No Good Alternative: Volume Two of Carbon Ideologies

1470 Pages·2018·76.05 MB·English

by  William T. Vollmann

ALSO BY WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN
You Bright and Risen Angels (1987) The Rainbow Stories (1989)
The Ice-Shirt (1990)
Whores for Gloria (1991)
Thirteen Stories and Thirteen Epitaphs (1991) An Afghanistan Picture Show
(1992) Fathers and Crows (1992)
Butterfly Stories (1993)
The Rifles (1994)
The Atlas (1996)
The Royal Family (2000)
Argall (2001)
Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent
Means (2003) Europe Central (2005)
Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
(2006) Poor People (2007)
Riding Toward Everywhere (2008) Imperial (2009)
Imperial: A Book of Photographs (2009) Kissing the Mask: Beauty,
Understatement and Femininity in Japanese Noh Theater (2010) The Book of
Dolores (2013)
Last Stories and Other Stories (2014) The Dying Grass (2015)
Carbon Ideologies, Volume I: No Immediate Danger (2018)

VIKING
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Copyright © 2018 by William T. Vollmann Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity,
encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an
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to continue to publish books for every reader.
“I Am Here Only for Working” first appeared in Harper’s in 2017.
Maps and illustrations by the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Vollmann, William T., author.
Title: Carbon ideologies / William T. Vollmann.
Description: New York City : Viking, 2018
Identifiers: LCCN 2018013219 (print) | LCCN 2018017544 (ebook) | ISBN 9780525558491 (hardcover : v.
2) | ISBN 9780525558507 (ebook : v. 2) Subjects: LCSH: Carbon--Environmental aspects. | Energy
development--Environmental aspects. | Atmospheric carbon dioxide--Environmental aspects. | Coal mines
and mining--Environmental aspects.
Classification: LCC QD181.C1 (ebook) | LCC QD181.C1 V648 2018 (print) | DDC 363.738/74--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018013219
Version_1
Contents: VOLUME II
Also by William T. Vollmann
Title Page
Copyright
List of Maps and Illustrations
What Should Be Measured?
About Permissible Limits
—
COAL
Coal Ideology
About Coal
Coal Types, Simplified
About Sulfur
2. AMERICA’S BEST FRIEND (West Virginia and Kentucky, 2013–15)
Comparative Carbon Emissions, Energy Use, Manufacturing Efficiencies and Attitudes
About Industrial Regulation: Japan, Germany and the United States, ca. 1995–97, in
multiples of Japan’s per capita CO emissions
2
Comparative Use of Coal for Electricity Generation, 2013–15, Japan, EU-15, U.S.A. and
West Virginia
Highlights of Don Blankenship’s Trial, as told by media sources, 2014–16
“The Bill Cole Plan”: From the platform of Jim Justice’s opponent, 2016
Letters to the Charleston Gazette, 2013
A Field Guide to West Virginian Politicians, ca. 2013–15
Coal Combustion’s Percentage of Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Releases for Selected
Countries, 2010, in multiples of the Swiss figure
Active Coal Mining Sites in West Virginia and Total U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions for
Coal-Generated Electricity, 2012–14
Coal use as a percentage of total fuel consumption: U.S.A., 1870, and World, 1991
Regional Coal Prices, per ton, April 15, 2015
From a local newspaper, 2014: “Safe Enough to Eat”
What Did Coal, Nuclear and Oil Have in Common? (An Anecdote from a Children’s Book
on the Deepwater Gulf Oil Spill of 2010)
From West Virginia American Water’s brochure, ca. 2015
Legalizing the no comment: From the text of Senate Bill No. 423
Legal Consequences of the MCHM Spill, 2014–16
American Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Fossil Fuels, 1990 and 2012, in multiples of the
1990 figure for natural gas
Who Was to Blame for Flint, Michigan? (One Man Explains, 2015)
From a local newspaper, 2015: “House votes 95–4 for repeal of alternative energy law”
From a local newspaper, 2014: “Black lung’s worst form roars back”
From “A Coal Miner’s Apology to Today’s America” by Roger Horton, 2014
Comparative Standard Electrical Loads for Sport, Commercial and Industrial Lighting,
U.S.A., 2002, in multiples of the load for an outdoor skating rink lit with high pressure
sodium lamps
Correcting the West Virginia Board of Education’s science education standards, 2014
3. “TODAY OR TOMORROW IT WILL HAVE TO COME OUT” (Phulbari
and Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2015)
Comparative Calorific Efficiencies, 2015, in multiples of the number of bricks produced by
1 pound of Indian coal
Comparative Calorific Efficiencies, 2015, in multiples of the thermal energy of Indian coal
Barapukuria coal ranked against major American coals, various years
Comparative Carbon Dioxide Emissions to Make One Brick, in multiples of the average
emissions of West Virginian bituminous coal
The Trend
—
FRACKING AND NATURAL GAS
Fracking and Natural Gas Ideology
About Natural Gas
German Emission Factors in Natural Gas Production, 2007, in multiples of the value for
nitrogen oxides
About Methane
Carbon Gas Emissions of Common Fuels, in multiples of methane’s
Primary Sources of Methane in Mexico, 2002
Quantity of Fuel Resource Which Will Release 1 Pound of Methane, ca. 2007, in multiples
of the value for hard coal
About Fracking
4. AMONG THE MOST VIGILANT PROTECTORS OF THE
ENVIRONMENT (Greeley and Loveland, Colorado, 2015)
Two Counties Compared: McDowell, West Virginia, versus Weld, Colorado
About Volatile Organic Compounds
Keeping Trade Secrets in Pennsylvania: The Oil and Gas Omnibus Amendments Act, 2012
—
OIL
Oil Ideology
About Oil
Quantity of German Oil Whose Extraction Alone Will Release 1 Pound of Specified
Greenhouse Gases, in multiples of the value for carbon dioxide, 2007
About Internal Combustion Engines
Comparative Heat Efficiencies of Engines, 1911–2015, in multiples of the efficiency of a
reciprocating steam engine
Carbon Dioxide Emissions of Three New-Model American Cars, 2016, in multiples of the
figure for an “F-Pace” Jaquar
What Was the Work For? (continued)
5. “THE WHOLE WORLD DEPENDS ON IT HERE” (Mexico, 2014)
6. “YOU WILL HAVE BEAUTIFUL LAWNS AND GREEN GRASS”
(California, 2016)
7. “IT’S ALL ECONOMIC IN THE END” (Oklahoma, 2016)
Global Primary Energy Consumption by Source, 1980 and 2011, in multiples of 1980
absolute consumption figures
8. “I AM HERE ONLY FOR WORKING” (United Arab Emirates, 2016)
Per Capita Gross Domestic Products and Unemployment Rates of Some U.A.E. Guest
Worker Countries, from Central Intelligence Agency data, 2001–14, in multiples of the GDP
for Cameroon
About Batteries and Fuel Cells
Comparative Battery Energy Densities, in multiples of the lower range of lead-acid battery
—
HAPPILY EVER AFTER, OR, THE MARRIAGE OF CARBON
IDEOLOGIES
—
AND SO, AND THEN
Accidents and the Bottom Line: Common Testimony on the Regulated Community, 2010–
14
Acknowledgments
Source Notes
About the Author
List of Maps and Illustrations
MAPS
Appalachian Places Mentioned / here
Weld County Places Mentioned / here
Oklahoma Places Mentioned / here
Gulf Places Mentioned / here
ILLUSTRATIONS
Coal: Appalachia
Leaky natural gas assemblage in Kanawha State Forest, near Charleston, West
Virginia / here
Roadside view of a West Virginia coal mine (near Barrett) / here
Ukrainian coal miners, memorialized in the Moscow subway / here
“God Bless the West Virginia Coal Miner!” On the grounds of the statehouse in
Charleston. / here
Montcoal. This eponymous locality was one more monument to coal. It
happened to be the site of the Upper Big Branch accident. / here
West Virginian toy cat cast from coal dust and resin, McDowell County / here
Coal Street Pub, Gallup, New Mexico / here
Pastor Bob Blevins, Bradshaw Mountain, West Virginia / here
Banner on main street of Sylvester, West Virginia / here
West Virginia Coal Festival in Madison, 2013 and 2014 / here
John E. Amos coal-fired power plant, Nitro, West Virginia / here
Up the road from the Talon Loadout’s ambulance entrance / here
Monument to victims of the Buffalo Creek Flood, Kistler, West Virginia / here
Mrs. Glenna Wiley, Kistler / here
Coal stove, at the Kentucky Coal Miners’ Museum / here
The Powelton mine, near Lorado, West Virginia / here
Loaded coal train at the Powelton mine / here
Coal House, Williamson, West Virginia. It is built mostly out of coal. / here
Historical “coal camp” marker in Lynch, Kentucky / here
Detail from the Upper Big Branch memorial, Whitesville, West Virginia / here
Informal Upper Big Branch memorial, Montcoal, West Virginia / here
Mrs. Patricia Wheeler, Lesage, West Virginia / here
A Kentucky “stripper job” / here
“Welcome to Benham,” Harlan County, Kentucky / here
Mr. Stanley Sturgill / here
Where the top of Cook Mountain used to be (near Twilight, West Virginia). The
thin line of trees on the left screens the Cook family graves. / here
How they improved Cook Cemetery / here
Mary Cook’s two headstones / here
The “moonscape” as seen from the “pretty good reclaim” of Cook Mountain /
here
What Jim Justice left us: the view down into Virginia / here
Closeup of the same / here
“NO MTR” sign, United Presbyterian Church, Charleston, West Virginia / here
Streambank eroded (according to Chad Cordell) by mountaintop removal. Note
exposed tree-roots. / here
Glimpse of mountaintop removal mine (enlarged detail) / here
Mr. Chad Cordell / here
Parking lot wall in Williamson, West Virginia / here
“Friends of Coal Miners” at the West Virginia Coal Festival. FOC was “a
nonprofit public-advocacy group intended to ‘educate West Virginia citizens
about the coal industry and its vital role in the state’s future.’” In the upper
left we see mention of one of FOC’s sponsors: Bucci, Bailey & Javins LC.
Bailey was Tim Bailey. / here
Downtown Iaeger, West Virginia / here
A sign of the times in Madison, West Virginia / here
The man in Bradshaw, West Virginia / here
Sterling’s Drive-In, Welch, West Virginia / here
Retail store in McDowell County, West Virginia / here
House in downtown Welch / here
Funeral home, McDowell County / here
Welch panorama / here