COMMENTARY — Two coal industry visions

The coal industry’s most important task is to ensure that the economic advantages of coal are so overwhelming that they cannot be ignored or subjected to political whims. Let me try to give you two possible “visions” of the coal industry as it will evolve after the turn of the century.

The first vision is that of a prosperous industry. In this scenario, coal will share in the projected growth of energy use. New investments will be justified in state-of-the-art coal operations and coal-fired generators. In the prosperous vision, coal mines will utilize entirely new technologies. Robotics will be used to mine, without employees at the face. Surface mines will use computers to operate equipment. Preparation plants and coal-handling facilities will ensure a level of quality previously thought impossible. High-speed trains and other transportation equipment will be loaded and cycled with unimaginable speed. Reclamation practices will be refined in order that former mine sites serve the social and economic development goals of their communities . . .

The second vision involves a coal industry without public understanding or political support.

The acid rain issue should serve as a case study of what can happen with today’s concern over global climate change. Reacting to public sentiment, the U.S. Congress passed a succession of laws to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions. This acid rain debate culminated in a 1990 statute that forced industry and consumers to spend billions of dollars and caused many employees to lose their jobs.

The government itself spent US$600 million on a 10-year study that concluded there was no scientific basis for the 1990 action on acid rain. The results were ignored and the politics of the issue ultimately overwhelmed the science. However skeptical we may be about global climate change as an issue, we cannot ignore it. We must challenge the “climate change” assumptions and demand that our government act on the facts and not on myths. Because “climate change” is an international issue to be regulated on an international basis, we must work with our peers in other nations and share strategies and information.

— From an article in a recent issue of “AMC Journal” by Irl Engelhardt, chairman of Peabody Holding Co.