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This appears to be the point the parent comment is missing. Making coal economically uncompetitive speeds the adoption of alternative energy sources

• adventured 11y ago
  It wouldn't make coal non-competitive, that's the central flaw in the argument. You have to buy the majority of all known coal deposits on earth to accomplish that, and there is far too much land / coal to be purchased to get even remotely close to that. Up to that point, more supply will perpetually come on-line to off-set the price gains, because of the substantial increase in profitability price increases enable. Not to mention that the vast global coal industry that remains - ie those mines not purchased (and there would be vast numbers of those) - will move into high gear and invest into producing more coal, faster, to capture the profits available. It's already very well understood that this is what happens in practice. See: the oil industry. Increase the price of oil from $50 to $200 and see how much supply comes on-line, and the unusual sources it starts coming from (eg tar sands, or two miles below the surface of the ocean).