Black lung rates in Appalachia are high as the 1970s

Black lung rates in Appalachia are high as the 1970s(text.npr.org)

11 points by mooreds 2 hours ago | 5 comments

maxrev17 2 hours ago |

I don’t get how it’s cheaper to dig up and transport coal than install a tonne of solar :s

Rebelgecko 1 hour ago | |

The problem is the US doesn't have senators whose constituents make solar a key part of their identity (or if we do, those senators arwnt swing votes who need to be appeased and disproportionately porked up)

klysm 2 hours ago | |

It isn’t, but the whole night thing is a bit of a problem and storage isn’t there yet at grid scale, but it’s coming.

kadoban 56 minutes ago | | |

Coal doesn't even compete with just solar, those aren't your two options.

Coal competes with literally everything else, and it loses to every single one of them. It's a terrible, terrible fuel. Burn natgas instead and you're already magnitudes better off.

Coal only exists today in the US because our politics is broken beyond belief.

toomuchtodo 32 minutes ago | | |

Only 15% of power in the US comes from coal, and it continues to decline as each of the last remaining coal generators are retired. Politics props it up, but it will eventually be gone. Five years maybe, ten years tops.

https://www.sierraclub.org/coal/coal-plant-map