Deep in coal country, pondering future without it

Yahoo! News Singapore / The Associated Press ^ | December 6, 2014 | Allen G. Breed

[2ndDivisionVet]

HARLAN, Ky. (AP) — The rest of the house is just waking as Scottie Sizemore plops down in a rocking chair on his front porch with a cup of coffee. The sun has yet to crest the ridge above, where mist clings like clouds that couldn't quite make it over.

Sizemore is the fourth generation of his family to mine coal in Harlan County. He knows he'll probably be the last.

For over a century, life in Central Appalachia has been largely defined by the ups and downs of the coal industry. Through all the bust years, there was always the promise of another boom.

Until now....

[2ndDivisionVet]

"So, if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can — it’s just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted." ~Barack Hussein Obama

[HiTech RedNeck]

The only noxious gas being emitted here is from Barack’s pie hole!

[tcrlaf]

The UMW called a one-day wildcat walkout in the coal fields in 2008, in SUPPORT of Obama, despite his open hostility to coal.

Yeah, it’s a shame they will be broke and poor, but I have little sympathy. They KNEW the Democrats they were voting for wanted coal shut down by ANY means, and yet they still voted for Economic Suicide.

[mylife]

People were more interested in the birth certificate than that stuff.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Well, they have two legislative powerhouses as US Senators, so that should help...

[HiTech RedNeck]

What simpering slaves they be. The GOP candidate would have been far better for their futures.

[MUDDOG]

The AP recounts the troubles of these people, but skirts the reason for it.

It'd be like doing a story on the plight of Christians in the Middle East, without mentioning Islam. Come to think of it, that is how the AP would cover it.

[VerySadAmerican]

I agree. I’d bet many, if not a majority, of the coal miners union members would vote for Obama again.

[sneakers]

The retired coal miner who lives down the road from me still has an obama sticker in his window.

Coal mining allowed him to provide a nice home and a comfortable life for his family. What a shame that he would vote for someone who is purposely out to destroy the industry that would afford that opportunity for others.

[Democrat_media]

democrats created a hoax called global warming to destroy the coal industry

democrats are destroying the coal industry based on a lie called global warming. “green house gases” , CO2 have no effect on anything much less the climate of a planet in a solar system controlled by a star that is a million times larger than the Earth. that star is called the Sun ( an explanation for democrats)

[Bratch]

EPA’s goofy green-energy rules

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By Stephen Moore and Kathleen Hartnett-White - - Sunday, November 30, 2014

If you think President Obama’s unilateral exercise of executive powers granting near-blanket amnesty to illegal immigrants was an abuse of power, get a load of what this administration is doing over at the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan regulations are the most expansive and economically disruptive rules in four decades from an agency that is notorious for its reckless disregard for the financial consequences of regulation under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA’s rule aims to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants by 30 percent. That’s an enormous and costly burden on our power generating utilities. According to Energy Ventures Analysis, an energy research firm, the annual costs for residential, commercial and industrial energy customers in America would be about $173 billion higher in 2020 — a 37 percent increase. Average annual household gas and power bills would increase by $680 or 35 percent.

However, the overall reductions in the planetary volume of carbon-dioxide emissions would be microscopic — like trying to reduce the rise of the oceans with a syringe. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s own official number crunchers say that we must reduce global carbon-dioxide emissions by 80 percent over the next several decades to avert catastrophic warming. The EPA’s proposed cut would yield an immeasurable 0.018 degree Celsius cooling.

This is going to save the planet from catastrophe? Good luck.

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Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/30/stephen-moore-and-kathleen-hartnett-white-epas-ove/#ixzz3LDICqxd5 

[wally_bert]

I know of a few laid off gov-co. state drones that would make him king of the universe if it were possible.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

“I’ve got mine...”

[girlangler]

Elections have consequences. The majority of these coal miners voted for Democrats all their lives because the unions told them to. The chickens are coming hem to roost now.

[all the best]

I know a women who has been a coal broker for over 30 years. Made a very nice living. This week she said it’s all over and that Obama won the war on coal.