45 years of free heat and no plan to harness it.

[enfieldpolice]

its the gates of hell

[MrNilsanderson]

do something brainiac, i can point out s@#t all day....

[roymaitland]

Grow op vent!

[mksboysal]

There is a free energy! Totally shame no one is harvesting it.

[CoolDre80]

Who wants heat from Silent Hill?

[SuperGozzy]

probably right furnace for cremating the bodies from the cemeteriees funeral home

[2bornot2b1984]

What do you mean, "underground fire"

[tehutimes1]

Oh conservatives never control anything?Ever hear of gun permits being a form

of voter id but not college or public housing ids like in tennessee?How a school district was closed down in virginia rather than intergrate?Rightists do their fair share of control."Marching around killing trees" is done in asia,south america,and north america "also".Some restaraunts cook with wood indoors or have grills or smokers outside cooking ribs with wood.

[lakewood85]

Uh yeah, go pay your respects to the dead and forget about the steam vent. You really need a constructive hobby bad.

[grandmastermicochero]

EPA is all about giving people fines and profiting!

[BeepBeepBoing]

smoke and heat coming up from under a cemetary .... must be hell down there !

[Robikus]

It's a portal to hell! Run for your lives!!!

[wwfundertakerfan1]

um buddy that may be carbon monoxide which has no smell and is formed when coal is burned so i would not use that to heat mine or anyone elses homes

[BooGooNFlowoo4Evoo]

Another quote from Wikipedia about the mine fire beneath the ground: " This was a world where no human could live, hotter than the planet Mercury, its atmosphere as poisonous as Saturn's. At the heart of the fire, temperatures easily exceeded 1,000 degrees [Fahrenheit]. Lethal clouds of carbon monoxide and other gases swirled through the rock chambers." This is why they couldn't put it out in 1967, and hesitant to try today.

[pronatalist]

@BooGooNFlowoo4Evoo

All good reasons to leave the coal fire be, and let it grow or fizzle as it will.

Why do we humans have to meddle with everything, even where there is no productive benefit to our efforts? Governments are the worst at this, as businesses often are smart enough to avoid activities which are not profitable. Human arrogance. Contempt for the responsible use of the taxpayers' money.

Nature does not need our "help" to be natural. Let the uncontrollable coal fires burn\grow wild

[itsandbits1]

@pronatalist

just like "let the child molester have your child" it's nature. I doubt you agree with that and if we control certain parts of nature, it is better for us

[pronatalist]

@itsandbits1

Why didn't you understand? I was talking of cost-benefit analysis. Because underground coal fires are not accessible, many are simply not worth the high cost of intervention. Not all aspects of nature can be controlled by man.

Sure, humans should alter nature for human benefit, especially as human numbers naturally rise.

But we can't control every volcano, nor are all "natural" fires worth controlling, so since the fire is so far beyond control, just let it spread,grow, naturally

[pronatalist]

@itsandbits1

Please understand, I am no eco-freak. Forest fires are not "good," just because they might be "natural," but in some unpopulated remote regions, cost-benefit doesn't work, so not all regions are worthy of forest fire suppression. Nature does not need human help to be natural, and so I think it okay to let forest fires grow or fizzle naturally in some remote unpopulated regions, as cost to intervene is too high with too little benefit to people.

Dam up rivers for human benefit,sure

[pronatalist]

@itsandbits1

It's government spending that is dangerously out of control.

Don't you get it? It's too late now, for Centralia. Maybe something could have been done decades ago, but most of the people have already moved away, and the fire is now so extensive, or unknown exactly where it is?, and now so minor to human interests, it's now grown far beyond practical or possible control.

BTW, video description is wrong. Fire in China isn't 3000 miles long, but the affected region of fires=3000miles

[BooGooNFlowoo4Evoo]

Check out the Wikipedia article on Centralia, PA. Local sign: "Walking or driving in this area could result in serious injury or death. Dangerous gases are present. Ground is prone to sudden collapse." It would be hard to justify capitol investment in the hellmouth. What about the human cost? If it could be automated, maybe, but automation is expensive and any maintenance workers are put in extreme danger. There's a reason this place is a dead ghost town.

[sethzky77]

Dead bodies decomposing from the, "St. Ignite us" cemetery.

[lesouder2222]

good point with this video but noxious is the word you're looking for, not obnoxious.

[joshytucker]

its steam

[josephdupont]

Some trees make more CO2 in their life spans than O2. So what do you do.

Send mirrors to africa and have them heat their pots with the sun rather than marching around killing trees..

[jacker372]

@josephdupont actually most o2 is produced from the ocean :)

[itsandbits1]

@josephdupont

denialists will go the same way all of us will but unfortunately they are the ones that will extinguish the human race. to bad they didn't have a genetic marker that took them first and gave the rest of us time to make a difference

[jgdogg441]

@josephdupont The notion of trees producing more CO2 than O2 is nothing more than a mere myth. Yes they do produce CO2 through "respiration" at night when photosynthesis isn't occurring, however the ratio of CO2 to O2 production ALWAYS tips in favor of the O2 side of the equation. As long as the tree exists, it is producing more O2 than CO2. It doesn't matter if it is a sapling, or a fully grown old tree.

[Trillion89]

@josephdupont No, they don't. If they did (make more CO2 than O2), they would not grow.

[ufos22]

@freetickeys I'm sorry for calling you tree haters. But you must understand that we are looking for an energy source for the future. With 7 billion people, most are using wood to cook their meals right now. That why the deserts are encroching on airable land. For the pop. to accept burning wood would be a distaster for the world. There simply are'nt enough trees left to use. Sorry for the comment. When I bought my house it had a wood burning potbelly. I used it before it became impractable

[Icestorm85]

"It doesn't smell much, so its not noxious"

It's a coal fire...what part of that sounded like an invitation to pipe it into a house?

Car exhaust doesn't smell much either.

AFAIK the only way to reliably 'put out' the fire would involve nuclear devices, the Russians experimented with the idea..used it a few times then stopped because it was stupid.

[PokerOnTour]

It's the gates of hell next to the cemertary

[richfincm]

Centralia, Pennsylvania

[dub dub dub][dot]damninteresting[dot]c­om[slash]the-smoldering-ruins-­of-centralia

[campcook88]

Are you sure its an underground fire? Could it be caused by the warm air of the sewer rising and hitting the cold air above ground creating condensation in the air?

[kenfo0]

One must assume you are talking about Centralia, MO. We have no way of knowing.

[tom69z28]

@kenfo0 centrailia PA. The govt was going to open strip mine it once the last people left but they are still there.....

[kenfo0]

@tom69z28 i'll check a map and see where that is. yeah, you'd hope someone would harness what is available. unfortunately, i don't have $100million to give it a whirl!

[rickbar123]

In Phila, Pa. guys sleep over vents like that!!

[abobjenkins]

keep walking around there and you may find out where one of those shafts leads to when a sink hole opens up...

[HISandman]

I think the point most of you are missing is, "this is a wild coal fire burning underground" They say it's un-extinguishable and will burn itself out in 1000 years. If this is the town I think it is.. most of the towns population moved away because of the carcinogens produced by the fire leaking up from underground and causing mass cancer among the population.

[fwacknstack]

Uhhh does anybody else think its wierd theres a cemetery with a underground smoke stack next door i think they are burnin bodys ,hows it smell

[josephdupont]

I did not see that.. good find.

[saints360row]

@josephdupont -You serious? First thing I thought when you said "cemetery" was crematorium - Though, I do have major doubts that that is what it is.

[WolYou]

Harness? This is for free. No industry is interested in free stuff :)

[pronatalist]

The video info text is wrong.

There are multiple fires over a stretch of 3000 miles in China. It's not all on fire. I read something about that somewhere, and somebody misquoted that, and other people just parrot it without questioning

Somewhere I read the largest underground coal fires in China run around 20 km in extent. While huge, that's pidly compared to a claim of 3000 miles long

Let the hidden infernos grow naturally wild, as there's no reaching nor controlling them. Wildness of nature

[josephdupont]

it would seem that instead of pumping CO2 into the ocean they might pump it into this fires.

We are splitting hairs.

if you have hot ground you have excellent places to grow things in green houses during the winter to feed people.

the vegetation was fine and healty

. My issue is waste..of energy

my issue is a double standard of the US Polluting..which is tgerrible and China polluting which is ok.

THE US uses 25 % of the world energy and produces 33% of the worlds goods.

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

No, the crazy Cap and Trade talks of burying CO2 underground. Oceans wouldn't be a stable place to put it?, unless they absorbed it on their own anyway without any help, which they supposedly are doing already. Underground is dangerous?/costly, because an earthquake could release it suddenly making it smother people in their sleep.

Because nature can't so much control its CO2 emmisions, neither do we have to. We can't have "zero" pollution, U.S. and China and nature okay.

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

I don't see any way to pump CO2 into the coal fires. They are too big and too widespread, and our oxygenated atmosphere is practically unlimited. Can't take away the heat, for it's trapped underground. Can't take away oxygen, for it finds plenty of cracks to burn slowly. Can't take away the fuel, coal veins go on and on.

Enviros lied, CO2 isn't a pollutant. Nature cleans up emissions eventually elsewhere. Not just its own, but growing human demands as well. So don't worry.

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

I don't think a greenhouse on top of an uncontrollable inferno would work. Would bake like an oven or would get too cold, too unpredictable. Another YouTube video shoes a part of the ground so hot it ignites a crap piece of paper. Far better places to put greenhouses. Nothing will grow on top, but will grow later after the fire burns out of that part.

But people can explore and live on top, with a little care

I agree with plan to just let wild coal infernos grow uncontrolled

[josephdupont]

Ummmmm forest fires do not burn at the "same" location fro 45 years.

These coal fires do.

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

Those coal fires don't really stay put either. They spread, although slowly, and old areas burn out. While it might be possible tap some of that energy, why would you locate a heavy sinking power plant there, then have power line poles toppling over when the ground subsides? When it's easier just to mine other coal, and take it to the power plant.

Why not just cover all the land with solar panels? Think of all that "free" sunlight going to waste. Problem is, can't use it all.

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

Let's hear more details of your plan. Who knows? It might be possible? I just think you haven't thought it through enough.

Enviros oppose salvage logging after a forest fire. "Not natural," they whine. Nonsense, why waste wood the fire spared, while the trees died and will fall or burn later?

Problem is, the coal isn't worth much at the mine, until shipped and packaged for power station. I don't think humans will ever use most of the coal, so easier to mine elsewhere-Let burn

[josephdupont]

Your absolutly correct. They burn up the tusks of elephants killed by pouchers too.

I have come to the conclusion that the brains behind the whole enviro movement's goal is to tople the USA.

They even oppose windmills.

There is no solution except to take us down economically.

All I know is that green houses don't need much to make them economical.

you can grow watercress with 28 percent protein very easily. be well

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont

Thanks for the compliment

There's now so many people in the world, is all the more reason we need the coal. In the U.S., coal accounts for half our electricity. Enviros disrupting supply sends prices soaring, oppressing the working poor, whom the libs say they are for. Liars. I don't believe in polluting the body with "birth control," as every human life is valuable and sacred, so all children should always be welcome

I agree with enviros-can't stop all fires from burning wild

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

Oh, I guess I was supposed to look at that PDF link file? Looks like a good idea if it shows to be cost competitive? I hear farmers are tapping methane from livestock manure.

We need to be expanding our electrical grid anyway, with people building ever more mini-mansions with central air conditioning, and more buildings. Looks like it could contribute some?

It could be that tapping the heat for electricity works better in some places than others, such as accessibility to grid

[josephdupont]

You could use this heat to help the fermentation process to make ethanol.

I hate the ethanol program, but if we could use the heat from the earth there to

break down the corn it would be more efficient. Land fills use methane to run green houses and make electricity.

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

But why would you want to make ethanol on top of a coal fire? Does it save that much money in energy costs? And isn't ethanol overrated? Gives 28% less milage than gasoline, so it needs to be $1 per gallon less expensive to compensate, or so I read. And critics say that ethanol is taking away from food, boosting food costs. Some farmers may want to make ethanol, to make their own rather than buying fuel to runs their vehicles?

The heat may be useful for something, maybe not?

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

Tell me what you think of this article. Will try to see if I can get the link to post.

Underground coal fires offer 'cleaner' gas

w w w.guardian.c o.u k/science/2002/may/30/uknews.e­nergy

Like we don't have enough underground coal fires? They want to ignite more? But it would spare miners lives from cave ins, and may actually reduce mining pollution, eliminating slag heaps.

I say let them try it, the process may tend to contain fires, but if not, let them grow wild naturally.

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont

Since they control the flow of the gases, they may be able to keep the process under control for a while. But if the growing fire causes subsidence and ground cracking, it may eventually start forming its own vents, growing out of control?

But I am not convinced that they necessarily need a workable plan to contain it, to get at the much needed energy, that needs to be affordable to the working poor

Could be a great idea to harvest coal veins already burning, before burns away

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

I also disagree with the video info text, that concern and action is needed. Why? I think it's okay to have huge, uncontrollable coal fires growing naturally wild unchallenged in India, China, and elsewhere, with no benefit to man, nobody futilely resisting it. Unless they are now so incredibly populated that there's no room anymore for some aspects of the "wildness" of nature? We don't fight volcanos do we?

Of course to get some possible benefit for man would be better though

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont

I must oppose so-called "environmentalists," because they are opposed to people, and so many of their ideas are bad and half-baked. The real reason for concern for environment, is to serve humans as we keep growing wildly and have become so many. They should want for humanity to grow naturally, freely, ever vaster and denser, so that far more people may experience life. To do so wisely requires some minor changes that we would readily agree to, say like more toilets, electricity

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

These elitists know-it-all(nothing) globalists, have us bound up so tight that we can't move. Can't do anything without a permit or permission from government. They tell us we shouldn't have "too many" children, shouldn't have a natural wild free world.

But it seems to me that if huge numbers don't like to use "birth control," then population naturally expands and so many more people benefit by experiencing life. If people can't/won't control coal fires, they shouldn't have to

[chaz706]

Environmentalism was never about the environment.

Like many leftist movements... it's about control.

[NewJura]

@chaz706 what a completely paranoid and ignorant comment.

[jdat747]

@NewJura Then why does the EPA make it illegal for an individual to smelt aluminum while they make no real effort at all to put out that coal fire in PA? Those underground coal fires are spewing tons more sulfur and CO than individuals would produce. It's a different story for larger companies ... they operate on a scale that can pollute a local environment. But no individual burning a few copper wires off deserves to go to jail for it, when the govt. does nothing to stop these huge sources.

[NewJura]

@jdat747 they cant put them out, they have tried fiercely to do so but simply cant, it sucks severely that they ever started.

[jdat747]

@NewJura Simply can't? or simply have not made it a sufficient priority to assemble a response equal to the magnitude of the problem? I doubt it would have been any harder than capping BP's undersea well and cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico ... if they had made it a priority from the beginning. If you took all the money spent on govt. employees typing emails for a year ... you would have plenty to fix the problem. The govt. is tied with red tape and is ineffective when real work is needed.

[NewJura]

@jdat747 you might want to do some research of your own into this, it seems you are looking at me for answers I don't have, I do know that when this fire underground first started it was fought with all they had until they realized it was to big, The abandoned the town and told people they should leave, has there been tech developed since then that might have a chance against it now? I don't know possibly, will you ask for me? Does it seem to be a source for some type of harnessesable power? YES

[jdat747]

@NewJura .. I have research this and I know all about how it started, and their first response, etc. I don't believe that they can't stop it. It is frustrating to me that the environmentalists in the federal govt. pass all sorts of laws that bring higher costs to citizens and restrict our freedoms in the name of reducing pollution. Yet, they allow this mess to continue. It might costs 20 billion, but just do it ... and then you can talk about the emissions on my 1997 blazer.

[NewJura]

@jdat747 besides bitching, what are you personally doing to help?

[jdat747]

@NewJura We need a political overhaul to cut the BS and fix problems like this. We need people who will take a practical and direct approach. So, besides bitching, which I do a lot of, I also donate to organizations that share my views on a practical, direct approach.  I support Ron Paul, FairTax.org, Institute for Justice, and the Libertarian party. I ran for a county commissioner seat in 2008 as Libertarian candidate, and I also volunteer for various libertarian outreach efforts.

[TheDudeRulez09]

@jdat747 what has changed from all that? nothing, this is something that has to be led by the people, at their level, I support the same things you do but I know that it will never change from the political stand point. Do something real, teach people to count on themselves again, teach them to grow their own food and build their own homes, get them of the grid and other systems designed to trap and keep them. Then things will have no choice but to change.

[jdat747]

@TheDudeRulez09 I agree with you completely. lol, and yes i'm trying to teach people to build a house ... check out what my channel is about.

Something I learned about from one of my youtube friends "LearnthethingsIdo" ... I'm building it now and filming how it works for my home, although we'll have to wait til next winter before i'm done. Everyone could do this though: Solar Pop Can furnace ...youtube (dot) com/watch?v=Jzxw1j-dzY4 Anyone could build one!!!

[TheDudeRulez09]

@jdat747 just in case you haven't figured it out yet, New Jura is my alter ego....... I teach people to build homes from the very dirt under their feet!! I have 24 years of conventional home building so I have a solid background in structure safety! I have watched a couple of your videos and I would love to bring you over to more rustic building!

[jdat747]

@TheDudeRulez09 lol, we started out arguing, but I guess we're on the same side ... Empower the people man! Great website, and sure, I'm game for alternative material/architecture homes. My main reason: those types of homes can get building code exemptions. People don't realize that we've allowed the lawyers to legislate away our right to exist. If ya can't build your own house (because of zoning/protected trades/permits), you're screwed unless you can afford to pay to live.

[TheDudeRulez09]

@jdat747 yep thats how they engineered it!!

[NewJura]

@jdat747 you might want to do some research of your own into this, it seems you are looking at me for answers I don't have, I do know that when this fire underground first started it was fought with all they had until they realized it was to big, The abandoned the town and told people they should leave, has there been tech developed since then that might have a chance against it now? I don't know possibly, will you ask for me? Does it seem to be a source for some type of harnessesable power? Yes

[trtlgrdl]

@chaz706 Yeah, they just wanna control us.. Not like Conservatives.. wait, what do the Conservatives want again??

[pronatalist]

To josephdupont:

Here's the fundamental problem with your idea. Generally, uncontrolled releases of energy, aren't easy to tap for energy. Like trying to harvest energy from a forest fire. The energy release must be controlled to tap it. As in the fire in your car engine cylinders, or your home heating furnace. You can't tap a flood, but a dam can tap the backed up water pressure for electricity.

Coal fires are a huge waste, but nature can afford it. Could mine nearby before it spreads there.

[h4ck3rm1k3]

these are underground coal fires.

the town has been abandoned.

tried to post some links to here, but youtube blocks them.

[josephdupont]

In 1981, a teen-ager playing in his grandmother's yard fell into a hole in the earth. He grabbed onto a tree root, hearing the fire hiss below, until his cousin pulled him to safety