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Further, the United States is moving ahead in the development of clean coal technology. There are vast coal reserves in our country, and when it is burned cleanly, coal can provide a resource to supply a large amount of our energy requirements.

I think we'll still be operating coal in 2030. Whether we will be in 2040, I think, is a question, or in 2050.

You have to recognize what the markets are doing, what the rules and regulations are doing, and all the more reasons that we've got to find some more solutions in particular with coal.

Then there was the whole concept of coal mining, which is a culture unto itself, the most dangerous occupation in the world, and which draws and develops a certain kind of man.

Being in a Chinese coal mine for 30 years is like an epic novel. It's tragic.

The relevant questions now are: How do we move beyond coal? How do we bring new jobs to the coal fields and retrain coal miners for other work? How do we inspire entrepreneurialism and self-reliance in people whose lives have been dependent on the paternalistic coal industry?

We are setting a new standard for coal ash management and implementing smart, sustainable solutions for all of our ash basins.

If coal is going to be used, the only response - because it is the dirtiest of all fuels - is that we have to learn how to do carbon capture and storage and we have to learn how to do it quickly on a commercial scale.

We don't want to leave the coal in the ground, and that necessarily is going to involve better technology with regard to clean uses of coal.