Black lung rates in Appalachia are high as the 1970s(text.npr.org)
11 pointsby mooreds3 hours ago1 comment
  • maxrev172 hours ago
    I don’t get how it’s cheaper to dig up and transport coal than install a tonne of solar :s
    • Rebelgeckoan hour ago
      The problem is the US doesn't have senators whose constituents make solar a key part of their identity (or if we do, those senators arwnt swing votes who need to be appeased and disproportionately porked up)
    • klysm2 hours ago
      It isn’t, but the whole night thing is a bit of a problem and storage isn’t there yet at grid scale, but it’s coming.
      • kadobanan hour ago
        Coal doesn't even compete with just solar, those aren't your two options.

        Coal competes with literally everything else, and it loses to every single one of them. It's a terrible, terrible fuel. Burn natgas instead and you're already magnitudes better off.

        Coal only exists today in the US because our politics is broken beyond belief.

      • toomuchtodo31 minutes ago
        Only 15% of power in the US comes from coal, and it continues to decline as each of the last remaining coal generators are retired. Politics props it up, but it will eventually be gone. Five years maybe, ten years tops.

        https://www.sierraclub.org/coal/coal-plant-map