Wyoming Coal

Just finished a book called Big Coal.

A bit heavy on the liberal comments at times, but overall a great education read about the current status of the coal & energy industry and how "Big Coal" has paid big bucks to shape the US energy policy.

One of the interesting sections is how the book positively describes the Wyoming coal mines:

1. The working conditions are much safer then most East coast operations
2. The miners make a good wage - generally 2x over the Easterners
3. The state of Wyoming prospers from taxes collected on mining. Most states in the East with heavy mining operations do not have prosperous economies.
5. Wyoming set up a trust fund to manage the taxes collected from mining. The fund currently pays interest of $65 million per month and accounts for over 10% of the annual state budget.

I give the book a strong recommendation. The author has an great writing style that keeps you hooked.