There was an article by Brian Corbin in the Evansville Courier & Press this morning entitled, "Hearing Slated on Mining Plan." The article stated that there will be a public hearing on the proposal to mine coal in a state fish and wildlife area. Black Beauty Coal has already been allowed to perform some exploratory drilling in the area. There are concerns over destruction to wildlife if explosives are used to strip mine the area and the length of time that it would take for trees to re-grow even if mined land is later reclaimed.

This article made me think about more issues with coal dependence. Even if we address some of the concerns about emissions from coal once it is burned, the destruction caused by coal mining will continue. If you watch the Jeff Barrie documentary, Kilowatt Ours, you will see a disturbing account of entire mountains being detonated in West Virgina, just to obtain the coal deep in the earth. Even if the land is eventually converted into a golf course or some other use, it will never again be a mountain like it was before. Similarly, when we start invading protected wildlife areas to get at the coal, it leads to something of a slippery slope--How far will we go in terms of mining to maintain our reliance on coal? Are we next going to be trying to mine Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon if we find huge coal reserves in those areas? In my mind, by focusing so heavily on finding new coal reserves, we are simply delaying the inevitable--i.e. the exhaustion of our coal supply. Instead of going to such lengths to find new coal supplies, it would be great if more states would focus on exploring alternative energy sources. The reality is that we will continue to use coal reserves from mines already opened or that are being opened in non-protected areas, but we really need to draw the line in terms of mining areas that are tourist areas or contain wildlife species that need special protection.