This news comes at a time when we are still fighting to stop Dominion from building another controversial coal plant here in Virginia - why should we take a chance on this international coal market?
Dominion claims that we can meet our coal needs in state, helping us avoid this international boondoggle. But news on that front isn't that much rosier. According to a Richmond Times Dispatch article:
Virginia coal production is down about 10 percent this year through March 15.For the 52-week period that ended March 15, Virginia coal production was down 16 percent. A total of 24.6 million tons were mined, compared with 29.4 million tons a year earlier.
For those 12 months, Virginia coal production was about half what it was during a similar period less than two decades ago.
The natural conclusion that one would make from this evidence is that Virginia is running out of coal. If, as a State, we had vast easily accessible reserves we would be mining that coal and selling it for a great profit on the international market - or at least using it domestically to save our stagnating economy a few bucks.
So what will Governor Kaine do to help protect Virginians from rapidly increasing coal prices? Nothing! He is toeing the Dominion's line about their controversial new plans for a new coal plant in Wise County. Kaine doesn't see us heading towards a "no coal future," a future that we aren't asking him to deliver. We want a future where we can get a measurable percentage of our energy from clean sources such as wind and solar (okay, we do get a very small percentage of our energy from renewables... but it ain't much) - commodities that are not subject to international markets and whose prices don't increase exponentially as the Asian economies become stronger.
Oh, and last I checked, the prices of wind, solar, biomass, and other renewable energies have only been getting cheaper - something that we definitely can't say about coal, oil and natural gas.
Contact the Governor today, and tell him to protect our energy future.
Cross Posted from the CCAN blog