What Coal Means To Us
About the Author
About This Video
Energy - availability and affordability - is a great concern to the people of WV. We have the coal and the ability to produce electricity for all the Northeast area. If Cap and Trade passes, it's will mean a huge increase in the cost to our citizens.
Citizens of WV will have to come up with additional cost if Cap and Trade becomes law. Hopefully, Obama will not get his way on this. It will hurt our citizens - especially low income.
Join the Discussion
Welcome to Planet Forward – real dialogue on energy issues: experts, policymakers, citizens and you! This is your chance to have your voice heard on one of the biggest challenges of our times: whether we can move away from using fossil fuels and if we should, how should we do it?
Send us a video, written essay, podcast, song, etc. (see our guidelines for details). They’ll spark debate online, where site users will rate their favorites.
For inspiration, we recommend you check out our PBS TV special, and our web sequel, with Van Jones, President Obama's green jobs advisor, joining Planet Forward's Frank Sesno in a discussion of the formula for our energy future.
3 comments for "What Coal Means To Us".
1. As if the environment isn't even a concern
The mountain state is fast becoming a flat state due to mountaintop removal coal mining. There is still no way to capture and store CO2 on a large scale, so global warming is a huge cost. In addition, coal mining is now moving to Wyoming due to West Virginia coal's high sulfur concentration and increasing difficulty in mining it. There are other ways to generate electricity.
2. Cap and trade may equal unfair tax
State senator Boley, along with the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page, is right: the cap and trade system will equal higher costs for low income areas. These are the same areas that have been slammed time and time again because of coal: water and air pollution, absentee owners, eventual abandonment when the jobs leave, and now this.
I'm all for regulating carbon emissions, I just don't think it's America's poorest who should have to pay for it.
3. costs
Though I'm sympathetic to citizens in W Va and elsewhere, cost efficiency is not the only parameter to look at in considering our energy future. What are the health costs to those working in the industry and to our environment by continuing the use of coal. And, as with any finite resource, we just put off the inevitable by not turning to renewable resources.