ABEC — Apr 2 2008 10:40 AM

For the record... coal producers at not odds with the environmental movement!

Each one of us is an environmentalist, and every one of us has a great responsibility to protect the environment. Climate change is a global issue that is going to require a global solution. Coal has to be part of the solution, not a target of the policy.

Unlike folks who are saying that reducing greenhouse gases in the utility sector will require us to use different energy sources, we believe that the only way to get that done is to figure out how to use our current energy resources differently. If we don’t develop the technology here, it won’t make its way to China, India and other places in the developing world that will continue to use massive amounts of coal no matter what we do in the United States. And if we want to solve a global issue such as climate change, China and India must be part of the solution.

We recognize that there is a shared commitment between electricity generators and those that they serve to reduce utility greenhouse gas emissions. The conversation now is about how best to do that in a way that meets the stated environmental goal, protects access to affordable, reliable energy and ensures energy security.

http://www.americaspower.org/News/Behind-the-Plug

Keith Farnish — Apr 2 2008 11:37 AM

Hey David, the sad thing is, you really want to believe what you are saying. It's no surprise really: people will do anything to defend their paycheck because they have grown up in a world where money is all that matters, and a growing economy is the answer to all of the our problems.

Now here's a wake up call. All of your life you have been lied to: every advertisement, every government policy, every piece of promotional material is just a way of getting you to spend more money and prop up something that is fundamentally flawed, and will collapse without an increasing amount of capital.

You are not an innocent party in this - I and many people like me have realised that we are surrounded by a thick fog of lies, and I guess that you have the mental capacity to do this too. If you genuinely know that the coal industry is a positive force for global good then say so, but do not - under any circumstances - say it if you do not genuinely and objectively believe it.

You may find this article instructive:

http://earth-blog.bravejournal.com/entry/25100

Keith.

Matt Wasson — Apr 2 2008 08:39 PM

Great job on ABECC guys! Best new website I've seen in a while.

I wanted to add another ABEC blog comment for the list, Rob - we've even had them commenting on our own humble Appalachian Voices Front Porch Blog (I fear they're keeping tabs on our blog better than we are!).

According to ABEC, mountaintop removal is a misnomer, but they would like to reassure us that it's only a minor problem anyway, as less than 10% of our coal comes from mountaintop removal. Here's the post with comment:

http://www.appvoices.org/index.php?/frontporch/comments/responses_to_hillarys_position_on_mtr/

Surprisingly, I agree with their numbers (less than 10% comes from mountaintop removal), but it's hardly reassuring that we would permanently destroy nearly 500 mountains, more than 1 million acres of forest and more than 1,000 miles of streams for less than 10% of our coal supply.