I was a bit shocked by that. Not sure I would want Fracking to be the engine driving my economic growth — you're trading a financial crisis for a potentially massive environmental catastrophe.
Natural gas is also much easier to store than coal and gas turbines have much shorter startup times. Thus Natural gas provides an excellent base power to complement renewable energy.
So while I am sure many would prefer a direct to renewable energy situation, natural gas is fine too.
True, but what happens once the coal is a pile? Unless said pile is being turned into a giant bonfire it will need further transportation.
This means big machines and their operators. It means trucks, trains, barges, and yet more drivers.
Gas needs storage tanks and pipelines. Ignoring maintenance the entire chain from well head to plant can be automated. A trans-continental coal conveyor belt would look nice on a popular mechanic's cover page but would never compare to what already exists for natural gas.
Granted natural gas' infrastructure is capital intensive. Yet in exchange for this capital you get a transportation network that functions like a classic graph flow problem.
It's a movie filled with lies and shouldn't be taken as a serious documentary.
For instance when the guy sets fire to gas coming out of his tap it is assumed that it is caused by fracking, but the movie doesn't tell you that these things happen naturally also in areas without any gas drilling.
