Recently, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the majority leader in the U.S. Senate, proclaimed that "coal makes us sick ... It's global warming. It's ruining our country. It's ruining the world. We've got to stop using fossil fuel." Never to be outdone, a few days ago, Al Gore served a double helping of silliness when he pronounced that we must cease using fossil fuels within 10 years.
It makes one wonder if the initial drafts of Gore's slick PowerPoint presentations aren't written in crayon. Gore's childish naivete and dismissive refusal to consider the practical effects of his plans suggest fuzzy thinking at best.
Roger Nicholson
Charleston Gazette - Opinion - Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Recently, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the majority leader in the U.S. Senate, proclaimed that "coal makes us sick ... It's global warming. It's ruining our country. It's ruining the world. We've got to stop using fossil fuel." Never to be outdone, a few days ago, Al Gore served a double helping of silliness when he pronounced that we must cease using fossil fuels within 10 years.
It makes one wonder if the initial drafts of Gore's slick PowerPoint presentations aren't written in crayon. Gore's childish naivete and dismissive refusal to consider the practical effects of his plans suggest fuzzy thinking at best.
Before we West Virginians follow Al Gore, let's show more common sense than our elected officials in Washington and those intellectuals that undeservedly bestowed the Nobel Prize on this modern pied piper.
First, let's consider Reid's premise that "coal is ruining our country." Has a more foolish statement ever been uttered? The coal industry provides more than 22,000 high-paying jobs in West Virginia alone, and creates more than 125,000 additional West Virginia jobs in support of mining.
More than 50 percent of the nation's and more than 95 percent of the state's energy is coal-fired. Coal fuels the factories that drive not only the manufacturing might of the U.S., but also the technological advancements that have consistently raised our standard of living. Can anyone truthfully assert that coal-fired electricity has not dramatically increased our standard of living over the last century, or made possible innovations and technologies that have not only raised our average life span, but also made our lives more comfortable?
Next, consider the practical effects of Gore's dystopian plan. All mining jobs in this and our neighboring states would be eliminated. This would create a huge welfare state, with no income taxes from wages and company profits or coal severance taxes to provide the state with the funds necessary to care for its own.
Gore's plan would turn a region that is somewhat insulated from the effects of recession, due to our fossil fuels industries, into an area of economic devastation.
Finally, Gore would spend 1 to 3 trillion dollars to take the nation from reliance on fossil fuels for the vast majority of its electricity to complete abandonment of fossil fuels within 10 years. Where will this money come from? You guessed it - our tax dollars. Gore would "tax what we burn."
That is, tax those that use coal - all of us - to the tune of over a trillion dollars. Does anyone really believe that increasing our tax burden will help us deal with rising gasoline or utility prices?
Although I've never won the Nobel Prize, I can assure you that there is a better way. Our nation could spend a fraction of Gore's trillions to support advancements in clean-coal technology, carbon sequestration and coal-to-liquids facilities.
What would that accomplish? One of our most abundant natural resources - coal - would be utilized more cleanly to continue producing low-cost electricity to serve our homes and businesses. Advancements in carbon sequestration technology would allow us to reduce the environmental impacts of burning coal, while avoiding the waste and abandonment of our least expensive reserve of energy-producing natural resources. Coal-to-liquids plants could produce fuel from coal, which would lessen our dependence on foreign oil, create more jobs in mining and coal liquefaction in this region, and increase tax revenue for the rational pursuit of renewable energy technologies.
I reject Gore's negative and illogical views in favor of positive growth- and technology-based development of our natural resources.
Nicholson is senior vice president and general counsel of International Coal Group.
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