The most bizarre contradiction behind the “coal train” debate seems to have been missed by all: the U.S. government, in the form of the EPA’s writing of rule after expensive rule in an endless reinterpretation of the Clean Air Act, has largely destroyed the economic viability of America’s heavy industry, coal industry, and coal-fired power generation in the name of “clean air.” Yet the same government seems happy to export coal — a potentially vital U.S. resource — to be burned by an EPA-interference-free Chinese industry that dumps hundreds of times more pollutants into the air than is allowed here. Does not the air over China become the air over America just a few days later? Hello?
Richard Willerton
VANCOUVER