Remember back a few months ago in campaign season, there was some mention about driving the coal industry out of business? At that time it was claimed that statements were being taken out of context and not understood correctly. Well a curious thing is happening now, notices are appearing on the east coast about protests that will be held at coal fired power plants and supporting the formation of a national movement to ban the use of coal as a fuel. The example linked below originally appeared with no identification of what group or person wrote the print article, they just mention the website of an anti-coal clean energy group. Perhaps this is a new media-orchestrated national movement? See the posting below from the southcoasttoday dot com website of the Standard-Times, a newspaper in Southeastern Massachusetts:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbc ... /902270354

Well there you have the context. Whether a position is in or out of that context ought to be pretty clear. The article says:

“And we are on the verge of triggering powerful planetary amplifying loops of an irreversible climate cascade that is beyond human control.”

Let's see if I can reply without straying too far into partisan politics.

That is NOT an article. That is an op-ed essay announcement (basically free advertising on the paper's part) for a planned protest, right in the heart of left-leaning Massachusetts. The realities to be seen are 1) how many people actually show up to protest, and 2) how much media attention it garners (there are many times when media reporters outnumber participants).

Meanwhile, on the admittedly-right-leaning Instapundit website, I'm seeing coverage of no less than 40 "tea party" protests across the nation today, and many more earlier this week, against the recently passed "stimulus" spending package and related bail-outs of mortgage defaulters, corporations, etc. Most of these protests are attracting hundreds, if not thousands, of participants. Will we see coverage of these protests on network TV news and in the newspapers? I will wager the money in my wallet right now we won't.

There is also an incredibly simple reply to those who protest the use of "deadly" coal: Propose a viable alternative that all the consumers of the current energy production are willing to live with.

I think it all depends on the actual size of the anti-coal movement represented in the op-ed. I would guess that at least 50% of the U.S. population fully subscribes to the general principles expressed in the op-ed. I don’t know how many will show up to protest, but collectively they will express their will through the system. I realize coal won’t disappear overnight, but that is about as far as I would go on that point.

I believe you are correct in your suggestion that there is no alternative that consumers are willing to live with. However, the renewable energy / anti-coal movement is fully convinced that not only will consumers be willing to live with just renewable energy, but also, everything will be better. It will make us all healthier, the planet will be spared from destruction, it will provide jobs, it will keep us out of wars for oil, and it will be cheaper than fossil fuel energy. All of this will be hard to quantify except for the cheaper part. But by the time consumers see what happens to their utility bills, it will be too late.

Interesting that it was recently discovered that a key piece of "evidence" - significantly eroded polar ice-was just found to be incorrect because of mismeasurement (ice is actually accumulating) and Al Gore has quietly dropped the assertion that AGW is creating an increase in serious weather events.

Don't worry about this being political -its religious-no matter what, the same folks that think Charmin is a cardinal sin will believe we are doping SOMETHING evil. The real question is who is benefitting from this blither-a good way to figure it out is to see who the big contributors to the green 501c3's are.

As one who works in coal fired power plants I think the best thing the industry could do is to sponsor with sierra club a day with out coal. With coal being 50% of our power don't you think a traditional northeast style power outage nation wide would really educate the country fast about the vitality about this industry?

Far too few people realize how important electricity and power plants are to their day to day lives.

Adam

It's not only coal...There is an item in the April 2009 Trains magazine about the Modesto & Empire Traction Co. replacing its GE 70-tonners, aged 50 to 61, with RailPower GenSets. Don't look for any to be donated to museums or sold to tourist railroads, though, Ka-li-fornia will only pay for 85% of the new power if the 70-tonners are totally destroyed by drilling large holes in their engine blocks. IMHO, this is well and truly insanity.

Sounds a lot like EMD's trade in policies. While I'm not in support of scrapping the GE's there would be some real howling if the state started buying locomotives twice.

I guess that it is not enough to just take them out of service. I wonder if it would be OK to display locomotives with big holes drilled through their engines.

Don't look for any to be donated to museums or sold to tourist railroads, though, Ka-li-fornia will only pay for 85% of the new power if the 70-tonners are totally destroyed by drilling large holes in their engine blocks. IMHO, this is well and truly insanity.

There's another lesson there. The government doesn't GIVE you anything, it takes-and what it usually takes is control. If you don't believe me, ask the banks, especially Citibank.

This is somewhat similar to a policy that has been enacted in quite a few states, not just California. The absolute worst-polluting cars (which often emit anywhere from several times to several hundred times the pollution of a typical modern car) are identified, sometimes by roadside smog-detecting vans, and the owners are offered a substantial financial incentive to get the vehicle off the road. Of course, part of the deal is that said vehicle be destroyed to assure it won't pollute again......

Is there any compromise available to help preserve one or more of the M&ET fleet--or, for that matter, any Alcos, etc.? Money talks, unfortunately, and I'd hate like hell to be trying to negotiate with bureaucrats in a case such as this.........

If the engines must have holes drilled in them, it sounds like an opportunity to create visible locomotives with sectioned engines.

Cutaway locomotives, anyone?

Is there an echo in here........

PC

There are several politicians (including two "usual suspect" Congressmen) who are starting to say we are selfish to expect electricity 24 hours a day - I assume rolling blackouts are good for the soul.

Assuming that the current political trend is unstoppable (not a certainty but seeming more likely every day) we should start asking what the railroad industry will look like without shipments of coal. This is a scenario that will make re-regulation look like a passing thunderstorm by comparison.

For now I am wondering how some of our preservation efforts will continue if plans to reduce or eliminate tax deductions for charitable organizations becomes law.

The proposed smart grid will interrupt your power when the wind does not blow and/or when it believes that your need is not adequate.

The "tea party" in St. Louis was covered in the Post-Dispatch, the local daily newspaper, and on at least one major television station in its news programming. Did any one see coverage elsewhere?