I am surprised that it is legal to export coal from the U.S. After all, the issue about burning coal is no longer just a matter of local air quality. The issue now is the survival of the planet. We don’t have the power to force China to stop burning coal, but we certainly have the power to not sell our coal to them.
According to a poster on another thread, I think SD70 from Canada, the Chinese are buying a lot of Australian coal, don't know if it's cheaper but it's certainly closer.
A niece of mine was in Bejing several years ago and said it's true, you CAN cut the air there with a knife. They don't care.
And this is why the downturn in coal-based generation wasn't supposed to hurt the railroads that bad; what we don't burn here we ship over there. But the high dollar exchange rate and other new sources have conspired to kill our coal exports (and, frankly, we didn't see it coming).
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
When you consider that the powers that be in China consider breathing clean air to be a luxury, it shouldn't be too surprising.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXdaa2dSOCM on India Coal Plants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd3_B4LqvOw on building West Pacific export Coal Docks to feed those plants.
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