Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future (.)

If you can believe the politicians in Washington, coal is America's "economic destiny". In essence, coal is becoming hot again. Mostly because we have failed to develop alternative energy sources and find ourselves in a world of expensive, foreign fossil fuels that are not always reliable. All this, despite generations of environmental wreckage and the fact that thousands of lives have been claimed with profound negative impacts, especially by those communities associated with this industry.

Most Americans do not realize that coal provides over half of our electrical energy and over 40% of our production of carbon dioxide in this country. It would be a safe bet that the very computer from which you may be reading this article is run by a coal-fired plant. Given the size of the coal industry, it is bound to throw some weight around. But what are the true costs of burning coal? What are the economic, environmental and health ramifications if we ramp up our production of additional conventional coal burning plants?

In his new book, Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future, Jeff Goodell effectively dispels the myth of "cheap" energy from coal. This seasoned journalists exposes the collusion of the coal industry and politics to keep the status quo and not take the prudent steps to bring the coal industry into the 21st century. New plant technology exists that can make burning coal almost as clean as natural gas. All we need to do is have the political will to make it happen.

In the tradition of Rachel Carson and Eric Schlosser, the veteran journalist Jeff Goodell examines the danger behind President George W. Bush's recent assertion that coal is America's "economic destiny."

Despite a devastating, century-long legacy that has claimed millions of lives and ravaged the environment, coal has become hot again -- and will likely get hotter. In this penetrating analysis, Goodell debunks the faulty assumptions underlying coal's revival and shatters the myth of cheap coal energy. In a compelling blend of hard-hitting investigative reporting, history, and industry assessment, Goodell illuminates the stark economic imperatives America faces and the collusion of business and politics -- what is meant by "big coal" -- that have set us on the dangerous course toward reliance on this energy source.

Few of us realize that even today we burn a lump of coal every time we flip on a switch. Coal already supplies more than half the energy needed to power our iPods, laptops, lights -- anything we use that consumes electricity. Our desire to find a homegrown alternative to Mideast oil, the rising cost of oil and natural gas, and the fossil fuel-friendly mood in Washington will soon push our coal consumption through the roof. Because we have failed to develop alternative energy sources, coal has effectively become the default fuel for the twenty-first century.