(Source: Teamster Nation, November 1, 2012)
Coal’s return is a big deal for our brothers and sisters in the Teamsters Rail Conference. They’ve been worried about the drop in coal shipments on eastern and western roads. Thousands of good-paying railroad jobs depend on coal.
The reason coal fell in the first place? It’s the fracking, stupid.
Last week, CSX blamed low gas prices for the decline in coal, even as two Wall Street analysts recommended two coal companies as good buys because natural gas prices are now rising.
Brother Dennis Pierce, national president for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, explains: George W. Bush unleashed a natural gas boom by relieving natural-gas corporations of their obligation to clean up Superfund sites. He also relieved them of the responsibility to tell people what’s in the chemical mix they inject into the ground as part of their fracking operations.
Full story: Teamster Nation