Besides the dozen other obvious downsides to streamlining China's access to our cheap coal by parading it across our country, there's also this: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/vi…
@1 That's actually a pretty compelling argument FOR coal exports. The Powder River Basin coal that would be exported has very low sulfur content and if it replaced the Chinese and Mongolian coal being used currently, it would improve air quality quite a lot.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/vi…
(caveat, I have owned and currently own energy funds, coal firms, and coal IPOs and options)