Last week a new bill was introduced in the Utah legislature that would allocate 51 million dollars of Utah taxpayer money to fund a port in Oakland, California for exporting coal – out of the U.S.

This scheme would allow coal to be shipped out of Utah to foreign buyers and would prop up the coal industry and facilitate coal expansion in Utah.

(It is currently not absolutely clear whether or not the moratorium on new coal expansion on public lands announced in January by the Obama administration would or would not stop the proposed Alton coal mine expansion. It certainly should since it would be a new lease – on public lands — open to bidding by any company – but those in favor of more coal will certainly be looking for a way around these facts.)

The ability to ship more coal out of Utah would certainly, either…