Times are tough in West Virginia because of the war on coal for no good reason.
Coal plants are not killing anyone, but economic hardship surely will. Climate warming isn’t happening, and if it was it won’t kill anyone, but the EPA is persecuting Coal for no good reason on a modeling delusion.
Consider this fine OpEd by Tom Harris, outstanding advocate for sensible energy policies.
Joe Bast forwarded this.
http://www.the-messenger.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/
Abandoning coal
makes no sense
I am glad that the Kentucky Coal Association has teamed up with others in the industry to hold public rallies in support of coal. President Barack Obama’s war on coal, your least expensive and more plentiful power source, will seriously damage America and make it difficult if not impossible for the U.S. to maintain its role as the free world’s primary defender, something counties like Canada cannot afford.
Obama believes that human emissions of carbon dioxide are causing a climate crisis. And coal is a major source of these emissions. So the President is out to end America’s use of coal to generate electricity, no matter how it impacts the economy.
This makes no sense for three reasons:
• We do not know the future of climate — the science is in its infancy. It is far better to help vulnerable people adapt to climate change than vainly trying to control it.
• Even if it were true that our emissions were causing climate problems, U.S. actions would have no measurable climatic impact as long as developing countries continue to expand at breakneck speed, mostly using coal-fired electricity.
• If we really were headed for climate problems then Obama should be boosting coal to cope with these hazards. After all, inexpensive electricity would be needed to handle greater demands for air conditioning and heating. More power would be required to irrigate lands, build dikes, strengthen public infrastructure and relocate populations living on flood plains or at risk from tornadoes and hurricanes.
Yet, in discussing his solutions to these dangers, the President promotes wind and solar power, the least reliable and most expensive options available. Moving away from coal to wind and solar power because of weather extremes makes about as much sense as a ship captain ordering the crew into lifeboats when a severe storm is approaching. It would be suicide to abandon ship exactly when the protection of a sturdy vessel was most needed. It will also be suicide for America to attempt to replace coal and other base-load energy sources with flimsy alternatives. For all our sakes, please don’t it!
Sincerely,
Tom Harris
Executive Director
International Climate Science Coalition
tom.harris@climatescienceinternational.net
Thanks Mr. Harris.