This is a guest post by ClimateDenierRoundup crossposted from Daily Kos.
The worldโs largest privately owned coal company, Peabody Energy Corporation, filed for bankruptcy this week. This is the latest in a string of big bankruptcies in the industry, as Alpha, Arch and Patriot Coal have all gone under recently. As Alpha and Archโs filings both revealed funding for anti-climate activists, perhaps Peabodyโs filing will reveal more information about the companyโs attempt toportray coal as an answer to poverty.
Regardless, this bankruptcy has already triggered a fresh wave of attacks about President Obamaโs supposed โWar on Coal.โ Bizarrely, one column at the American Thinker contradicted itself by saying that the โwar on coal claimed its most significant victimโ before concluding that regulations โare not playing a decisive role in Peabodyโs troubles.โ As usual, the reality is more complicated than the catchphrase.
Since climate regulations arenโt to blame, what is? With a single sentence, Kate Sheppard explains the situation: โWhatโs driving the coal industry into bankruptcy is the free market โ competition from cheaper, more abundant natural gas and renewable energy.โ
It would stand to reason, then, that the various denier groups that glorify the free market would hail this bankruptcy as a triumph of capitalismโs omniscient invisible hand at work.
Instead, theyโll probably ignore reality and stick to their โWar on Coalโ talking points, since theyโre as intellectually bankrupt as these coal companies are literally bankrupt.
Image credit: A protest outside of Peabody Coal in St. Louis, by tolkien1914 via Flickr CC.
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