When it comes to energy, cost isn't everything - but it's a lot. Everybody wants cheap power.

It may be too late for West Virginia to save itself from the ravages of Big Coal. But it's not too late for America.

When it comes to climate and energy, Gates is a radical consumerist. In his view, energy consumption is good - it just needs to be clean energy.

When it comes to energy, cost isn't everything - but it's a lot. Everybody wants cheap power.

Climate scientists have long pointed to the Southwest as one of the places in the U.S. that is most vulnerable to global warming impacts, especially drought. And if there's one thing that even climate denialists don't dispute, dry things burn.

It's not all Obama's fault: His plans to rebuild America's energy infrastructure have been hampered by the recession, and his efforts on global warming have been stymied by Tea Party wackos and weak-kneed Democrats in Congress.

The coal industry is an even larger part of the Australian economy than it is of the American, and it has an enormous amount of political power.