Surface coal mines have shut down.

[eppie]

Unfortunately, the BS spouted/implemented by the environmentalist side of the fence often undermines efforts for realistic alternative energy sources.

Nuclear power plants, eh?  :whistling:

Oil's too valuable to be wasted in SUVs.
[right][snapback]88110[/snapback][/right]

You cannot say that. Blaming environmentalists for undermining getting alternative enrgy sources. If for you alternative is just nuclear power than you're right maybe. But the risk is just to big. And nowone would take especially the USA serious if they wanted to increase the number of nuclear powerplants.

The real people to blame are the big oil companies that do absolutely no effort to work on wind and solar energy. Shell here in Holland, is more or less only pumping oil, and e.g. exxonmobil (the ones who wrote Bush' point of view on Kyoto) are even worse.

Plus there is just too little oil, the prices will never go down substantially anymore.
3 dollar per gallon? wow, maybe you would start thinking about increasing researchfunds for solar enegry if you have to pay what we pay. (around 8 dollars per gallon). And also here people are complaining, but (and this is even worse in teh US) if people keep driving around as much as they do now, and in these huge cars, apparantly they still don't care enough.