Isn coal the most affordable energy choice, providing energy at half the cost of other fuels?
Wrong. Coal is very expensive. Both the price of coal and the cost of building coal plants has risen over the past years, more than 50 percent in some instances. And consider other costs associated with coal: From lung disease to the loss of mountaintops because of irresponsible mining to health care, missed work days and environmental destruction, the hidden costs of coal are immense. Future carbon dioxide regulations, which President Obama has promised to enact will also dramatically increase the cost of coal. With the cost of efficiency and renewables now equal to or less than the cost of coal in many places, building new coal-fired power plants is a poor investment for our pocketbooks and our future.
