Peabody
Energy is eyeing its newly acquired coal field in Mongolia near the northern
Chinese border to apply the Powder River Basin model, regarded as the most
prolific coal mining model in the industry to date.  Some 14 active coal mines extract more than
400 million tons annually, and two railroads deliver that coal to some 37
states in the USA.

Fred Palmer, senior vice president of
government relations for Peabody, said the model for mining coal should be
applied in nations around the world in order to lift growing populations out of
poverty and to further advance economies of developed nations. For him, using
more coal is a matter of human rights in that cheap coal offers a higher
standard of living for all. Cheap coal power “allows people to live better
and live longer,” said Palmer.

Palmer
said if the richest nations in the world force developing countries to put the
current CO2 emissions-heavy coal power plant model on the shelf, it would be
inhumane to those populations desperate to lift themselves out of poverty.
“I say it”s energy apartheid to sit here in the U.S. and say the rest of
the world cannot enjoy the same lifestyle,” said Palmer.