A GrousePic of a grouse:

And a few random thoughts that have been bouncing around my brain:

Glad for the hopeful news from the third bore hole in the Utah coal mine. But I keep wonderin'...

With the first small bore hole, they mentioned it was possible the miners were close but didn't notice the hole in total darkness.

Anyone there ever heard of glow sticks?

I mean, if you're in total darkness, I suspect the neon glow from even a tiny glow stick is going to shine like a beacon for hundreds of feet. And they make those things small enough that kids tuck them in between their gums and teeth, now. No chance of hanging up in the drill hole. Just snap a few into glowing, and drop them in. Throw in a few more unbroken ones, just for good measure.

If there's no one alive down there to see them, what are you out? Pennies? But if they're there...

And another mining question... we have been looking at, literally, hundreds of miles of heavy steel pipe stacked up for several years now, as new heavy-duty natural gas pipelines cross the Divide country.

Now, this is heavy steel pipe. Able to withstand the tremendous pressures and temperatures of the gas they shove through those lines as fast as profits will allow. Huge pipe, almost a meter in diameter. And these energy companies can easily afford up to a thousand miles of this pipe.

How expensive would it be to lay some of this pipe down every mine corridor? With airtight doors every hundred meters or so? For only a few miles to the outside world? A whole human habitrail of safety.

Anything bad happens in the mine, just run for the handy-dandy escape pipe, seal the doors behind you, and crawl out.

And these emergency drill holes for air and communication... why the hell do we have to wait until there's an emergency before drilling them? I mean, in the gas fields, a 2,000' well is nothing. Since coal is basically just hardened natural gas, surely the companies could afford to drill in "emergency" access holes every time they move into a new stretch of coal. Long before the holes are "needed".

Yeah, yeah. I know.

The answer to all my questions is $$$.

As in, the companies have got it. And want to keep every penny they can.

Let the miners take the gamble and risk on making it.