[Old School]

You call it progress, I call it profit. Less workers + more coal = more profit, it's all about business, and MTR is a cheap way to mine coal, thats the major factor in why MTR is so popular. Coal mining jobs have dramitically decreased in the last 30 years, but big coal companies want us to think they still employ large numbers of miners, and they don't. From 1984 - 1993 Coal mining jobs in the US decreased by 57%, from 177,874 to 101,322, this was due to new and cheaper mining techniques, like MTR. So the numbers support my theory.

First let me correct one of your numbers it is a 43% decrease NOT 57% like you stated now with that being said, you did however bring up an interesting point when you said that between 1984 and 1993 coal mining jobs decreased from 177,874 to 101,322 which was true. As I said before, I don't think it should be blamed on MTR, 80% or more MTR jobs, mine areas that are unmineable by underground methods. Let's go back to 1923 when there were 704,000 U.S. Coal miners, then in 1933 there were 418,000, there were 416,000 U.S. coal miners in 1943, and 293,000 in 1953 and 141,000 in 1963, to summerize there were 704,000 coal miners in 1923 and 141,000 in 1963 which is an 80% decrease. All of this happened before MTR ever started, but somehow I'm sure you will try to place the blame on it. So coach you may want to rethink your theory.

The number of surface mines in Kentucky have decrease 82% from 1,137 in 1984 to 196 in 2004, underground mines have decreased 55% from 926 in 1984 to 419 in 2004 while the number of coal miners have decreased 59% from 37,876 in 1984 to 15,522 in 2004 with coal production dropping 30% during this same period. BTW the number of coal miners in Kentucky have increased by 15% since 2000.

I can assure you that there is no cheap way to mine coal, surface or underground, I guess it depends on each mine, but I have seen where some underground mines were more profitable than some surface mines and visa versa.

FYI according to the Western Economic Analysis Center coal mining in the U.S. is directly responible for more than 90,000 jobs and nearly one million jobs directly and indirectly.