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To: Gottfried who wrote (80604)	12/3/2000 3:49:16 AM
From: Douglas V. Fant	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Gottfried, Gruess Gott! There are mixed feelings out there about coal; however, the key is that competing sources of BTU's such as coal will keep natural gas prices from going too far through the roof...Whether it's coal, windpower, NGL's or solar. etc... Which I would argue is actually good for NG prices long-term. Avoid those crazy price spikes that inevitably shrivel backwards...NG prices should remain strong...however sustained prices of $8.00 or $9.00 mcf NG is bad news for NG long term I believe. My only caveat about coal is that a number of my friends from the Carter Administration work in environmental organizations. We talk frequently. One of the highest environmental priorities in the air emissions side is to get old coal-fired power plants shut down. A "deal" was cut with the coal industry to phase out old plants when the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments were passed. Now 30 years later those same old coal-fired plants are still chugging along.... If coal were to expand it would need to be accompanied by new air emission technologies. However strip-mined coal say from Wyoming's Powder River Basin can be shipped and burned in a coal-fired plant for about 2 cents/kWh. That is cheap. NG by comparison at $6.25 mcf converts to power in an about 6.4 cents kWh cost. There's a big difference between 2 and 6.4 cents- enough maybe to pay for a bunch of catalytic converters and other emission removing equipment.... It's just that local environmentalists will be in a "show me" mode re the air emissions....On the other hand never, ever underestimate "yankee ingenuity" in terms of technological advancements which could then resolve the air emissions issues such as SO2 (acid rain) mercury, and arsenic....and with coal so abundant....