Dear Friends,
It seems to me that the coal industry has some defending and spin control to do. The environmentalists keep pummeling them in the face. And they have yet to put up their fists.
Mountain top mining is an example. It has been vilified through out the unbiased media. The mantra goes on, “They shear off the top of mountains and put the debris in the rivers…” Spinning the facts to the environmentalists advantage. The coal industry should emphasize the end result of the process.
Making farmland from mountains. That should be the mantra of mountain top mining. The coal industry (if it is wise) should design on, and deliver, that plan. Level the land and use the machine and techniques for making top soil that are being developed in Upstate NY. If the coal industry turned over formerly hill top mined land to farmers to grow bio fuel crops it would be a propaganda advantage for the industry.
Anything less than restoring the land to agricultural use would be an example of what we call Stupid Capitalism in the manifesto. It would undermine (pun intended) the firm’s interests, their ability to conduct business in the future, draw undue regulation from the government, and do a disservice to the shareholders…
Coal is the cheapest and most abundant energy resource in North America. Coal can be gasified and liquefied into a motor vehicle fuel. The technology is from WWII. It could be implemented within five years to start replacing foreign sources of motor fuel. Even using waste piles of tailings from old operations in Pennsylvania say. (Doing the environment a favor). The environmentalists despise coal however. But not for the reasons they state. They rightfully see it as a source of energy that is both cheap and available to improve the lot of man. That cannot be abided… We must be forced to do with less…
So if the coal industry wants to actually become a real alternative to foreign oil it must start advertising on TV where the average Joe, (you and I) watch. They need to educate the public. Before our electric bills triple and quadruple in only a few years…
