It was just a few years ago that we kept hearing how there were going to be 100, 150, 200 new coal plants in America. It was an apocalyptic prospect and yet it seemed like a force of nature. There was no stopping it. You could maybe win a single delay or even cancellation here or there, but as for the general onslaught, you just had to steel yourself for the blow.

And now? While there's still so much to be done, at least that particular cloud seems to be fading away, little by little, leaving one spot growing brighter.

Coal on the ropes?

The surface mine foreman on the Mountain Top Removal job behind my house says he loves the smell of nitrates in the morning. Environmental terrorist are still blowing this place to hell.

He must not have gotten the word yet! It looks and sounds like he is winning.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.