For years, several pro-coal organizations have challenged environmental activists to debate issues openly. During January, one of the leading environmental activists, Robert Kennedy Jr., agreed to debate Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship on coal’s role in the nation’s energy future, mountaintop removal mining, and climate change. The University of Charleston served as the venue. A hand-picked audience of 950 crowded the auditorium, while thousands tuned in as the event was broadcast live on the Internet through a local television Web site.

As this edition of Coal Age goes to press, world leaders have gathered in Copenhagen to discuss global climate change. U.S. President and now Nobel Laureate Barack Obama is making his second visit to Copenhagen this year to show that he and the Democrats are seriously thinking about doing something on this climate thing. His efforts, based primarily on bluster, may fall as flat as those to bring the Olympic games to Chicago.