Someone please explain how this is happening?

[serryjw]

Didn't we have enough people die of 'Black Lung" Disease? The Thugs don't do anything unless their donors benefit....how does this benefits them?

quote......
"That coal will be popular big time, in 2005," says Jim Thompson, who edits the weekly report U.S. Coal Review out of Knoxville, Tenn. "There will be more test burns than ever."
Not that Wyoming needs more demand.
For the 12th year running, Wyoming set a record in 2004 for production, at just under 400 million tons. Montana will have about a 5.5 percent increase in coal mined in 2004, but its total amounts to less than 10 percent of Wyoming's.
end quote.....
I saw a show ( Nightline??) that said the demand is far greater than the supply of workers......Starting pay around $50K
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2005/01/16/build/state/30-coal-coming-on.inc

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Two words.

Peak oil.

[On the Road]

2. It's a Lot Safer Now to Work in Coal Mining than it Used to Be

due to safety standards and respiratory protection mandated by OSHA. Coal still pollutes, although not as much as it did before the Clean Air Act. Still not the optimal energy source, but neither is oil.

As far as who benefits, nothing in the article suggested the rise in demand was due to the administration. It's what you would expect after the type of price shock in oil and gas.

[havocmom]

4. Mines near where I live in MT are above ground, or rather, groung level

is put to where the coal seams are. HUGE pieces of eqipment chew up incrediably large swaths of land to expose the coal. It is not gritty guys in tee shirts, covered with coal dust trudging through tunnels around here.

And yes, there are ways to burn it cleaner. Am expecting Big Power to start lobbying to turn back the clean air rules like they did with gasoline refineries.

[serryjw]

6. The show I saw in WV is still WAY below ground

It didn't look any different than I remember it 40 years ago...and yes, you are right......We can all forget the Clean Air Act.* has no regard for any environmental protections and we can't count on the Corporations to do the right thing.

[porphyrian]

3. There is a way to scrub coal to make it less polluting...

...but it's expensive, and I wouldn't expect any corporation to use the process unless it was forced to.

[madrchsod]

5. that`s not bad money

for ground work..those guys who drive the machines make alot more