The first thing required of a fair analysis of any alternative to petroleum is an understanding that it is unfair and unrealistic to expect any one source to take its place.  We are going to have to throw everything we have into this effort, in as responsible a manner as possible.  But it was for-ordained that we will turn to coal to a degree.  It is up to us that we do it in as benign a manner as possible.  Realistically there will be production constraints that will only allow it to be a rather small piece of the puzzle, but again, we are going to need every piece.  But we shouldn't kid ourselves that this move represents progress.

Watch the history channel some night and catch one of their mind numbingly repetitive documentaries about the Second World War and the end of Hitler's Third Reich.  It is always pointed out that with the loss of North Africa and all other access to oil, Germany was reduced to synthetic fuel from coal.  It is always pointed out in a somewhat fatalistic tone..."the end was inevitable..."

Turning to coal is not a mark of progress it is a mark of desperation.  It is a measure of how poorly we have planned for a transition away from petroleum.  It is a band-aide approach to maintaining the status quo when it is no longer sustainable.  But right now, because of a lack of planning, we need that bandaid, or rather a whole box of assorted band-aides.