What Caused the Wyoming Coal Disaster Last Week? Ask Warren Buffett and President Obama

[Donnachaidh]

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/03/28/what-caused-the-wyoming-coal-disaster-last-week-ask-warren-buffett-and-president-obama/

What really happened in Wyoming last week?

Perhaps we should ask billionaire coal hauler Warren Buffett, the “Oracle of Omaha.”

Energy and climate analysts and Big Green organizations are still staggering around for an answer to the Obama administration’s blockbuster news in Wyoming’s coalfields last week to green-light the mining of an estimated 750 million-2.4 billion tons of coal on public lands. According to environmental analysts, “when burned, the coal threatens to release more than 3.9 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, equal to the annual emissions from 300 coal-fired power plants.”

As Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar scrambles to explain his wildly exaggerated claims of the coal lease sales from his announcement, the truth is that this mind-boggling announcement comes on the heels of EPA administrator’s proposed new rules to crack down on mercury emissions from coal-fired plants–that will, in effect, continue the move away from coal-fired energy.

More at the link --

[MineralMan]

1. Sadly, there is such a huge demand for electrical energy that

such things happen. The only real answer for the present is to drastically reduce our demand, until alternative energy generation can supply that demand.

Turn something off. Turn something down. Replace wasteful equipment with high-efficiency alternatives. Put on a sweater in the winter and take something off in the summer. Drive less. Use public transit. Telecommute.

There are so many ways to save, and too few people taking advantage of them.

[Bandit]

2. This is America, we do whatever we want and that doesn't involve saving

We drive SUVs and Hummers and use incandescent light bulbs just because we can..We buld things that kill people and let our bridges and highways fall apart just so we can show those commie Liberals, America can do whatever it wants...Guns not butter War not peace, This is America....

[MineralMan]

3. Not all of us do that. Too many do, but not all.

We can change things, if we want to.

Right now, where I'm working, it's 62 degrees. I could turn the thermostat up, but I don't. I put on a warmer shirt.