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The gold business card -- that's gold, not gold-colored paper -- said it all about where the money is coming from for a new kind of gasification industry. The small but growing area is a fairly low-emission process that turns carbon feedstocks, mainly coal, into synthetic gas for multiple uses -- including turning power turbines -- without burning them. It is especially expected to take off in China, with that country's abundance of cash, coal and carbon dioxide emissions.

The card came out of the wallet of gasification entrepreneur Robert Walker, who said it came from a Chinese business contact.

Sometimes disasters lead to much sound and fury from policymakers, and not much else. The terrible mine collapse at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine in April generated a lot of noise, regulatory pushes, and some efforts at federal safety-crackdown laws. But one small, unglamorous effort has already resulted in something: transparency.

There's a lot to be said for transparency.

The Chinese like US gas producers Chesapeake and Anadarko.

But not a lot.