[alaskanfan]

What this administration needs to do is talk about coal-gassification more.

President Clinton took care of that problem. How do you say Grand Staircase-Escalante?

When the President signed the Executive Order designating 1.7 million acres of land in southwest Utah as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, his action placed the area off limits to mineral extraction and development.

The New York Times reported that the monument encloses the largest coal field in the nation, the Kaiparowitz Plateau, which contains at least 7 billion tons of coal worth over $1 TRILLION.

Kentucky-based company Andalux Resources, which holds leases on 3,400 acres in the area, was planning to open a huge operation (underground, not strip mining) that would have generated 1,000 jobs, $1 million in annual revenue for Kane County, and at least $10 million a year in state and federal taxes, according to the New York Times. Folks living in the area wore black arm bands the day o the signing - but Clinton didn't see them. He chose to make his announcement in a neighboring state.

[techcor]

Excellent points but my view is one from stategery. I don't think the coal gassifiers (there's one in the U.S. and China also is starting one) can actually produce at a point that the oil companies can't under sell. But that's the purpose. To make the oil companies increase production to undermine the coal companies.