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Wow the stupidity about coal and its uses on here the Chinese buy Appalachian coal for its steel industry because its the best in the world for making steel.Get over it folks coal is critical in making steel and electricity has made our life better in this world powered by coal.
I retired from a steel mill that`s very much in business today and do you know how much coal is used to manufacture new metal at this modern facility? ZERO! Here`s my follow up question. Who is it that`s been dumbed down and seriously uninformed about making steel?
The truth is that in most of West Virginia there is no alternative to the coal industry. There IS nothing else that people can survive on. There is some tourism but our mountains can't really compete with the Smokeys or the Blue Ridge for tourist volume, there is skiing but that is a seasonal industry. The northern part of the state is seeing natural gas development, but the tree hugging liberals are trying to stop that too especially fracking for natural gas. Especially in southern WV and parts of Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee there is no other possible industry. Most of WV does not have any natural resources except for coal and the land is not suitable for farming because of the terrain. Companies also will not set up shop here due to transportation issues and the federal government refuses to finish building the Coalfields Expressway even as they greenlight dozens of mass transit projects in the big cities.
Most of the people who support the war on coal are probably out of state liberals working a federal government job where THEY have job security and its easy for them to tell people in coal country to just find another job, especially when there ARE no other decent jobs in southern West Virginia. Then y'all will probably tell everyone to move out of West Virginia. You people really do not sympathize with your fellow Americans or identify with anyone outside the urban liberal elite. Though you probably DO identify with illegal aliens and feel sorry for THEM. I wish I didn't have to share my country with most Obama voters.
West Virginia needs to find something to rely upon other than coal. I don't know that the hands of time will turn backward and coal will suddenly become popular again. To sit back and blame 'tree hugging urban liberal elite' is an easy scapegoat and does not help solve the problem one little bit.
My former state - needs to find it's way into this modern world or risk losing it's young people to more drugs and simply leaving the state to find work.
I wouldn't argue any of what you've written; I chose the 1800s because so many writers and diarists kept account of living in London and the effects of coal soot. Again, I'd be thrilled to see the industry
get back into full swing. President Obama is well aware of the coal issue having worked with coal research facilities, and blaming him for the demise of an industry that began happening many years ago is unfair and untruthful.
“Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity price would necessarily skyrocket. . . . Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, natural gas—you name it—whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.†Obama 2008
"So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted." Obama 2008
“Coal is My Worst Nightmare.†Not Yet Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu 2007 (at Berkeley)
"During President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, he declared one of his energy goals was to “bankrupt†the coal industry by making electricity prices “skyrocket.†That policy statement kick-started the president’s continuing war on coal miners, their families and the millions of Americans who rely on affordable coal-fired electricity. Since his election, the president has tried at every turn to make that goal a reality..."
"Now, of course, the regulation will not actually say “no one may ever again construct a power plant that burns coal to produce electricity anywhere in the United States of America.†Instead, it will just say you can’t build anything in future that emits more than a certain amount of greenhouse gas and then set a really low number that is commercially untenable as the relevant highest amount that can be emitted in order for a plant to be legally constructed."
What we`re seeing in this part of the country is that coal producers are switching their focus to natural gas. Does anyone think that Obama should force a private industry to invest in coal when they prefer coal? The war on coal is being waged by natural gas. Consol Energy to invest more in gas than coal
Do you realize how lame this argument is? When the government keeps hammering an industry making it increasingly unprofitable what do you expect?
How about showing us some reclaimed mining site that is 30 years old?
And what about the people like Larry Gibson, founder of Keeper of the Mountains, who are forced to live with all that destruction in the meantime? While it's easy to dismiss resistance to mountaintop removal mining as the realm of those darn out-of-state elites, it's far more difficult to do the same when West Virginians with deep roots in the state are campaigning to put an end to it.
Wasn't it just 4 years ago that everyone was talking about "clean coal", which was supposed to lead to a resurgence in the industry? I've got no issue with coal, and I can't blame everything on Obama (as much as I would love to)... At any rate, I think it's great that the nation has diversified over the decades. More options available is never a bad thing. I think coal will always be an important source of energy here and abroad, and I've got no problem with that. It's just not going to be THE source for energy it was 60 years ago ever again. I mean, this should have been obvious 20 years ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dumbdowndemocrats
Wow the stupidity about coal and its uses on here the Chinese buy Appalachian coal for its steel industry because its the best in the world for making steel.Get over it folks coal is critical in making steel and electricity has made our life better in this world powered by coal.
The Chinese make GARBAGE steel. Nobody would seriously buy Chinese steel for anything beyond garbage Walmart grade products, which sadly, most Americans have no problem buying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dumbdowndemocrats
Wow somebody proved my point do we still produce steel in the U.S.?
Like yeah...duh.
I'm not sure where you're going with this...
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