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He sees mining coal as a commodity game. it's just get the stuff out of the ground as cheaply and quickly as possible. that has to change. we need to think about coal in a different way. >> factor in the lives and safety of the people doing this work in figuring out the cost of it. jeff god dell, rolling stone contributor, author of "dirty coal." thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. oklahoma's republican senator tom coburn is not only proud to have blocked the extension of unemployment benefits this week, he is raring to go on a spree when congress reconvenes becaus...

Ground around coal seams. if there's a certain amount of methane gas in the air, between 5% and 15%, it's very, very explosive. so if you're mining coal, it's really, really, really important that you take measures to get methane gas away from what you're doing. to keep the levels of methane gas inside the mine at very, very low levels. because otherwise, naturally, methane builds up, explosions can happen very easily, and people can very easily be killed. in montcoal, virginia, this week, 25 miners died. another four are still unaccounted for after an explosion at the upper big branch mine. t...

What is the best way to change this the most quickly? >> the best way to change this is to stop mining and burning coal. i think that is the only way you are going to eliminate mining deaths. mining in these deep underground mines especially is simply a dangerous thing to do. and certainly tougher enforcement would help during the bush administration, the federal mine safety and health administration, the agency that is in charge of overseeing mine safety was sort of notoriously gutted and weakened. now under the obama administration president obama gets a lot of credit for putting in a really...

Cold turkey from coal right now. we get half of our electricity from coal. no one is suggesting we stop burning coal immediately. but, you know, it is very clear in the big picture the sort of era of fossil fuels is over. we are moving away from coal in general. more importantly, this is happening in west virginia anyway. it is not because of environmentalists or something like that. it is because they have been mining coal for 200 years there. they have mined out all the good coal. the stuff that is left is increasingly difficult to get at, increasingly dangerous. unless you have tough regula...

Cold turkey from coal right now. we get half of our electricity from coal. no one is suggesting we stop burning coal immediately. but, you know, it is very clear in the big picture the sort of era of fossil fuels is over. we are moving away from coal in general. more importantly, this is happening in west virginia anyway. it is not because of environmentalists or something like that. it is because they have been mining coal for 200 years there. they have mined out all the good coal. the stuff that is left is increasingly difficult to get at, increasingly dangerous. unless you have tough regula...