Too Strict Regulations Could Doom U.S. Rare Earths Mining

With economic and military demand likely to grow in the next few years, the United States must reform its mine permit process and safety regulations to get to the vast underground store of rare earths materials that could drive growth, add jobs and bring revenues to state budgets, according to a new study from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).

Coal: Beginning the Long Goodbye?

Due to a boom in production and low prices, natural gas now equals coal as the cost-effective fuel of choice for electricity generation. The shift to natural gas comes as many aging coal power plants are being retired. At the end of 2010, 73 percent of all coal-fired capacity was 30 years old or older, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).1Coal plants are also being shuttered due to increasingly stringent environmental regulations that make it difficult and costly to upgrade facilities and equipment.