Of all the environmental tirades that my friends and family must routinely endure, they probably know the one about coal by heart: "Where is the [censored] logic in sending hard working, salt-of-the-earth, blue-collar Americans down into unstable holes in the ground, where the air is so bad it guarantees a shorter life, to dig up this rock that releases gasses--gasses proven to warm our planet, causing extreme and unpredictable weather, melting icecaps and raising sea levels--when burned (at a pretty damn low efficiency, mind you), as meanwhile the wind continues to steadily blow, largely unharnessed, and our land is showered daily with enough energy in the sun's rays to power our wildest electric dreams."

And then something like this happens in Utah and my poor friends and family are going to have to hear it all again.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the miners trapped in Crandall Canyon Mine, and we will lose sleep tonight fretting for their recovery. And our collective loathing is sharpened and sent in the direction of Robert Murray, owner of Murray Energy Corporation, he who profits off this operation that he called "a very safe coal mine" while battling against safety citations (325 since January 2004) and the "threat" of more stringent regulations last year. You'd think he'd spend these days comforting families and admitting a failure in his operation, but he's doing quite the opposite, using a press conference today to lobby against global warming regulations: [link to video]

I can only hope his sleep is as polluted with horrific dreams as is his product.

For more (entirely justified) vitriolic rage, check David Roberts' (who originally, and appropriately, dubbed coal "the Enemy of the Human Race") post today in Grist.