@ westwall - In eastern Ohio/western PA/northern ByGod, reclamation does not in any way require that the mountains be put back, or that the waterways be repaired, or that trees and wildlife habitats be restored. At best, the coal companies will plant some crownvetch on the dirtpiles.
@polarbear - I mentioned Halliburton because they have their hand in a lot of Big Business energy programs and they have a strong record of failure. What you might not know is that a lot of regulations were eliminated or reduced for Halliburton and Big Oil and other energy producers during the Bush Administration. Dick Cheney owned Halliburton.
I would like to see the Grid completely updated. It's inefficient. I also strongly believe that a lot of green energy shouldn't be placed on the grid itself but used to enhance grid power coming into municipalities and private homes.
Yes, it does. The regs I quoted you are FEDERAL. ALL new coal mines (those begun after 1980) MUST follow the reconstruction programs or they lose their ass and possibly end up in prison.
The mines you see are old, the SMCRA Act of 1977 takes funds from current mine operators to clean up those old mines but there are many, many orphan holes out there and not much money to clean them up. Money that is being wasted on climate research could be used instead to clean those holes up and truly do something to benefit the planet.