The "coal belt" and the EPA. A ramble.
The ramble:
I understand what the EPA is attempting to achieve, I do. Even as a coal miner, and a West Virginian, I understand the complications behind their decision to begin fighting for cleaner and more renewable technologies. However, until the technology is there for the renewable technologies to be as effective as coal, I don't see how they can justify such regulations. They're giving the coal fired power plants until 2030 to achieve this 30% cut in emissions. I believe in 15+ years the technology could be there to make this attainable, but it isn't right now.
My other issue with this is that Europe and Asia are both burning coal like it's going out of style. Please, explain to me how us curbing our emissions is going to save the planet? We need to get everyone on board for this to work, because I highly doubt they will follow our lead. For one, Europe recently began switching everything back from natural gas to coal because of cost. Because of the fracking boom in the United States, coal prices have dropped drastically in the world market. And because natural gas is so inexpensive here, coal operators (such as the one I work for) are turning their attentions to the world market, which is causing prices to plummet. And then; there's China.
China has added, within several years (2005-2009), the equivalent of the United States' ENTIRE FLEET of coal-fired power plants. Oh, and by our governments projections, they will add the equivalent of a new 600-megawatt plant every 10 days for the next 10 years. China consumes nearly 4 BILLION tons of coal a year (the U.S. consumes 1 billion, the EU 600 million). Holy sweet fuck.
Recently on reddit until_valhalla spoke to someone who works in a coal-fired power plant. Currently, the regulations are just having the power plants add more scrubbers to help clean the coal more. This sucks for them and will probably drive up the cost for energy consumers until the necessary scrubbers are in place. That's fine. I hope this helps and will make the power plants fall under the regulations set by our lovely government.
And (this is not because I am a coal miner...) I'm not entirely certain about natural gas, mostly fracking. To me, there isn't enough knowledge about the consequences of fracking to justify labeling it as safe. There have been far too many cases of poisoning ground water for me to get on board. That, and yes, the gas boom in this area has helped small businesses come out of the funk they were in. The area is prospering as these companies move their workers in and "drill, baby, drill". But it is not all sunshine and rainbows. The crime rate has rose, as has the number of reported STD's (30% increase!). The companies are relocating workers from other parts of the country instead of hiring local residents to fill those jobs, which in the long term scope of things does NOT help the area. The area roads are in the worst condition I have ever seen them in. Rumor is that West Virginia governor Tomblin waived weight limits for back roads so that the fracking trucks wouldn't get fined. And the land has been destroyed. You can't look across any ridges without seeing a drill pad. To me, this isn't my home, but I digress.
I honestly am writing this because I wish more people across the country would do more research before bandwagoning against one form of energy or another. Someone across the country probably thinks our skies here in West Virginia look like a smog-ladden city because of the hype over coal, when in actuality we have exceptionally clean air.
I hope that someday we can get away from the use of coal and natural gas (which is also a fossil fuel and no better for the environment than coal.) But it is not this day. Please don't think that coal miners can just go back to college either. We have families, bills, and obligations. These can not be filled by working a minimum wage job while we attend college for four to five years.
Also, I found this very interesting: Crime of the Century: the climate-change hoax.
I understand what the EPA is attempting to achieve, I do. Even as a coal miner, and a West Virginian, I understand the complications behind their decision to begin fighting for cleaner and more renewable technologies. However, until the technology is there for the renewable technologies to be as effective as coal, I don't see how they can justify such regulations. They're giving the coal fired power plants until 2030 to achieve this 30% cut in emissions. I believe in 15+ years the technology could be there to make this attainable, but it isn't right now.
My other issue with this is that Europe and Asia are both burning coal like it's going out of style. Please, explain to me how us curbing our emissions is going to save the planet? We need to get everyone on board for this to work, because I highly doubt they will follow our lead. For one, Europe recently began switching everything back from natural gas to coal because of cost. Because of the fracking boom in the United States, coal prices have dropped drastically in the world market. And because natural gas is so inexpensive here, coal operators (such as the one I work for) are turning their attentions to the world market, which is causing prices to plummet. And then; there's China.
China has added, within several years (2005-2009), the equivalent of the United States' ENTIRE FLEET of coal-fired power plants. Oh, and by our governments projections, they will add the equivalent of a new 600-megawatt plant every 10 days for the next 10 years. China consumes nearly 4 BILLION tons of coal a year (the U.S. consumes 1 billion, the EU 600 million). Holy sweet fuck.
Recently on reddit until_valhalla spoke to someone who works in a coal-fired power plant. Currently, the regulations are just having the power plants add more scrubbers to help clean the coal more. This sucks for them and will probably drive up the cost for energy consumers until the necessary scrubbers are in place. That's fine. I hope this helps and will make the power plants fall under the regulations set by our lovely government.
And (this is not because I am a coal miner...) I'm not entirely certain about natural gas, mostly fracking. To me, there isn't enough knowledge about the consequences of fracking to justify labeling it as safe. There have been far too many cases of poisoning ground water for me to get on board. That, and yes, the gas boom in this area has helped small businesses come out of the funk they were in. The area is prospering as these companies move their workers in and "drill, baby, drill". But it is not all sunshine and rainbows. The crime rate has rose, as has the number of reported STD's (30% increase!). The companies are relocating workers from other parts of the country instead of hiring local residents to fill those jobs, which in the long term scope of things does NOT help the area. The area roads are in the worst condition I have ever seen them in. Rumor is that West Virginia governor Tomblin waived weight limits for back roads so that the fracking trucks wouldn't get fined. And the land has been destroyed. You can't look across any ridges without seeing a drill pad. To me, this isn't my home, but I digress.
I honestly am writing this because I wish more people across the country would do more research before bandwagoning against one form of energy or another. Someone across the country probably thinks our skies here in West Virginia look like a smog-ladden city because of the hype over coal, when in actuality we have exceptionally clean air.
I hope that someday we can get away from the use of coal and natural gas (which is also a fossil fuel and no better for the environment than coal.) But it is not this day. Please don't think that coal miners can just go back to college either. We have families, bills, and obligations. These can not be filled by working a minimum wage job while we attend college for four to five years.
Also, I found this very interesting: Crime of the Century: the climate-change hoax.