. It is probably the most honest and informative blog , bar none, I have read. I look forward to the comments from all sides of these issues and I especially like the comments which give the basis and/or authority by which they arrive at their opinions. I like the personal based comments too because they let me know what people are personally thinking.
Keep up the good work. It’s really needed right now.
A-MOUSE,under NAFTA we the working class was promised training for tech. jobs and got nothing.Just scared that CAP and TRADE will more likley do the same.We as a NATION must take this threat seriously.At this time we can not afford anymore job losses.Thanks for info on NAFTA ,NOW LET US FIX IT…;
Anne, you are making a great effort to force a thoughtful conversation on behalf of coal miners.
You are definitely right that jobs are an important answer for many people in southern West Virginia.
When President Obama says that the coal industry can’t function like it’s the 1920s or 1950s, he’s saying that the government should no longer artificially shield the coal industry from market forces, because that would be a bad, anti-growth form of public policy. Instead, we should open up southern West Virginia to the forces of the emerging energy markets of the 21st century. This growth-oriented, future-oriented policy will bring more jobs and more energy production to our areas.
The old pro-coal-company rules no longer benefit southern West Virginia, because coal production is on the decline, and other industries will have to pick up the slack. President obama didn’t make it that way, but he’s trying to make the best of a declining coal industry in southern West Virginia. President Obama’s initiatives are focused entirely on that goal of maximizing jobs in this part of the state.
Can you point to any research or analysis suggesting that coal production is NOT going to decline by 40-50% in southern West Virginia over the next ten years — and that the job losses are going to be steepest at surface mines that produce steam coal, because those coal seams are the most marginal, and the market is the weakest for that coal, relative to the deeper metallurgical (steelmaking) coal?
Just follow the markets and this trend is clear — Central Appalachian coal futures have continually moved upward in recent years, yet production has continued to decline. This means the coal is less and less profitable and the southern WV coal industry is on the decline.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/nymex/nymex_historical.html
Major companies have divested and abandoned their Central Appalachian assets (Peabody spun off all its Appalachian properties into a shell company called Patriot; Arch spun off most of its properties into Magnum, which was rolled into Patriot as well; so all the old pension liabilities and declining productivity are off the balance sheets of these major international mining companies that are focusing on production in the western US and, in Peabody’s case, they are vastly expanding investment in China; and furthermore most new investment in southern WV coal production is coming from Russian and Indian steelmakers, or niche companies like Massey who are consolidating the remaining large-scale viable Central Appalachian coal properties and are increasingly selling their coal to those Asian steelmakers).
So doesn’t it seem like the best type of pressure and criticism to put on Obama might be a campaign to urge him to maxmimize the use of clean coal technology and to support broadband, better access to credit and capital, and other critical initiatives for bringing new markets and economic expansion to southern WV?
To avoid the current staggeringly bleak outlook for countless coal-mining towns in the southern counties, we should urge our elected representatives to advocate policies that will open new markets for clean coal technology and other sources of cleaner energy, which in turn will slow the inevitable decline in demand for southern WV’s steam coal. Although Obama appears likely to maximize the human health and environmental safeguards for the remaining surface mines, it is difficult to see how we can blame the overall decline in coal production on this type of increased enforcement. Obama’s enforcement initiative will reduce the damage to the local water supplies and wood products industries in these twilight years of the large-scale surface mining industry in southern West Virginia. Anne, you are correct that there is some chance that companies will back away from a few mining properties as a result of better health and environmental enforcement (and this could mean jobs lost). But when you look at net job loss in Appalachian coal-mining counties, the booms-and-busts are milder, and the overall trends are more growth-oriented when people are healthier and when the non-coal industries are healthier (their health historically varies in inverse proportion to coal production). So, no matter what, we are facing something like a 50% decline in coal production whether or not there are stronger health/environmental controls. The challenge facing our government is whether we pursue new markets and policies that embrace that decline while also maximizing growth in other industries. If we do pursue them, all of our experiences indicate that net job loss will be much smaller than it would be if we don’t pursue them.
I for one hope that we can all focus on new policies that help to open new markets in southern West Virginia, and help to jumpstart a long-term growth-oriented economy, instead of ignoring the inevitable and near-term decline that we are facing if we keep all our chips on coal.
[...] Blogs @ The Charleston Gazette – » President Obama calls for coal to make ‘transition’ blogs.wvgazette.com – view page – cached … What I want to do is with West Virginia to figure out how we can seize that future. But to do that, that means there’s going to have to be some transition. We can’t operate the coal industry in the United States as if we’re still in the 1920s or the 1930s or the 1950s. We’ve got to be thinking, what does that industry look like in the next hundred years? [...]
I realize my last post was light on documentation, so here’s some additional background for what I wrote.
Re: the correlation between mining, health/welfare, and economics, see Michael Hendryx’s study “Mortality in Appalachian Coal Mining Regions: The Value of Statistical Life Lost,” as well as innumerable other studies over past decades. Also, the mercurial relationship between economic vitality and coal production is explained very well in a chapter called “Socioeconomic Trends in Mining-Dependent Counties in Appalachia,” by Melissa Latimer and F. Carson Mencken, pp.79-103 in a book titled Communities of Work: Rural Restructuring in Local and Global Contexts. (Ohio University Press, 2003)
Anyone who has read a book on basic economics has probably read that the southern WV coalfield counties are the textbook example of a monopsonistic labor market (in which one buyer faces many sellers, and thus has extraordinary control that undermines a healthy economy) –in fact, the coal industry often defends itself by emphasizing that it is the only option for jobs in the coalfields, i.e. that it is exploiting a monopsonistic position in a distorted labor market. Although we are clearly not in the 1920s when it comes to having company stores, and other more overt aspects of traditional control, it is clearly also the case that we are still dealing with the key components of WV’s notoriously broken markets for labor and land. The Latimer and Mencken article gives a good synopsis of those components (concentrated land ownership, monopsonistic job market, abuses by local comprador political elites, such as the nationally-recognized Maynard-Blankenship affair, etc.), and their negative impact on earnings, income, employment, labor force participation, population, local government revenues, and general welfare in coal-mining counties.
Re: coal company histories, there are better sources if you feel like sifting through old business wire reports and SEC filings, but these links should be adequate for documenting the narrative in my previous post:
Patriot created from Peabody:
http://www.peabodyenergy.com/Investors/FAQs-Patriot1.asp
Magnum:
http://shareholder.api.edgar-online.com/efx_dll/edgarpro.dll?FetchFilingRTF1?sessionid=QgenW8DQW0Cds5f&ID=4119034&PageBreakStyleID=2
Patriot acquires Magnum:
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/090302/pcx10-k.html
Russian steelmakers bought out major Bluestone Coal Company, formerly owned by Jim Justice, who now has purchased the Greenbrier:
http://statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=53154
ArcelorMittal, the Indian company that has taken control of Weirton Steel, has also purchased several coal companies in southern WV:
http://www.allbusiness.com/mining-extraction/mines-mining-surface/12676959-1.html
Re: trajectory of coal production, I think this has been documented more than enough on this blog, but I and others would surely be glad to provide further citations if people are still incredulous.
J.Bonds, I agree that we should have already started to diversify WV’s economy. That will not happen as long as WV is ranked as the worst place to do business. That needs to change to have hope for diversification. Most businesses can locate just about anywhere (except for example coal which has to locate where the coal is and that’s about the only reason WV has this economic driver). I disagree that surface mining is illegal. Environmental lawyers have raked in millions of dollars in legal fees for the last 12 years trying to stop it so that must not be the case. Congress’s objective of balancing our energy needs and protecting the environment and the public, does not mean abolishing surface mining.
A-mouse, the sub-prime crisis can be blamed on many but there’s no question that Barney Frank et al were a huge part of the problem. It wasn’t small government that caused the problem it was wrong government and unintended consequences.
E.Brown, you make some valid points but most of your points do not call for a transition away from coal but for more diversification of our economy. You said “the government should no longer artificially shield the coal industry from market forces…” It’s certainly not market forces that allow renewables to have any place in the energy mix. Huge taxpayer funded subsidies are required for renewables to grow. Maybe this approach is better than carbon taxes. “An expert panel including three Nobel Laureate economists concluded that devoting just 0.2% of global GDP—roughly $100 billion a year—to green-energy R&D could produce the kind of breakthroughs needed to fuel a carbon-free future.” The author suggests that this is much better than spending $40 trillion per year on a carbon tax.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704878904575031090121429582.html
Casey,
Absolutely. I’m definitely not trying to argue for a complete transition away from coal in any way. Rather, I’m trying to argue that we should accept a future in which coal plays a diminished role in southern West Virginia’s economy, and in which, consequently, many other types of new livelihoods are available to citizens of our region.
I think that rational middle-ground people like you and me could probably agree that certain people in the coal industry tend to overstate things when they describe some doomsday scenario, in which they suggest that any transition whatsoever would be completely catastrophic and would kill innumerable jobs and even kill the entire coal industry. Hopefully the next stage of the public discussion, for people like you and me, and I hope many others, will be that we accept the inevitability and even the desirability of some additional enforcement and of a transition to a more diverse economy, and that we begin focusing on what that future will look like, as opposed to continuing to bicker about a false choice between the keeping the status quo and killing the coal industry. It’s not one or the other. Just because certain people in the media, and certain people in government, unions, and industry, might tend to say it’s all or nothing, doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily that way. This blog is so great because it seems to be a venue for cutting through the misleading extremes on both sides of the debate, and actually having an honest and serious discussion about making a better future for ourselves.
Casey, the concept in your WSJ article was a good one — i.e. there are cheap ways to usher in the future. I don’t know if Bjorn Lomborg is the most effective person to lead that discussion, but there are definitely others like Senate Republicans Lindsay Graham, Susan Collins, Lamar Alexander, George Voinovich, and others, who are pursuing a serious discussion about how to usher in the low-carbon future at the lowest cost. Those on the right can work with moderates and independents like Joe Lieberman, and those on the left like John Kerry, in order to reach some compromise that has the support of the American people. I look forward to continuing to follow the discussion of their efforts with you and others on this blog.
E. Brown, I think I like the way you think. I don’t believe that you have to be in favor of the development of low cost renewables only on the basis of a low-carbon future as you could also favor it based on a sustainable future. R&D is needed to reduce the cost though.
As you stated, many readers in this blog in calling for economic and energy diversification, are just wishing for the end of coal mining and just hoping that something else clean and nice replaces it.
They should focus on pushing politicians to elevate WV into the top 20 rather than 49th for the best places to do business. Create a favorable climate and diversification will occur. Maybe it’s certain businesses, plaintiff lawyers and unions that are the special interests that are really hurting WV. WV needs to be open for business and still maintain its wild and wonderful aspects.
What the Gazette bloggers have omitted so far is the competitive situation of Wesr Virginia , in the national coal markets. The 60 foot seams of coal in Wyoming, versus the thin seams in WV. Also, the area is flat lands in Wyoming, v mountains in WV. The question arises; should we destroy our mountains, and bury our streams to be competitive ?
Imported coal also plays a part. South Africa, with its low wage structure, can compete better. Something to think about.
Shelby,
Actually, this is among the issues discussed previously in this post:
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/19/must-read-report-the-decline-of-central-appalachian-coal/
It was also the topic of one of my major stories (which has been linked to numerous times in Coal Tattoo)
http://wvgazette.com/News/MiningtheMountains/200812050301
Ken.
Here’s my thoughts:
http://www.wvablue.com/diary/5523/rep-shelley-moore-capito-and-president-barack-obama-on-west-virginias-future
I think the essence of Pres. Obama’s response is West Virginia isn’t going to have any coal left in 100 years (even sooner, actually) and we ought to act on that with more urgency than we have been.
Thanks, Ken
My ‘puter was down during those links.
We hear “big govmt”, and ”smaller govmt” terms almost daily in the news. Maybe its time to merge some county governments in WV.With all our interstate highways, the county seats can be reached in short times. This would save tons of money. This may be compelling when coal starts to decline, especially so in the southern countys. Maybe we could sweet talk Washington into providing some TARP funding to build some limited access highways, between the interstate system in WV
OH! and for your information..I have yet to hear from ANYONE in this county getting work, (and we are coal miners!) the workers are ALL from texas and other states.. bringing jobs to whom hotels,,, nope they are taking propertys in trouble, buying them and then building awsome group homes for OUT_OF_STATE_workers to relocate here untill finished,,LOL get off your desk chairs and LOOK-AROUND,,take off the blind folds and get dirty, on a subject before you listen to cnn,,,for gods sake get a clue!!!
I keep hearing about coal being gone in 20 years on this blog. In a earlier comment, I stated that CONSOL , I company I work for, has 1.9 Billion tons of reserves. Im sorry for the mistake. We have 4.5 Billion tons of reserves in 5 states. Our current production targets are reduced to 65 million tons per year. Please help me with the math, I think that is about 79 years of production. A far cry from the 20 years of production that some on this blog shout to the heavens.
Scott 14,
Please show me the link where I blogged “about coal being gone in 20 years” … I don’t think you can. That’s not what I’ve written.
However, if you read this post:
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/19/must-read-report-the-decline-of-central-appalachian-coal/
You will see that the government’s projections indicate Central Appalachian coal production will decline by 46 percent by 2020 and by 58 percent by 2035.
Those are significant drops in production. But, they do not indicate — and I haven’t written — that coal will be gone in 20 years.
And, quite a bit of CONSOL’s reserves are not in Central Appalachia — they are in Northern Appalachia. Further, the fact that the coal is in the ground does not mean it will be economical to mine it … and the production estimates DOE publishes assume no impact from climate change legislation or further restrictions on mountaintop removal.
So, it’s not so much that your math is wrong, but that you are not really grasping what I’ve written about …
Ken.
hey scott I think that number is coming from Gene Kitts’ speech the other day where he was talking specifically about a couple of WV counties. And I could have that wrong but that was my impression from the limited context available from the H-L article.
What a concept! A discussion based on mutual respect and consideration of the facts. Thank you! I will comment further after more “listening” and thinking about what folks on different sides of this particularly tough issue are saying. BH
[...] are very concerned about some of your policies,” West Virginia Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R) toldObama last month, referring in part to the EPA’s denial of some mountaintop permits. “In our [...]
[...] are very concerned about some of your policies,” West Virginia Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R) told Obama last month, referring in part to the EPA’s denial of some mountaintop permits. “In our [...]