[CatDawg]

What does the fact that you worked on the construction of a utility plant have to do with Obama's promise that cap and trade legislation will "necessarily cause utility bills to skyrocket?" Do you have any experience obtaining mining permits? Planning underground and surface mines? Projecting short and long term coal production from over 130,000 acres of mineral properties in eastern Kentucky?

Maybe you are a mining engineer or a manager for a major coal company or maybe your head was recently filled with the political and environmental theories of liberal college professors who have no practical knowledge of coal mining. If your knowledge is purely academic, then congratulations - you are just as qualified to propose an energy policy for this nation as Barack Obama.

Exactly what experience do you possess that qualifies your opinion as valid while dismissing mine as "propaganda." My guess is that I was designing coal mines and dealing with federal and state mining regulatory agencies when your were still in elementary school. Please correct me if I am wrong. I have been a registered mining engineer for more than 20 years.

Appalachian coal mining is facing a bleak future. More than 70 years ago, 28 inches was usually used as the lower limit for coal seam thickness when deep minable coal reserves were estimated. Except in rare cases, such as the Blue Gem seam in SE Kentucky, 28 inches is still the lower limit for deep minable coal reserves. The coal is not getting any thicker and thick seams having low strip ratios are abundant in several western states in areas such as the Powder River Basin.

You can claim to be a supporter of the coal industry if you want but the plain truth is that you cannot truly support the eastern Kentucky coal industry and support Barack Obama at the same time. Obama has already taken steps to make good on his threats to the coal industry.

You are correct that large inventories of coal are most responsible for low coal prices at the present time but you are absolutely wrong to dismiss the threat that Obama poses to the long term viability of the industry.

:Thumbs: And people from this area don't realize the effect that PRB coal is having on this area as well. Some of those seams are 100 FOOT thick and are unbeliveable to see. Companies like Arch and Peabody are putting more and more money into those area's and less into Central App coal. PRB coal is already being shipped to the east in large quantities to be blended with the higher BTU coal from Central App. as of 10/16/09 PRB coal had actually came back up to just over 9 dollars a ton. This coal is cheap and can be ship and blended with Central App coal to be used in power plants and it is happening more and more. Add to that the coal that is starting to pour out of the Illinois Basin and one can see where coal in this area of the country is slowly being elminated. Wyoming has been the number 1 producer for the last few years and they are only widening that lead. The PRB loadouts can load 15000 tons of coal into railcars in just over an hour and they load 8 to 10 trains per day. As they expand rail lines in the area this will only increase their output more.