The only positive about coal is it’s cheap

To the editor:

It is amazing that coal is still on the energy table. Historical data shows that both the environment and public health have suffered from coal energy.

Additionally, in 2010, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy issued a report assessing nearly all of coal’s direct and indirect costs and benefits to that state; road maintenance and health costs, for example. It concluded that the coal industry cost West Virginia more than $97 million in one year.

Who’s benefitting from that? Not you and me. And who’s paying for it? You guessed it, you and me.

The only positive about coal is it’s cheap — but remember, you get what you pay for. In our rapidly deteriorating environment, coal is certainly not the answer. Ever.

This next decade will be one of change as humans face the stark realization that fossil fuels are dramatically changing our climate, resulting in radical weather changes and rising seas.

Simply open a newspaper or web page on any given day to find a news story about the devastating consequences of our misguided energy use.

America is an industrial economy in pursuit of limitless growth using finite resources. Anyone see a problem with this? Fossil fuels will only get more expensive, including “cheap” coal. Renewable energy is and will be the answer in the coming decades. After all, if and when we exhaust fossil fuels it’ll be the only energy left. Mother Earth is the only nest we have, folks. If we spoil it we have no other place to go. Say no to coal. At least it’s a start.

W. Chris Jones

Palmer