Talking with Trent Lott

As I said earlier, we bumped into former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) on the floor of the RNC convention. Here's what he had to say:

Comments

[MichMan]

Are you serious???? Why is coal critical, when there are so many other cleaner alternatives. How much have the lobbyists paid this guy??

[CoalMiner]

Coal is critical because coal is abundant, relatively inexpensive (even with bogus charges laid to its account),cleanable and available right now. An integrated coal gasification plant is current technology that can produce electricity 24x365 with a smaller ecological footprint than a raptor-killing windmill which operates 15% of the time. Wind, solar and geothermal have been 10 years away from being "really competitive" for all of my adult life. I suspect that, when my sons have reached my age, those sources will still be 10 years away from making it without big federal subsidies. Don't get me wrong, we need to use ALL of our energy options - not just coal. If our economy is to grow and prosper, America cannot afford to turn its back on ANY alternative just because we're "too good" to be seen using it.

Coal! Dig It/Burn it/Repeat!

[Tom Stacy]

MichMan, you are right. Nuclear and natural gas are both a bit cleaner. Both have the ability to fuel electricity produced on demand (unlike wind power, which is a trinket). However, coal is pretty clean, too, and getting cleaner. And it is still the least cost alternative. When electricity gets more expensive, so does everything else, because everything we touch has energy content.

The fact is, we can't afford to eliminate pr even significantly reduce our use of coal in the short and medium term. Meanwhile take the money wasted on wind power and put it toward growing other reliable, meaningful sources of electricity capacity.