[Old School]

As much as I hate to say it..... Coal will be a thing of the past in 5-10 years, if not sooner. Sure it will make the EPA and some politicians happy to see this, but our little Commonwealth will never recover.

We are already concidered one of the poorest, deprived, depressed states in the union, and when coal goes... Kentucky goes. There will be some coal mines/operations left open to mine coal for other countries.

But when the coal severance money begins to dry up and.... Lexington/Louisville/NKY doesn't get their new Interstate's, public recreation facilities that coal severance money provides.... then what? More taxes for those places to play for those things?? Somehow the Gov't will get the money. It's going to be sorry to see these events play out in the next few years.

I agree with you for the most part, the exception being that coal will be a thing of the past in a few years. I think it depends on whether or not Barry and crew are re-elected to another term, if re-elected I could see surface mining taking a huge hit and may not survive or at least at the scale it is today.

Many people think that coal is just used to generate electricity, the truth is coal is used in many products that we use daily. Most people are unaware that coal is used in the production of steel, plastics, rubber, tar, bricks, medicines, solvents etc. With that being said and the fact that wind and solar energy will not be able to replace electricity provided by coal within the next twenty five years. In my opinion underground mining should stay strong for several decades even though most of the coal may be exported.

I suspect by the end of 2012 the people and businesses of Central Appalachia will really be feeling the effects of the recent layoffs, while state governments may take a little longer.