I've been thinking about this all day. I sure wish there was

[cboy4]

a way to eliminate the need for fossil fuels so we can stop coal mining.

I just go through so much every time I hear about one of these mine disasters.

In fact, when I was on the BART train going into San Francisco the other day, when we entered the tunnel that goes under the bay, I almost had a panic attack when it stopped for some reason for only five minutes.

I just started thinking about the miners in Utah and what it would be like to be trapped under the earth with no way out.

How scary.

And what ticks me off is, it seems like all of these mines have been cited time and time again for safety violations.

If U.S. airliners crashed in relative terms as often as there are mine accidents, something drastic would be done.

But mine accidents? It just seems like they keep happening, regardless of new regulations.

How horrifying for those poor, poor men trapped in Utah. My heart aches for the nightmare they're experiencing...if indeed they're still alive.

:cry:

[Bitwit1234]

1. And just think

even with all the safety violations they have today, what in the world was it like in the early 1900's when they mined coal in Pennsylvania and other places.

[cboy4]

3. Oh I know! They always say crab fishing in the icy Bering Sea is

the most dangerous occupation (and I've seen the video, so I know it's very dangerous.)

But it just seems like more can go wrong underground in those coal mines.

Scary.

[SoCalDem]

5. My son actually almost got a job on one of those boats..

Thank GOD he went to college in Italy instead :evilgrin:..best money we ever spent:)

His good friend goes EVERY season.. The money they make is INSANE..but it's soooo dangerous.:scared:

[SoCalDem]

2. yep.. coal is the dirty little secret fuel

Back in the day when people used coal in their homes, they at least had a tangible contact with it and knew how dirty & smelly it was..but now it;s all been "Sanitized for our Protection".. Flip a switch and the light comes on.. Push a button and the computer fires up..but most of us never even think about coal except when that inane "clean coal commercial comes on and the little girl tells us how wonderful it is"... or when miners are buried alive.

but every day, men ( and even a few women) descend deep inside mountains and risk their lives, because where coal mines exist, those are often the ONLY decent-paying jobs for miles around.. They do it to feed their families, and the only ones getting rich from their endeavors, are the CEOs & mine owners..and of course the energy barons who willingly trade the safety of some "3rd class mole-people" , in exchange for their swanky lifestyles of the rich and despicable.

[cboy4]

4. Yea, every time I see the operator of that Utah mine speak about

the rescue operation, all that goes through my mind is, "you rat bastard."

[Catherine Vincent]

6. Are there any coal mines in Texas? n/t

[LSK]

7. Regulations ARE NOT ENFORCED

The laws are there, but they are ignored.

[EnricoFermi]

8. Actually there is, it has been invented and works

It's called the Polywell fusion reactor and it does actually work, without creating nuclear waste.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell

It was a relatively secret Navy research contract that lost funding due to the war in Iraq. It is from the inventor of the Bussard Ramjet popularized by Carl Sagan's Cosmos. He is still looking for a minor amount of funding to complete the last prototype.

"The potential of one Electric Fusion reactor would be in the range of 100 to 1,000 MW and would provide power for up to 250,000 homes at peak output with a potential cost of construction ofaround $200 million dollars, making it relatively inexpensive compared to the ITER reactor that is to begin construction in France at a cost of $12 billion US dollars."

This is a practical and safe form of fusion that I believe can be the future. There is a reason these ideas are not given much merit, and it is because there are a lot of people making a lot of money off of natural gas, oil, and coal right now.

Spread the word...

[WhiteTara]

9. if we could get mass public transit

we could use lots less fossil fuels. We have been trying to get the train to run from Willits to San Francisco that runs parallel to the 101 corridor. But it gets stopped in Marin every time. It's very discouraging.

If the train were treated better, rail service across the country is great. The trains are always packed too. I think we should be expanding rail everywhere we can.