Keep in mind that the United States is the 'Saudi Arabia of coal'*.
Obama 'would kill US coal trade' - THE election of Senator Barack Obama, combined with expected Democrat supermajorities in both the House and Senate, would lead to a radical shift in energy and trade policies set by the Bush administration, it was claimed yesterday. In his keynote speech at the annual Breakbulk conference in New Orleans, Zachry Construction procurement director Steve Richardson warned that the Democrats "want to link trade agreements to US labour demands" and seek to ensure social responsibility in the trading partners' countries. On energy, he said coal, which is regarded as a heavily polluting fuel by Democrats, “would move from life support to death.” Richardson did say that biomass (an oil alternative derived from wood chips) could be an emerging industry under a democrat administration. But noting that biomass conversion plans cost twice as much as corn to ethanol facilities, federal funding would be needed to develop the industry. - Fairplay
NOT using coal is just crazy. Much US electricity is made using coal power. Take a look at this Electricity Flow diagram for 2007. Coal is the largest fuel source for electricity production. Remember that it is domestic and not imported coal.
The Democrats talk about doing whatever to stop money flowing out of the country for energy needs, and yet there is all this energy at home that, if its use is increased, will create many new jobs and lessen the need for foreign oil. Even better, there is so much coal that the US can greatly increase production for export to help foreign countries meet their own demands for more energy. This would be a great way to get back some of those many dollars sent out of the country...(Direct Link)
* The U.S. is, after all, the Saudi Arabia of coal. We have more than 200 years of coal reserves at our current burn rate. There are 440 coal-fired plants across the nation, with proposals to build 153 more in 42 states over the next decade, at a cost of $137 billion, to provide electricity to 93 million homes and support our energy-guzzling lifestyles. - Time
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