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The role of research in the coal-mining industry: Moving forward using lessons from the past 311

coal-producing companies play a vital role in determining the research agenda,
thereby keeping the program relevant and proactive. When a coal company executive
is seated at the table determining where his or her company’s money is going to be
spent, they will seek out the highest quality project that can be completed at the most
economical cost. On the flip side, when research programs are financed primarily
by taxpayer dollars, they become reactionary programs, negotiated by pork-barrel
politicians trying to assuage the clamoring of the general populace who have strong
opinions, but no skin in the game.

15.5 Coal’s challenge: Mission impossible
or a bright future

In recent years, political rhetoric has spawned the term “war on coal” to describe the
impact environmental, health, and safety regulations have had on the coal industry.
Taking the position that coal is under attack from those desiring a cleaner environ-
ment, healthier air and water, and safer working conditions presupposes that those
ideals are not as desirable as the counter positions of preserving jobs and keeping elec-
tricity prices low. Such arguments will always come out on the losing end in this battle
because the battle is really a moral dilemma. If the coal industry is to succeed in
today’s society, it has to accept and endorse all moral efforts that are beneficial to
human life [13].
The high ground in any moral battle is won by solving problems, and there are
plenty of opportunities for that in coal mining. In solving problems, the correct
and/or best course of action will always be hard. Those who solve problems do so
because they are willing to do hard things. Those who solve problems do hard things
not because they have to, but because they are the right thing to do. Solving problems
requires action rather than reaction. Solving problems requires passion, loyalty,
determination, and discipline.
Coal mining is a very cyclic process, and it can be easy to get stuck in the rut of a
routine that breeds complacency. A coal miner satisfied with the status quo is like
a comfortable frog in a pot of water that has just been put on the stove. There is no
doubt that the heat is on for the coal miner of the future, but that heat is opening
up opportunities for those willing to seize them. Those opportunities are and will
be available to the next generation of coal miners, reclamation specialists, safety engi-
neers, mine inspectors, computer modelers, laboratory scientists, researchers, profes-
sors, and all others who continue to work in the coal industry, because it is going to be
around for many years to come.

References

[1] Pilzer PZ. Unlimited wealth: the theory and practice of economic alchemy. New York,
NY: Crown Publishers; 1991. 226 pp.
[2] Sturgul JR. History and annotated bibliography of mine system simulation; 1995 [2nd
printing of a personal publication].