Big Coal's Dirty Move

As the world heats up, the coal industry is racing to build more than 150 new power plants before Congress decides to crack down on global warming.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a suicidal act is one that is 'dangerous to oneself or to one's interests; self-destructive or ruinous.' By this standard, the coal boom that is currently sweeping America is the atmospheric equivalent of a swan dive off a very tall building. At precisely the moment that scientists have reached a consensus that we need to drastically cut climate-warming pollution, the electric-power industry is racing to build more than 150 new coal plants across the United States.

[ Link: Rolling Stone : National Affairs: Big Coal's Dirty Move]

Another clue that we (people generally, American's especially) are not going to be able to deal with global warming and energy depletion rationally. I have noted before that people are a group of clever individuals interacting in infinitely complex ways such that the final result is a totally irrational species. There is no way that we will not use up all of the supplies of hydrocarbons that can be profitably extracted. The climate will have its way.