There was a time when we thought that what was good for coal was good for Pennsylvania. Yes, we knew that:
- A coal mine was a dangerous place to work.
- Some coal miners suffered from black lung.
- Coal made an awful mess to clean up.
- A lot of property damage was caused by mine subsidence.
With all the problems caused by coal, I have to wonder why we ever thought coal was so great? Especially now ... now that we know that the burning of coal is the major cause of climate change.
I think we thought we needed coal to create jobs in Pennsylvania.
Yet a study conducted by Robert Pollin, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, found that "investments in clean energy in today's U.S. economy will generate roughly three times more jobs than spending the same amount of money within our fossil-fuel energy infrastructure."
That's why we should not be giving incentives to companies to continue building coal-burning plants. We need to use our finite resources to support research and development of clean, infinite sources of energy. We have to build a future beyond coal.
WENDI TAYLOR, Camp Hill