No one can argue that conservation and environmental protection measures are needed, but the human impact of limiting the demand for coal in the U.S.

This is the human impact --

Coal miner Alpha NaturalResources  Inc.  announced today that it was “idling” eight mines in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and eliminating about 400 jobs in an effort to reduce costs as the company struggles with both lower demand and lower prices for coal. Ultimately the company plans to eliminate 1,200 jobs.

This decision is not directly attributed to regulations and the cost of of retrofitting coal fired power plants and other regulations on the coal industry, but one can read between the lines