ESPECIALLY when solar energy is getting cheaper, and easier to use. And the sun is FREE!

Here are a couple of links that discuss solar versus coal and the problems they face.

Solar Moratorium Scrapped, Bureau Of Land Management To Allow New Plants

Georgia Coal Plant Nixed On Environmental Concerns

Oh and here is the link for the Jetson LOOKING car that will be out in November that gets 120 miles per gallon.

The car of tomorrow, TODAY!

And here is the link for the house I was talking about in another post....that doesn't need AC or central heat just in case anyone is interested. We have all kinds of options, if we just stop thinking that oil and coal and Nuclear are the ONLY solutions.

Hybrid Solar House

Clean would be a relative term, of course. It's certainly cleaner than using the the stuff as Ma Nature manufactured it. If cleaner coal were itself of overriding importance, most mines in the US would be shut down except for the Powder River Basin sources in Wyoming and Montana; however, "rice bowls" are involved.

About 25 years ago, Wyoming facilities were in a position to supply virtually all of the coal-fired power needs of Illinois with its low-sulfur (0.23%) PRB material. The problem was that doing so put a whole lot of Illinois Basin miners out of work. The solution was for the state to legislate that a certain high minimum percentage of IB coal had to be used in all power plants in the state, with "clean" being attained by blending with other coals and with scrubber technology.

An alternative proposal by some idiot from Chicago was to build the generating plants in Wyoming and Montana, ship IB coal to them, and that way the IB miners would stay fully employed, and urbanites and Illinois in general would not bothered with the pollution; after all, according to this guy, there "...was nothing much but deer and buffalo out there."

The other problems besides sulfur are particulates, toxic elution from slag, and radiation. A lot of people don't seem to know that coal contains a very small quantity of uranium (about 0.2 ppm for the PRB coals I worked with) and that it concentrates in the ash.

I always shudder when techno-idiots like Obama start trying to arm-wave their way through subjects completely beyond their ken.

Most sincerely,

T. J. Flapsaddle

McCain Touts Coal, Nuclear While Decrying `Playing Favorites'

As a presidential candidate, the Arizona Republican himself is backing specific industries in proposals for relief from high energy prices and foreign oil dependence.

Coal producers and users would benefit under McCain's energy plan from about $30 billion of government funding for clean-coal technology research. Federal carbon caps and a system for trading emissions credits would create winners and losers depending on how pollution credits are doled out. McCain has promised, without details, to push for construction of 45 nuclear-power plants.

``He can rant all he wants about ethanol subsidies, but he's in favor of clean-coal subsidies,'' said Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow at the free-market Cato Institute in Washington. ``It's just a different set of handouts for a different set of industries.''

If we are going to talk about Obama's policies about coal, then PLEASE, let's be sure to talk about Bush/McCain policy on coal, nuclear, etc.

Sounds like there is no difference between Obama and McCain when it comes to coal and nuclear energy. Another non-choice to make this November.

As the politicos venture into the energy field, its obvious none of them have had any technical training. All they know how to do is get elected. Thats scary.

We should only elect politicians that promise to do nothing besides raise taxes and their own salaries and benefits, because they are the only ones honest enough to tell the truth about their profession.

It really is pathetic listening to these yahoos trying to convince dumber than celery Americans that the answers are simple. No wait, I take that back. The answers ARE simple. STOP BEING SUCH A CONSUMPTION-CRAZED FAT-ASSED MORON and start living a simpler lifestyle. (And be willing to take some grief from bankers and capitalists who feed off consumption-crazed fat-assed morons....)