Coal is absolutely critical to our nation's economic health and global competitiveness.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Coal mining is an industry rife with mismanagement, corruption, greed and an almost blatant disregard for the safety, health and quality of life of its work force. Everyone knows this. Everyone has always known it.
Coal is cheap, but up to what extent are we going to allow coal plants to operate?
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.
The coal industry is a huge industry when we're talking about polluting the environment, our air and our waterways.
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.
The coal industry has helped fuel this Nation for 150 years, and coal can be used to heat our homes, power our economy, and protect our Nation for at least another 150 years if we continue to use it.
Coal is responsible for as much atmospheric carbon dioxide as other fossil fuels combined and it still has far greater reserves. We must stop using it.
The greatest natural resource our country has is not oil. It's not gas. It's not coal. It's the genius of our children.
The coal mining industry is very destructive and it doesn't have to be.