Coming soon -- Wyoming coal-powered iPods

Did you know this:

Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway estimates that 500 pounds of coal are blown from each rail car for every 500 miles traveled?

Just one of the interesting facts in a Grist post and in a Sierra Magazine story about plans to ship Wyoming coal to China. The key element for the plan is to upgrade the Columbia River port in Longview, Wash. Environmentalists and the state government are resisting. May not be too much longer before money talks and the impasse is broken.

I'm reminded of that John Prine song, "Paradise:"

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well I'm sorry my son but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

With a few changes of place names (apologies to Mr. Prine), here are the lyrics:

And daddy won't you take me back to Campbell County
Down by the Powder River where Paradise lay
Well I'm sorry my son but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away 

To make iPods in China.

Campbell County isn't exactly paradise. And the Powder River was appropriately named. Many who live and work and ranch and write and sculpt there like it well enough. I have friends and colleagues in Gillette who think I live in the ugly part of the state.

Mixed feelings here about coal. The more Wyoming coal sold, the more royalties the state collects. The state coffer expands and my job is secure. It may be too much to hope for a raise, as the Wyoming Legislature is notoriously tight-fisted and, with its new Tea Party members, not in the mood for a spending spree.

All this to make iPods for the children of America? My children included?

There's the rub. China makes stuff we want and -- possibly -- need. We ship them coal thousands of miles and they ship us back iPods. I look around my study and see PCs and a digital camera and my DSL modem and surge protector and phone and photo frames and who knows what else. The only thing in this room I can vouch for as totally "Made in the U.S.A." is me, aging rapidly, and my mutt Coco stretched out on the floor for her mid-morning nap. Coco has a microchip (probably made in China) embedded in her hide. If needed, we can find her electronically if she ever disappears.

The articles are worth reading. Access them through your Wyoming coal-powered PCs.