Current Events Blog: Mining, Soil Dynamics, and Geology

Article Link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/amid-coal-market-struggles-less-060621933.html?ref=gs

Topic: Mining, Soil Dynamics, and Geology (Earth, Rock, and Plate Tectonics)

This article talks about how the once seemingly endless amounts of coal is predicted to be exhausted in the next few decades. The United States Geological Survey found that the Powder River Basin’s lifespan is around 40 years when it was initially believed to be 150 years. The article goes on to talk about how people claimed America has enough coal to last centuries and the future for coal mining. Currently, mining costs are rising because it takes more mining to find coal and coal prices are falling, causing many coal mining companies to go bankrupt. I think that this is the perfect example of why ideas and predictions always need to be revisited and re-tested. Although in the 1990’s the prediction was that coal would not be exhausted for centuries, the reality is that it won’t even last for half of one century and this miscalculation is due to people taking into accountable coal that cannot be mined or used. I know that some people might argue that testing the same idea or gathering the same information more than once is redundant and would be a waste of time, it is often beneficial to double check previous research, which is why many researchers and scientists throughout history test previous findings. For example, the Miller-Urrey experiment that was done to simulate primitive earth and find some of the possible organic compounds that could have formed life on Earth was conducted multiple times after that by multiple people and continues to be redone and improved to this day. In addition, had the United States Geological Survey believed the predictions from the 1990’s and not conducted research on the Powder River Basin area, people and industries would have continued as if our coal supply would last much longer than it actually would. I think the study conducted by the United States Geological Survey was valid because they only counted coal that could be mined and used and current technologies are much better at predicting how much coal there is than the technologies that were available in the 1990’s. With the decline of the coal industry, this article made me wonder about the future of energy sources. What will come to replace coal as the most popular energy source in the United States?