Palmer points out that coal-fired electricity is generally cheaper than electricity generated by other means. According to Palmer, the economic health of rural America is directly dependent upon fossil fuel use. Fossil fuels are in the electricity powering the farms, ranches, Main Street businesses and homes. They're in the transportation of produce to markets, in the produce itself because of the farm machinery used and the petrochemical fertilizers which stimulated the Green Revolution.
Fossil fuels are the key to the high-productivity agriculture upon which American consumers rely.