If the following topic has been brought up before, please forgive me.

If Obama and gang get their way and shut down coal mining, what are blacksmiths going to do? Has anyone started a political push for an exemption for coal use by blacksmiths? Carbon emissions by blacksmiths can not be enough to worry anyone I would think.

I was just wondering...

might be a good time to get a 20 ton load in just in case .... :)

ha if tey get theyre way that will be the least of our problems.... we wont be able to get steel or anything else delevered ether... I figure i will just start burning used tires ... i read somwhere that in third world countries they used them for forgeing and they are plentyful...i am sure it will be illegal but by then so will xxxxxxx!!

It is those folks in congress that YOU hired (via election) to represent YOU. When was the last time you spoke with your representative? Do you know their name, their address or their phone number? If not, why not? You are paying them to act on your behalf. These are the folks that need to contact with your concerns.

Keep in mind that is this turns political it will be closed.

Charcoal will still work. And since it is a biofuel it should be exempt.

Not that I want to turn this more political but no one I voted for made it into office.

ron

Irregardless of whether you voted for them or not they are still your governmental representatives and their job is to represent you.

If mining and importing coal is stopped overnight, there's an awful lot of people bleating 'change' going to be very annoyed when their X-box, TV, lights, refrigerator and computer stop working due to the power-stations running out of fuel.

wood works fine. but coal wokrs better. try using it for 'historical' reanactments and you may get an exception for coal use.

find out how the steam tractor and loco groups are hoping to continue without coal ,and team up with them they must have similar concerns.

Nobody's going to shut down coal mining in this country anytime soon. The entire economy would completely collapse. We can't suddenly just do without half our energy overnight. There's plenty I don't like about this current administration, but Obama is neither stupid nor crazy, and neither are (most of) the folks in Congress. Not gonna happen.

just get an electric lawn mower and the carbon credits will offset it...heck they may even send you a check......

Obama and gang get their way and shut down coal mining? Not hardly. The best we could wish for is a moratorium on building NEW coal fired power plants. We cannot afford to shut the existing coal plants without a viable alternative fuel like natural gas, and converting the thousands of plants would take years.

Nuclear power plants are presently, and ironically, the most environmentally friendly source of electricity we have today. Expect to see more nuclear power plants built in the coming decades (it will take that long just to slash through the red tape).

By the time construction begins, the environmentalist will still be squawking, but not quite as loud. Expect them to shift the debate to ownership; private verses public ownership.

Talking point: would you like to see Halliburton, Enron, or Kellogg Brown and Root controlling the plant?

In the mean time, my sister will continue to purchase entire train loads of cheap western strip mined coal for the power plants in Nevada and the underground mines in the east will still pull out quality coal for our hearth.

You sound a bit paranoid to me. Quitting your dependancy on foriegn oil has got to mean more coal use including coal gassess. Relax coal is here to stay. Its just good buissness to use it efficently and produce less mess. It cost money to clean up the mess, best not to make one.

the sky is falling!
The coal will be there, it isn't going to disappear, if you are over 20 you probably will have passed away by the time coal production is stopped.

there is many abandond open pit mines that i get my stuff from so i guess i dont have that problem.

paranoid, yes I am a bit but for good reason. I have seen changes in my life time that blow the mind. I can't believe how calm everybody takes things. Obama made a statement of wanting to shut down the coal industry so it a possiblity wether you believe it or not. He has thrown it out there.

In Oregon they have seriously tried to ban wood stoves many times. With Portland able to out vote the rest of the state, it will happen someday.

Every thing I enjoy has been under attack by some do good group for my entire life. I am a bit tired of it. Don't give me the vote nonsense. The city dwellers out vote folks like me nearly everytime.

My post was more curiosity about view points of others here then anything.

Despite no mention of politics in the forum rules it seems to be a no no. So lets just drop this thread.

Thanks to all who responded.

Kinda like when "city folks" move to the "country" and are mad because they smell manure from a farm that has been there for 100 years.

I don't see a problem with coal forges, just be nice to your neighbors......and they will return the favor.

If they go the cap and trade route I want to start a coal fired power plant. Then not produce any power and just sell my allocated carbon credits. Doesn't it seem fundamentally wrong to create a commodity out of not producing something? What are you encouraging at that point? Stopping all production?

Talking point: would you like to see Halliburton, Enron, or Kellogg Brown and Root controlling the plant?

Or to be more real world about it would I rather see TVA or Southern Nuclear Services operate a plant. Well I'd have to say SNS. We have plants from both in AL. Farley has an enviable safety record. Browns Ferry, the TVA plant, not so. Years ago they their maintainance guys were using candles to find air leaks where a a cable tray carried the reactor control cables through a wall. They were plugging the leaks with flamable insulation. Anyway they set the insulation on fire, tried for 15 minutes to put it out, then called for help, but the emergency instructions had the wrong phone number on it. Automatic fire extingushers had been intentionally disabled, and the manual overides still have protective plates screwed on top of them. Finally the FD shows up, and they won't allow them to use water because it is an electrical fire. Eventually after all attempts to put it out with CO2 and dry chemical fail, they allow the FD to put it out in seconds with water, by this time, the control room was full of smoke,and they had lost much of their controls and warning indications. Estimates were that 2 tons on PVC had burned, and the plant (each reactor is a seperate plant) was out of service for 18 months.

Then 10 years latter the NRC forced BFNP to shut down all of their reactors due to safety issues. I think #1 reactor (that burned earlier) stayed out of service for 17 years

In fact we have a second TVA site that was never finished. When TMI had a partial melt down, they were considering shutting it down due to cost overruns After TMI, shutting it down was a no brainer.

Oh yeah, the only fatal stationary reactor accident was in an army reactor.

So yeah, I do trust private industry more, particularly with good government oversight.

While I'm no Obama fan, any long term reduction in coal is going to come from regulating it's burning, not mining. Thats why it's called energy policy, not minerals policy.

Country_boy, we both agree the operative words are "particularly with good government oversight".

Oh boy, sounds like politics! The old "us" and "them" thing is sooo boring!

What generation has not seen mind blowing changes? I remember hearing my grandfathers generation lots of them, talking about the end of the horse and buggy, 40 hour weeks, two world wars. My great uncle traveled across the country in a car, stopped where ever they wanted and camped, no rules, no problem.
How much more mind blowing can it be than for a child (me) hiding under a school desk because the Russians were going to drop atomic bombs on us and we were going to drop bombs on them and the whole world would be destroyed, or sending men to the moon?

Things are changing all the time and we all are going to regret some of the changes, I already regret many of the paths we humans have taken in the name of progress.
I would chance to guess that in 100 years if there are such things as hobby blacksmiths they may very well be using gas or electric forges, and also there still be plenty of coal out there. Yes you may not be able to use in near other houses, lets face it starting a coal fire really stinks, on a foggy day the smell stays around here for hours. I couldn't do it in a suburban area.
Somehow we will manage, as we are very ingenious and clever, are we not?

I just deleted a big long ranting about my (Massachusetts) representatives in Washington, Nuclear Power, and food additives from China!

Why? Because this is a Blacksmith forum!

(Sorry, I don't have squat to say about coal.)

Who wants to talk about religion?

Cross pein, thank you for your consideration.

And with that I think it best that we close the discussion and the thread.