Coal Sees the Solar Light in India

You gotta love it when the world’s largest coal mining company turns to solar energy, as a way to cut costs and because it recognizes that fossil fuels are fast going away. According to a published report, Coal India plans to install solar in its various operations around the country. A company document explains why: India…

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You gotta love it when the world’s largest coal mining company turns to solar energy, as a way to cut costs and because it recognizes that fossil fuels are fast going away.

According to a published report, Coal India plans to install solar in its various operations around the country. A company document explains why:

India has an abundance of sunshine and the trend of depletion of fossil fuels is compelling energy planners to examine the feasibility of using renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, and so on.

In the United States, unfortunately, we aren’t hearing such enlightened philosophy from the coal industry, which continues to plunder the mountains of Appalachia and other areas of the country for this dirty energy source. Pressure from Earthjustice and the environmental community has effectively stopped its expansion in this country—and it is shrinking as the dominant energy source for a number of reasons—but coal refuses to see the light. It hopes to expand its market overseas by building export terminals on the West Coast so that coal can continue to blight the rest of the world with greenhouse gases.

So far, Earthjustice and its allies have been able to prevent the permitting of coal export terminals, but with so much money at stake, this fight is far from over.

From 2006–2014, Terry was managing editor for Earthjustice's blog, online monthly newsletter and print Earthjustice Quarterly Magazine.