(Global Warming Talk) Mary Ellen Harte and John Harte: Addressing Global Warming …

After more than a century of coal mining, the most accessible supplies of US coal reserves are now gone, so mining further coal will be more difficult and expensive , and many of the top coal-producing states have already passed their peak production, says Leslie Gulstrom of Clean Energy Action . This will mean costly retrofitting of coal plants that will decrease their efficiency and up their fuel usage, ultimately doubling the cost of coal to consumers. Create carrots for coal states — specifically, green jobs to replace coal jobs. When Congress creates a jobs bill it should include allocations to specifically retrain coal workers for green jobs in the coal states. And coal executives should be protecting their shareholders by developing a plan to transition their companies from coal to clean energy, while they have the revenues to do so. Even if we could pass all the health care reform bills we want, if we don't stop the large flow of health care needs stemming from the damaging pollution of burning coal, health care costs will continue to increase, and harm our economy. read more

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