In fact, one might call that sort of thing bribery. The "it's the markets" crowd wants us to believe that coal is in decline because it doesn't as well as renewables, but if that's true, why would the federal government have to spend billions bribing utilities to give up on coal? Could North Dakota's electrical cooperatives take the bait? Even after the Legislature made an extraordinary commitment supporting the state's coal industry and workers earlier this year? A grassroots group made up of coal industry workers is convinced it may happen: I've been hearing rumors about one utility, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, accepting the federal money to move away from coal. Joan Dietz, the utility's manager of communications, told me the company has not agreed to accept any money. "We believe in an all of the above energy strategy," she told me, though she did add that a member company in Colorado, operating in what she described as a "different environment," had opted to close down some coal-fired power plants.