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

By: Jeff Goodell

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Synopsis: President Bush has said coal is America's "economic destiny." Despite a century-long legacy that has claimed millions of lives and ravaged the environment, why has coal become hot again? Few of us realize that coal already supplies more than half the energy needed to power our iPods, laptops, lightsanything we use that consumes electricity. Every time we flip on a switch, we burn a lump of coal. Our desire to find a homegrown alternative to Mideast oil, the rising cost of oil and natural gas, and the fossil fuelfriendly mood in Washington will soon push our coal consumption through the roof. Because we have failed to develop alternative energy sources, coal has become the default fuel for the twenty-first century. In the tradition of Rachel Carson and Eric Schlosser, the veteran journalist Jeff Goodell examines 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 business analysis, Big Coal illuminates the stark economic imperatives America faces and the collusion of business and politics that has already set us on the dangerous course. Filled with troubling environmental and health revelations, Big Coal shows us that our shiny white iPod economy is propped up by dirty black rocks.