BLASTS FROM THE PAST.

Focuses on the political controversies surrounding the use of coal as a major energy resource in the United States. Impact of both an energy shortage in California and the energy policies of United States President George W. Bush on the so-called Big Coal industry; Possibility and effects of dismantling the New Source Review, which regulates power-plant operations; Environmental damage caused by coal-gathering, particularly at Hobet 21 in West Virginia; Likelihood of sustained coal use in the U.S.