Coal Companies Trying To Buy Money From Congress

I was watching PBS news this morning, not by choice but by the graces of the Armed Forces Network. I saw a report that was simply awe inspiring. Apparently the Coal industry, which while being a very popular source of energy, is loosing its footing in an environmentally conscious country. The United States is the world’s leading producer of coal and coal energy plants are responsible for approximately a third of carbon emissions in the country today.

This did not surprise me as I use to play SimCity and know that a coal power plant, while cheap will have your sims complaining about pollution before you see your first skyscraper. What surprised me was that coal industry spent 30 million dollars last year petitioning Congressmen for funding of research into clean coal technology.

I agree that clean coal technology would be fantastic, and fantastic for motivating coal mining investors. I don’t agree that spending millions to persuade the government to spend millions is efficient. If the Coal industry can afford to spend 30 million dollars bribing er… informing Congressmen about the need for research. They can practice some of their desired efficiency and spend the millions on a cooperative effort to find a clean coal burning process instead.

The Coal industry is not alone in this style of operation. The Pharmaceutical industry does the same thing. Rather then spending their wealth on research and development as they claim to, they spend billions on direct-to-consumer marketing, and the bribery….er “professional development” of doctors and Congressmen. Pharmaceutical companies are extremely important to our country and our economy, but they need spend their money to make more valuable drugs not to make their drugs more valuable.

(The above facts about the coal industry are the taken word of PBS)

Shine Forth