From the Ask the White House ("an online interactive forum where you can submit questions to Administration officials and friends of the White House") session with Tom Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division:

Reese, from Casper writes: Mr. Sansonetti There are substantive rumors that there are vast coal deposits on the Moon.  Do you believe the discovery of moon-based coal would have a negative affect on Wyoming's economy (as Wyoming is the top coal producer)?

If so, how much of your day is spent on this problem?  Can I, as a Wyoming citizen, assist you in this pending crisis?

Tom Sansonetti: Dear Reese, As I gaze through my telescope at night-I wonder the same thing!  Since your email obviously came from the moon, I think you are in the best position to explore such a rumor.  Truth be told, we are always looking for new sources of energy-please report back!

I attended high school and a couple years of college in Casper, Wyoming, and I can say with a fair degree of authority that it certainly can feel like the moon – but it ain't really.  What I can't figure out is if Sansonetti is poking fun at Casper, or at Reese for speculating about "moon-based coal".  One might be inclined to assume the latter, except that Sansonetti admits that he himself wonders about "moon-based coal" as well.  While he may be joking about this too, it's true that culling resources from the moon is not a new idea.  Given the Bush administration's commitment to outdated, environmentally noxious energy sources (like coal), it wouldn't surprise me if the "new sources of energy" Sansonetti refers to would be new sources of coal, oil and natural gas - exclusively.  Hell, if we're going to eventually be tapping sources beyond our own atmosphere (and we will), why not investigate the possibilities of solar wind?  Now that would be a new source of energy!