but as was pointed out by willfull coal is probably the cheapest fuel source we have. there are huge reserves, and potentially it is renewable – as coal can be created given the righ conditions.

if you think the coal fires are bad – think about the nuclear bombs the usa exolded on their own soil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plumbbob

I think I was blaming man in that comment because, you know, it’s a really good idea when you should burn your town’s trash over by the coal mine.

“Apparently in the 1960’s brains were in short supply when it came to the environment.”

I totally hear ya. When I began my military rotation at Fort Carson back in the early 90s, there was an extensive environmental project taking place at each motor pool located on the post. They hired contractors to come in, remove tons of dirts surrounding the fence of each pool, haul the contaminated dirt off to be disposed of properly, and then fills those holes with clean dirt. This process was to take at least a year, costing taxpayers in the millions (and I’m sure Carson wasn’t the only post to be hit by this).

And why?

In the 1950s and 60s, the official Dept of the Army operation manuals that were printed for maintenance of tracked and wheeled vehicles recommended to the mechanic or soldier that once you have changed the oil or transmission fluid, to pour the used, replaced fluid along the fenceline of the motor pool in order to discourage the growth of weeds.

*blink*

A good example of the hindsight of prior generations and how it impacts us today. I would love to get a hold of one of those manuals to see those words with my own eyes. I could only imagine that the passage was written by some bored clerk who came up with the idea of recycling the use of spent crankcase oil while he was typing up the manual. Probably the same guy who spent a lot of mundane duty time pulling up weeds at the company motor pool.

Centralia, PA, is an interesting story, I’ll agree. And what’s more amazing about it is that there are still some stubborn people living there (amid all the sulfur and dioxins being exhaled from the fire). For a good, but brief, account about the background story, I recommend Bill Bryson’s 1998 best-selling book, A Walk In The Woods. Not only does Bryson give a good personal account of his experience with visiting Centralia, but I think you’ll appreciate his narration on nature vs. society with the book as a whole, especially after your recent excursion to the woods.

Besides, the fires are not because of our use of coal, but often (as in the case of Centralia) because of our own ineptness. I mean, “the town’s long standing practice of burning their trash”? Really? Doesn’t sound like the brightest idea to me. And where do they burn it? At the mouth of an abandoned coal mine. Apparently in the 1960′s brains were in short supply when it came to the environment.