Jeff Goodell Quotes
The coal industry is an even larger part of the Australian economy than it is of the American, and it has an enormous amount of political power.
Goodell, Jeff. "The End of Australia." Rolling Stone, 13 Oct. 2011.
At the time this article was written coal was being phased out in most of the country but not as the result of any political actions. The new technologies of producing shale oil and fracking had driven down the price of natural gas and oil, making coal the most expensive fuel alternative so the market place was finally doing what the politicians would not do. Ironically, the conservative politicians from coal producing states like West Virginia and Kentucky, who would normally say that government should always defer to the marketplace, then called for government action to protect the coal industry from the marketplace.
This quotation became a slogan of the miners. Lewis did not originate it. It has been referred to as early as 1902 in the bitter coal strike of that year. Generally coal mining strikes have involved more force and military than most labor disputes. While labor representatives maintain that force does not help, mine owners have believed that force is absolutely necessary. See Richard B. Mellon’s testimony to Congress in 1937--{563576}.
Jeff Goodell is an American author and contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine. Goodell's writings are known for a focus on energy and environmental issues. He is Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow.
