The Kansas Coal War and a Kennedy descries coalacaust

The Coal War continues in Kansas. The state legislature is back in session and the coal bruhaha has pushed other issues off the agenda. And it has blown new life into the debate over wind energy in Kansas. We all remember "The Wizard of Oz." There's lots of wind in flatland Kansas. But right now less than 4% of the state's electricity is wind generated.

And in the blogosphere one of the Kennedy clan takes a verbal cannon to the coal industry. It's Robert Kennedy, Jr., long-time environmental activist. He blogs: "Each day the coal barons from companies like Massey and Arch detonate 2500 tons of explosives-the power of a Hiroshima bomb every week-to blow away Appalachian mountain tops to reach the coal seams beneath."

Kennedy gos on to blog about what appears to a coalacaust happening right now in America.

Not everybody is anti-coal, one town in West Virginia may make intself into a coal them park. And there is great political support for using more coal, especially in those states where coal is mined. Here's a map showing the coal states.

Let none of us who consume electricity in America be smug, half of the nation's electricity comes from burning coal.