The US government is trying to make coal seem cute. It isn't. | Trump complained that coal needed better PR. Then “Coalie” showed up.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/trump-administration-interior-doug-burgum-mascot-coalie-ridicule/
130 points · 32 comments · view on lemmy.world
32 Comments
Chippys_mittens@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 218d
pftbest@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 217d
Not even that, it's more expensive than natural gas and you can't even use it in a combined cycle plant. So you pay more and get less energy for it. You don't even need to mention pollution to show it is a terrible fuel.
Chippys_mittens@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 217d
hperrin@lemmy.ca · 26 pts · 218d
How about Coalie’s older brother, Black Lungie?
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org · 16 pts · 218d
floofloof@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 218d
Renamed under this admin to White Supreme Lungie.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 217d
you mean Stage 4 Tumorie?
Steve@startrek.website · 21 pts · 217d
Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 217d
His catchphrase to get kids interested in mining: "Don't forget to bring a trowel!"
how_we_burned@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 217d
For mine workers this is sooooo fucking true
yesman@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 218d
I grew up in a county powered by Nuclear. The weird thing is that the plant was in basically the most beautiful part of the area. Their are hiking trails and parks nearby. And the artificial lakes are a huge tourist draw. Some of the most expensive real estate is practically in the shadow of the cooling towers.
The power generation that suffers from bad publicity is not coal.
Kirp123@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 218d
Coal power plants emit more radiation than nuclear plants.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 7 pts · 218d
Don't forget the mercury.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 217d
Oh coal has bad publicity if you ever go to visit the top less mountains in Appalachia or speak to a doctor there. Coal, it'll kill you and your family too!
EndOfLine@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 218d
That along with weakening of child labor laws should make it much easier to children into the exciting world of coal mining.
Catma@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 218d
If the popularity of Minecraft proved anything it is that children yearn for the mines
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 217d
Instructions unclear pushed a child onto a landmine.
KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 217d
I responded to a profile on hinge that said they wanted a man who yearned for things with, "I yearn for oncoming traffic does that count, lmao"
Unsurprisingly I didn't get a match but I still wouldn't change anything lol
Rubanski@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 217d
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 217d
Just need a mascot of a little orphan boy with a bad cough. Black lung Billy, here to teach you about Kentucky's long and proud tradition of coal mining and why scrip needs to be legalized
dreamkeeper@literature.cafe · 9 pts · 217d
Leave it to conservatives to come up with the least imaginative mascot possible.
ceenote@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 218d
These fucks know coal is on its way out, the game is just to get their grubby little fingers on as many taxpayer-funded subsidies as they can before cover completely runs out.
PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 218d
Always has been.
My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 218d
Looks like a Level 7 Constipation turd with eyes.
floofloof@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 218d
And Coalie doesn't look great either.
I_Jedi@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 218d
If Trump was smarter he would defend coal by noting its need for making steel.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 217d
Hydrogen can be used as an alternative.
Fondots@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 217d
It can be used as a heat source sure
But the thing that makes steel steel is that it contains carbon
Dig iron ore up from the ground, and it's not going to have much if any carbon in it.
And unless you have some crazy particles accelerator/fusion reactor nonsense going on, nothing you do with just hydrogen is going to get carbon into that steel, because there's no carbon in hydrogen either.
Coal, however, is mostly carbon, so using as the heat source naturally tends to add carbon into your iron to make steel.
There's other ways of doing it, but at the end of the day most of them kind of rely on coal in one way or another at some point in the process because it's a really convenient source of carbon.
The next best alternative is probably cutting down a bunch of trees to process into charcoal
Would be really damn cool to be able to suck CO
2out of the air and use that carbon somehow, but to the best of my knowledge no one has figured out any efficient way to do that at scale.ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 217d
Hydrogen can be used to reduce Iron ore without melting. This is then suitable for use in arc furnaces to produce steel with a 75% reduction in CO2 emissions, and by some processes without the use of additional coking agents.
whereIsTamara@lemmy.org · 3 pts · 218d
Imagine being the person to make that graphic.
“You’re going to make pollution fun!”
“Yay! I’m a fucking asshole! Gotta eat tho!”
JoMiran@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 218d
Looks like a constipated turd after you've taken too much pepto-bismol.
betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 218d
I'm just glad they settled on something cartoonish for the mascot. A few of the concepts in the pitch meeting would have fit right in at a minstrel show.
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org · 1 pts · 218d
Big Oil, coal and other shit have been worming their way into US education for decades, spreading lies, esp. against climate and environmental action. I once listened to a long podcast about this, interviewing parents etc. It was very interesting, and very depressing.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 217d
But Coalie is rad to the max.
realitista@lemmus.org · 1 pts · 218d
Burn it!!!!