Obama keeping promise to bankrupt the coal industry and skyrocket energy costs

[Soul Crusher]

Black Hills to shutter some coal-fired plants

Posted on August 7, 2012 at 6:29 am by Associated Press in Coal, Energy demand











inShare.
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A bucket of coal. (Jennifer A. Dlouhy/The Houston Chronicle)

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Black Hills Corp. said Monday that its utilities will close some older coal-fired power plants because it would cost too much to bring them in compliance with new federal and state environmental regulations.
 
The company said its Colorado Electric subsidiary will idle a plant in Canon City, Colo., at the end of this year but keep it available for power-generation during peak demand until retiring the plant at the end of 2013.
 
Colorado Electric will also suspend operations at the end of 2012 for two units of a natural-gas-fired plant in Pueblo, Colo.
 
The Black Hills Power subsidiary will suspend operations Aug. 31 at a coal-fired unit in Rapid City, S.D., and retire the plant in March 2014. It also plans to retire plants near Gillette and Osage, Wyo., in March 2014.
 
Last month, Colorado Electric proposed building a natural gas-fired plant to open in 2016 and replace the power produced by the Canon City coal plant that will close at the end of next year.
 
The company said that also last month, Black Hills Power received approval to build a new gas-fired plant to replace the three coal-fired plants being shuttered. The new plant will be a joint venture with Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power and begin operating in late 2014.
 
Coal power is being buffeted by competition from cheaper natural gas, which has led some utilities to switch from coal, and by tougher air-quality regulations.
 
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule last year aimed at reducing emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal-fired plants. The rule could force utilities to clean up or close hundreds of coal-fired plants. The EPA agreed recently to review how the rule affects new plants but says it won’t change the stricter standards for existing ones.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/08/07/black-hills-to-shutter-some-coal-fired-plants

[Soul Crusher]

Ousted EPA administrator vows to “stop the construction of any new coal plants in Texas”
 Hotair ^ | 08/06/2012 | Rob Bluey

Posted on Monday, August 06, 2012 2:20:28


Al Armendariz's big mouth cost him his job as a regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Now that he's working for the Sierra Club, Armendariz appears even more opinionated about the industry he once regulated.

In his first comments since resigning from EPA in April, Armendariz unloaded on the coal industry, called President Obama the most environmental president ever, and attacked the state of Texas for fighting the EPA in court. He also addressed the controversy surrounding his comments comparing the EPA's philosophy to the brutal tactics used by the ancient Roman army to intimidate its adversaries.

Armendariz's most pointed comments to the Texas Tribune came on the subject of coal. He's spearheading the EPA's Beyond Coal campaign in Texas, which, according to Armendariz, basically amounts to destroying the industry.


TT: What made you decide to join the Sierra Club?

Armendariz: The coal industry is destroying communities, it’s poisoning our air and our water and our land. And it’s damaging our climate in Texas. And I am very concerned about what climate change is going to do to this state, and I’m very concerned about the role of the coal industry in causing climate change. I wanted to join an organization with a track record of success in taking on the coal industry, and I wanted to join an organization that I felt I could contribute to, and contribute to additional success. And I found that in the Sierra Club and in the coal campaign.

TT: So you’re going to be working with the Beyond Coal campaign. What does that mean you’ll be doing exactly?

Armendariz: I have a small handful of objectives. The first is to stop the construction of any new coal plants in Texas. And also to stop the expansion of any additional coal exports from Texas ports [to] overseas. The second objective is to work on the transition … to clean renewable sources of energy. And the third objective is to work really with all of the stakeholders in the state to further the development of renewable sources of energy, like wind and solar and geothermal.

TT: If we shut down coal plants, we still obviously have to get power. Is natural gas part of the solution?

Armendariz: My principal objective is to replace our use of coal with renewable energy sources like wind and solar and geothermal, with efforts at energy efficiency to reduce demand. If we’re going to use natural gas to replace some of the existing coal capacity, I think we should use it as little as possible. And if we’re going to use it, I do think it is incumbent on the natural gas industry to assure the highest standards of protection to the air and the water of the communities that live near the natural gas fields.

When he asked by the Texas Tribune about America’s natural gas boom — thanks to oft-maligned fracking technology — Armendariz, not surpringly, voiced alarm as well. It would seem he wants to rely solely on renewable energy, which accounted for approximately 9% of U.S. energy consumption in 2011, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. See chart below.



Can the United States produce enough electricity from wind, solar and geothermal? According to the government’s own data, wind accounted for 1.20% of energy consumption in 2011, solar was at 0.16% and geothermal was slightly better at 0.23%. Those numbers are minuscule compared to coal’s 20%, and yet Armendariz is now on a warpath to destroy the coal industry.

Interestingly, Armendariz said in the interview he enjoyed good relations with the energy industry as an EPA administrator. That would contrast sharply with his comments in the video that surfaced earlier this year describing the EPA’s approach:


I was in a meeting once and I gave an analogy to my staff about my philosophy of enforcement, and I think it was probably a little crude and maybe not appropriate for the meeting but I’ll go ahead and tell you what I said. It was kind of like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them.

And then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years. And so you make examples out of people who are in this case not compliant with the law. Find people who are not compliant with the law, and you hit them as hard as you can and you make examples out of them, and there is a deterrent effect there.

Armendariz later apologized and resigned. Texas Tribune didn’t ask him about his comments directly, but did wonder why he skipped a U.S. House hearing this spring. Armendariz said it wouldn’t have been productive in light of his registration in April.

Another interesting tidbit: Armendariz said it was unfortunate the state of Texas wouldn’t work in “partnership with the EPA”. Attorney General Greg Abbott took the EPA to court instead, attacking regulations imposed by government bureaucrats at EPA.

Despite some complaints from the environmentalist left that President Obama hasn’t done enough, Armendariz is still high on his old boss. “I think really without hesitation that he is going to go down as the most environmental of any of our presidents,” he said.

[Soul Crusher]

Coal Miners’ Union Sits Out Presidential Race

 Updated: August 9, 2012 | 3:01 p.m.
August 9, 2012 | 6:00 a.m.

Amy Harder


Mike Caputo, a member of the UMWA and a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, stands near the house where he grew up in Rivesville, W.V. The coal plant in the background, one of the oldest in the nation, is shutting down


FAIRMONT, W.Va.—After giving then-Sen. Barack Obama a full-throttled endorsement in the 2008 presidential election, the United Mine Workers of America has decided not to endorse either Obama or the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, in 2012.

“As of right now, we’ve elected to stay out of this election,” said Mike Caputo, a UMWA official and a Democratic member of the West Virginia

 House of Delegates. “Our members right now have indicated to stay out of this race, and that’s why we’ve done that.... I don’t think quite frankly that coalfield folks are crazy about either candidate.”

Both candidates are trying to prove otherwise to voters in coal-intensive swing states. Earlier this week the Obama campaign released in Ohio


 governor in 2003 standing in front of a coal plant, saying that he wouldn’t support jobs that kill people.

For his part, Romney is claiming Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is waging a war on coal with a slew of regulations.

(RELATED: Smart Grid, Poor Economy Keeps the Lights On)

The 54-year-old Caputo, who grew up across the street from a coal plant near Fairmont in central West Virginia and has been in the coal industry virtually his whole life, said he couldn’t remember a time UMWA did not endorse a presidential candidate. Caputo is a vice president on the UMWA’s International Executive Board.

“It’s unusual,” he said during an interview at UMWA’s Fairmont office. Caputo, who describes himself as a “hard-core Democrat,” intends to vote For Obama. “I’m loyal to my party,” he said.

David Kameras, a UMWA spokesman based at the union’s headquarters in Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.


, said UMWA has not officially completed its endorsement selection decisions for the 2012 election and expects to do so by about mid-September. In 2008, UMWA endorsed Obama in May of that year.

"Our members count on coal-fired power plants and burning of coal to keep jobs,” Caputo said. “We’re a very Democratic union and we try to listen to the rank and file. They’ve sent a clear message that they’re not supportive of the environmental rules that are being put in place.”

Caputo pointed out that many of the biggest EPA rules, including one finalized last December to control mercury and other air toxic pollution from coal plants, were first enacted under Republican administrations, including President George H.W. Bush.

“A lot of our members don’t realize that,” Caputo said. “But whoever is in charge is going to get blamed.”

(RELATED: Voices From This Summer's Drought)

Caputo also noted that newly discovered resources of shale natural gas found all over the country, including the coal-intensive states of West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania

, have contributed to coal’s decline as low natural gas prices compel utilities to shift from coal to gas as a power generator.

But politically, the EPA is the culprit for the coal industry’s woes. Throughout Appalachia where Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia converge, the coal industry’s disgruntlement with Obama is plastered on yard signs and billboards.

One billboard alongside a freeway near the Pennsylvania and West Virginia border said drivers were entering “The Obama administration’s no jobs zone.” The billboard was sponsored by a coal-industry group, the Federation for American Coal, Energy, and Security (FACES of Coal). Yard signs seen along back roads and throughout towns juxtapose the word “coal” with “fire Obama.”

Labor groups almost always align with Democratic candidates, and Caputo said the UMWA would be very unlikely to endorse Romney given his record with the coal industry and his positions on labor issues.

“Governor Romney’s record on coal isn’t any better,” Caputo said, referring to the comments Romney made in 2003 that were featured in the Obama ad—and the fact that Romney’s former air chief in Massachusetts, Gina McCarthy, now holds a similar position at Obama’s EPA. “Mitt Romney has never been a friend of our industry," Caputo said. "Now he’s out preaching he’s all for coal, but his history sure doesn’t show that.”

(RELATED: Expect Romney to Surprise With Running Mate Pick)

But the union has been ranting more about Obama for much of 2012. UMWA President Cecil Roberts made headlines earlier this year when he invoked terrorism references to describe the actions of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and said that the agency’s rules could prevent UMWA from endorsing Obama. “The Navy SEALs shot Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and Lisa Jackson shot us in Washington,” Roberts said on a West Virginia radio show in April.

Roberts’s comments illustrate how much has changed in just four years. In his ringing endorsement of Obama in 2008, Roberts said that Obama “understands that coal will remain a primary source for electricity generation in this country for many decades to come.”

He went on: “Obama will work to ensure the future of American coal and the jobs that go with it by moving aggressively to develop and implement carbon capture and sequestration technology.”

Obama did make a push for carbon capture and sequestration by providing about $5 billion in the 2009 stimulus package for CCS, dubbed “clean coal” technology, but that money has dried up and the technology, while technically proven, is far too expensive to be commercially available.

Some experts have said that UMWA could endorse Obama, citing stronger mine-safety laws the administration has implemented and the 2009 nomination of Joseph Main, a UMWA member, as the assistant Labor secretary for mine safety and health.

“Never did we have a president, Democrat or Republican, who wanted someone from this union to head up that agency,” Caputo said. “So I’m very appreciative.”

But with one EPA rule after another coming down the pike, that wasn’t enough.

In 2008, UMWA said it had more than 100,000 members, including coal miners and other workers in coal mining communities ranging from nursing home workers to manufacturers. Kameras said that the union hadn't updated its membership numbers and didn't have any more recent numbers to offer, but experts say that its membership could be seeing a steep drop given the decline in the coal industry.

 

Want to stay ahead of the curve? Sign up for National Journal’s AM & PM Must Reads. News and analysis to ensure you don’t miss a thing.

[Soul Crusher]

Wow! Hundreds of Ohio Coal Miners Stand in Line for Mitt Romney
Gateway Pundit ^ | 8/19/12 | Jim Hoft
Posted on August 19, 2012 8:54:10 PM EDT


Hundreds of coal miners and their families stand in line while waiting to attend a rally at the Century Mine near Beallsville, Ohio, for Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012.

(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...


http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/08/wow-hundreds-of-ohio-coal-miners-stand-in-line-for-mitt-romney

[Soul Crusher]

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U.S. court strikes down EPA rule on coal pollution
reuters ^ | 8/21/2012 | Valerie Volcovici
Posted on August 21, 2012 7:10:10 PM EDT by tobyhill

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday overturned a key Obama administration rule to reduce harmful emissions from coal-burning power plants, sparking a rally in coal company shares and relief among utility firms.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in a 2-1 decision that the Environmental Protection Agency had exceeded its mandate with the rule, which was to limit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants in 28 mostly Eastern states and Texas.

In the latest setback for the EPA, the court sent the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule back for revision, telling the agency to administer its existing Clean Air Interstate Rule - the Bush-era regulation that it was updating - in the interim. The EPA said it was reviewing the ruling.

(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...

[Soul Crusher]

3 Coal-Powered W. V. Plants to Shut Down
 WVVA,.com ^ | September 1, 2012 | Rachel Lucas

Posted on Tuesday, September 04, 2012 8:03:18 AM


Three coal-fired power plants in West Virginia will soon stop generating electricity.

The last day of power generation for FirstEnergy Corp.'s plants in Albright, Rivesville and Willow Island was scheduled for Saturday.

FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said the plants would be deactivated by the end of the day.

Officials say some workers likely will remain on the job for a short period. They will deactivate the plants and take care of permits and environmental regulations. The plants employ a total 210 workers.

FirstEnergy also plans to close six coal-fired operations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Ohio-based utility attributes the closures to new federal environmental regulations aimed at reducing emissions of mercury and other toxic pollution.
http://

[Soul Crusher]

Global market conditions idles CONSOL mine
Weak market conditions in exports to Asia, Europe and South America cited

By: | TriCities.com
Published: September 05, 2012 Updated: September 05, 2012 - 8:00 AM
» 1 Comments | Post a Comment
By MIKE STILL
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER

CONSOL Energy said global market conditions led to the idling of one of its two Virginia coal mines – the Buchanan Mine complex near Oakwood in Buchanan County – and could result in the idling of another.

The decision has Buchanan County officials worried, because it could mean a $2 million hit against the county’s 2012-13 budget revenues.

“It’s a major impact,” County Administrator Craig Horne said Tuesday. “We’ve been planning for some time because of the state of the coal and gas industry. It’s hard to predict, but we will see a loss of revenue.”

The Pittsburg, Pa.-based CONSOL, which operates coal mines across Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, announced Tuesday that it was idling the Buchanan Mine for 30 to 60 days.

“CONSOL Energy is responding to weak market conditions throughout its export markets in Asia, Europe and South America,” the company said in a written announcement of the decision.

The Buchanan Mine – CONSOL’s only mine in the county – produces about 400,000 tons monthly of metallurgical-grade coal for steel production. According to information on CONSOL’s website, Buchanan set a company record for coal production in 2011 with 5.7 million tons mined that year.

CONSOL, employing about 9,000 workers, produced a total of 62 million tons of coal across all of its operations in 2011; and also produced 127 billion cubic feet of gas, according to its website.

The company’s other mine in Virginia, the CONSOL-owned, contractor-operated Amonate mine complex, which straddles Tazewell County, Va., and McDowell County, W.Va., and produces about 35,000 tons of metallurgical coal a month, could face a similar idling.

CONSOL spokeswoman Cathy St. Clair said Tuesday that the company has furloughed 606 employees at the Buchanan complex. The complex’s preparation plant will retain six employees while another 160 salaried employees and 11 mine rescue team members will stay on the job, St. Clair said.

St. Clair said she did not have the total number of employees at the Amonate complex, because contractors operating the mine and preparation plant staff the complex.

Buchanan Mine employees on furlough will be eligible for unemployment benefits, St. Clair said, and CONSOL will cover their health and life insurance benefits during the idling for at least 60 days.

CONSOL is still reviewing the market for coal and steel production before any decision is made on idling Amonate and whether benefits for furloughed employees will continue if Buchanan is idled longer, she said.

In Buchanan County, Horne said that Virginia coal severance tax revenues make up a significant portion of the county budget. Horne said he and Buchanan County Treasurer Bill Keene began another look at county revenues Tuesday in the wake of CONSOL’s news, and both agreed that the Buchanan idling could mean as much as $2 million in lost revenue for the 2012-13 county fiscal year.

“It’s hard to say right now, but we could lose about $1 million a month,” Keene said of the idling. “This gas and coal market has bottomed out.”

With the state of the coal market overall, Keene said, Buchanan County could see a loss of $8 million to $10 million in severance tax revenue this fiscal year.

“That revenue just about runs the county,” said Keene, who was working on detailed revenue estimates this week for the county Board of Supervisors.

Candidates for the 9th District congressional election both cited CONSOL’s idling as evidence of their economic campaign positions.

Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith blamed President Barack Obama, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and activist groups for attacking the coal industry.

“With current policies, the down economy is not going to improve soon,” Griffith said in a written statement issued Tuesday. “Obviously, this means that construction, including items built with steel, have been put on hold.

“President Obama, his Administration, and his allies – like MoveOn.org and the Sierra Club – are all very clear about their agenda – make using coal history,” Griffith said. “Today’s news is just the latest demonstration that this agenda is making gains. … I believe the administrative branch of the federal government and its leaders are arbitrarily and capriciously targeting this profession.”

Democratic 9th District challenger Anthony Flaccavento said the CONSOL idling represents a need for comprehensive economic planning in Southwest Virginia.

"The idling of the Buchanan Mine is another sign that we need a strong, comprehensive plan to help put Southwest Virginia back to work,” Flaccavento said Tuesday. “We need to develop regulations that strike a better balance between jobs, the safety and health of miners, and protection of our neighbors’ land, air and water. We must free up the real job creators: the middle-class and working-class families who represent the majority of consumer demand, the small business owners and entrepreneurs who expand to generate the majority of new jobs, and the independent community banks that help finance that expansion.”

Flaccavento said that focusing on the region’s overall economy will increase demand for steel and other construction materials, helping to boost demand for the region’s metallurgical coal.

“As we do this, we also need to fully support laid-off miners and their families,” Flaccavento said.

[Soul Crusher]

Federal regs force coal plant closures now, higher rates later, critics warn
 Fox News ^ | 9/5/2012 | By Joshua Rhett Miller

Posted on Wednesday, September 05, 2012 3:52:48 PM



The closure of seven coal-fired electric plants in four states could be a sign of things to come as tough new emissions standards threaten to relegate America’s top energy source to the back burner.

FirstEnergy Corp., headquartered in Ohio, closed power plants on Saturday in Albright, Rivesville, and Willow Island, W.Va., along with four others in Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania as the company phases out aging facilities that cannot comply with new environmental regulations. Three others in Ohio also will be closed in 2015, company officials told FoxNews.com.

“We estimate that it will cost approximately $975 million to make our remaining seven coal-fired power plants compliant with the new [Mercury and Air Toxics Standards] rules,” FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin told FoxNews.com. “Another challenge that the entire industry is facing is a very aggressive three-year timeframe to get the work done. It’s also important to note that numerous other [Environmental Protection Agency] regulations, including those for coal ash, water intake and particulates, are on the horizon.”


(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...

[Vince G, CSN MFT]

Wonderful news.  We can start getting people over to Solar and Wind and catch up with the rest of the country

[Soul Crusher]

Wonderful news.  We can start getting people over to Solar and Wind and catch up with the rest of the country

Yeah - more misery for thousands of workers and families. 


Unreal how disgusting you are.   

[Vince G, CSN MFT]

Yeah - more misery for thousands of workers and families. 


Unreal how disgusting you are.   

Wrong.....with wind and solar, people will be able to independently generate their own electricity for their homes and help allow us to get off the dick of Arab countries who loot this country every day on selling oil.  Coal requires us to destroy the enviroment and pollute our freshwater supplies to extract...we need to rid ourselves of fossil fuels as much as possible to preserve our resources for the next generation

[Soul Crusher]

Wrong.....with wind and solar, people will be able to independently generate their own electricity for their homes and help allow us to get off the dick of Arab countries who loot this country every day on selling oil.  Coal requires us to destroy the enviroment and pollute our freshwater supplies to extract...we need to rid ourselves of fossil fuels as much as possible to preserve our resources for the next generation

 

and what about the thousands of families who will be losing their income and how do they feed their families? 

Unlike the welfare thugs and leeches - most just want to work for a living. 

[Vince G, CSN MFT]

Yeah - more misery for thousands of workers and families. 


Unreal how disgusting you are.   

Wrong.....with wind and solar, people will be able to independently generate their own electricity for their homes and help allow us to get off the dick of Arab countries who loot this country every day on selling oil.  Coal requires us to destroy the enviroment and pollute our freshwater supplies to extract...we need to rid ourselves of fossil fuels as much as possible to preserve our resources for the next generation

[Vince G, CSN MFT]

and what about the thousands of families who will be losing their income and how do they feed their families? 

Unlike the welfare thugs and leeches - most just want to work for a living. 

They can work on the solar and wind farms....

[Kazan]

They can work on the solar and wind farms....

When wind and solar can survive without government subsidies, get back to me.

[Kazan]

How many things are using government subsidies of some sort?

Most transportation? Aren't huge tax breaks to oil companies a "government subsidy"?

Seems like free money is free money.

Oil companies could survive with out subsidies, would have investigate further what transportation is getting. Solar and Wind go belly up without, hell they go bell up with it

[Soul Crusher]

Obama Regulations Force Coal Mines To Shut Down…Right Before The Election
Hillbuzz ^ | 9/18/12

Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 8:32:29 PM by Impala64ssa

If Obama is counting on winning Pennsylvania, he may have a little surprise coming to him. According to Business Week, Alpha Natural Resources is closing down mines in West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania IMMEDIATELY. A total of 1200 people will be without jobs.

Is this the hope and change Obama was talking about? Or was it his promise a few years back that coal regulations would cause energy prices to “necessarily sky-rocket”? Not only are you going to have a bunch of angry, unemployed people, but those same folks won’t even be able to afford to turn their own lights on in their homes. Of course, with no jobs, they won’t be able to pay their mortgages, so I guess that’s a moot point.

As far as I could find, the Corrupt Media hasn’t even touched this story yet. Drudge had a link, and I found the Businessweek story, but apparently few else seem to care that another working class industry that makes our Nation thrive, is now tanking.

I bet all of those unemployed miners in Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia will be clamoring to vote for the man who put them on food stamps. Why worry about the livelihoods of American citizens when there’s dirty air, water and emissions to worry about?

But don’t worry about those dirty miners. We have more important things to worry about, like Mitt Romney telling the truth in a speech. Four months ago. Now THAT’S a priority.

[Soul Crusher]

Alpha closing 8 mines, cutting 1,200 jobs in all

By VICKI SMITH
Associated Press
 
 
 
 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources said Tuesday it was cutting production by 16 million tons and eliminating 1,200 jobs companywide, laying off 400 workers immediately by closing mines in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The mine shutdowns start Tuesday, while the rest of the layoffs will be completed by the end of the first quarter after Alpha fulfills current sales obligations, Chief Executive Officer Kevin Crutchfield said. In all, the layoffs amount to nearly a tenth of Alpha's 13,000-person workforce.

Alpha said it was closing four mines in West Virginia, three in Virginia and one in Pennsylvania. They are a mix of deep and surface mines, and all are non-union operations.

Company spokesman Ted Pile said most of the displaced workers may eventually be rehired, either assigned to new jobs in other locations or replacing outside contractors. Only 150 workers in West Virginia and three in Pennsylvania will not have any other employment opportunities with the company, he said.

Though some miners will stay on to seal the operations, most will either be reassigned or laid off immediately.

Support positions will also be cut proportionally as Alpha reduces its operating regions from four to two, Crutchfield said, and two executives will retire Nov. 1.

It wasn't immediately what other states would be affected by the still looming layoffs.

Crutchfield said the shutdowns and layoffs are a necessary part of ensuring Alpha survives in what has become a difficult U.S. market, where coal companies face a dual challenge: Power plants are shifting to cheap, abundant natural gas, while companies like his face "a regulatory environment that's aggressively aimed at constraining the use of coal."

The affected West Virginia operations are the Alloy deep mine near Powellton, the Alloy surface mine near Boomer, the Premium highwall mine near Gilbert and the White Flame Surface Mine near Wharncliffe. The Virginia mines are Guest Mountain deep mines No. 8 and No. 9 near Norton, and the Twin Star Surface Mine near Hurley. In Pennsylvania, Alpha will close its Dora deep mine in Jefferson County.

Bristol, Va.-based Alpha will cut production 16 million tons by early 2013 and reduce overhead by $150 million as it shifts away from thermal coal used in domestic power generation to concentrate on metallurgical coal used in steelmaking overseas.

Globally, "there remains a structural undersupply" of metallurgical coal, Crutchfield said, and Alpha expects to see demand grow by more than 100 million tons by the end of the decade.

Alpha's $7.1 billion acquisition of Massey Energy helped create "one of the most valuable met coal franchises in the world," Crutchfield said, effectively doubling its production potential. It has 25 million to 30 million tons of export capacity through the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, giving it the ability to scale up exports quickly, he said.

About 40 percent of Alpha's production cuts will come from high-cost eastern mines "that are unlikely to be competitive for the foreseeable future," Crutchfield said, while about half will occur in the Powder River Basin, the largest coal-producing region in the U.S. The basin is located in northeast Wyoming.

Alpha's Wyoming operations, Alpha Coal West, consist of the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayre surface coal mines. Together, the mines have about 650 employees and produce about 50 million tons of coal a year, according to the Wyoming Mining Association. The number of layoffs that might occur there was unclear.

"We're still trying to figure out, with the reduction in production, what our operations will look like," said Mike Lepchitz, spokesman for the Belle Ayre Mine.

Crutchfield said "the elimination of jobs on this scale is something I take very seriously."

"Unfortunately," he said, "we think we have to do it to set the company on the right foot going forward."

In the long run, the new strategy will create a leaner, more agile company that can readily adapt to changing market circumstances, he said.

Politicians - mostly Republican - across the coalfields were quick to pounce on the announcement as further evidence that President Barack Obama's administration is waging a "war on coal" through new air-pollution standards, but many U.S. power companies have long planned to close or convert some of their aging, inefficient coal-fired plants.

"A group of government bureaucrats have decided the coal industry isn't something that they like, so they're going to try to force it out of business," said U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va. "This is appalling and it must stop."

In West Virginia, fellow Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito said her constituents want to stay in their home state and raise their families, "but the president's extreme policies are cripplingly entire towns and making it harder for workers to find jobs."

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said the number of mining jobs in West Virginia fell by about 1,300 in the second quarter as other coal companies laid off workers and idled operations or shifted resources.

Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, said layoffs are likely to continue through the end of the year and into the first quarter as operators struggle with both regulations and the loss of traditional customers such as power plants.

"There's no sign of that easing up anytime soon," he said. "We're clearly on the valley floor here of the cyclic nature of the industry."

---

Associated Press writer Mead Gruver contributed from Cheyenne, Wyo.
 

[Soul Crusher]

Report: More than 200 coal-fired generators slated for shutdown
 

11:29 PM 09/21/2012





Within the next three to five years, more than 200 coal-fired electric generating units will be shut down across 25 states due to EPA regulations and factors including cheap natural gas, according to a new report by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).
 
“This is further evidence that EPA is waging a war on coal, and a war on affordable electricity prices and jobs. EPA continues to ignore the damage that its new regulations are causing to the U.S. economy and to states that depend on coal for jobs and affordable electricity,” said Mike Duncan, president and CEO of ACCCE, in a statement.
 
However, ACCCE notes that EPA policies may have played a role more than 4,800 megawatts of announced closures not included on in their report which would bring total shutdowns to 241 coal generator in 30 states — more than 36,000 MW of electric generation or 11 percent of the U.S. coal fleet.
 
The most affected states include Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, which will see a combined 103 coal-fired generators shut down.
 
“Actually our utility rates are higher and the impact is such that it’s going to interfere with the quality of life that a lot of individuals have in my community,” said John McNeil, mayor of Red Springs, N.C., in an ACCCE video — one of the heavily affected states.
 
According to ACCCE, coal provides more than half of North Carolina’s power. Poorer areas, like Red Springs, where a number of residents are on fixed income or live below the poverty line, are adversely affected by higher electricity bills because they eat up a greater portion of their income.
 
“During my lifetime, Red Springs has gone through some fairly significant changes. We don’t have the large textile plants which provide employments opportunities for many people. We’ve just shifted away,” said John Roberts of John’s Fuel Service, also in Red Springs.
 
“Most people, their income is fixed,” Roberts continued.
 
“They can’t say ‘hey, I need fourteen dollars an hour as compared to twelve an hour to offset my energy price,’” he argued.
 
On Friday, the coal industry caught a slight break as the House voted 233 to 175 to stop the Obama administration’s so-called “war on coal,” passing a bill that would limit the EPA’s regulatory authority over greenhouse gases and limit the Interior Department’s ability to issue coal mining rules.
 
“Since taking office, the Obama Administration has waged a multi-front war on coal — on coal jobs, on the small businesses in the mining supply chain, and on the low-cost energy that millions of Americans rely upon,” said Washington Republican Rep. Doc Hastings on the House floor Thursday.
 
Earlier this week, coal company Alpha Natural Resources announced it would be laying off 1,200 workers and closing eight coal mines to face two new challenges: cheap natural gas and “a regulatory environment that’s aggressively aimed at constraining the use of coal.”
 
“These lost jobs aren’t random events — they are the direct result of the policies and actions of the Obama Administration — these are the outcomes of their regulatory war on coal,” Hastings added.
 
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Article printed from The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com
 
URL to article: http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/21/report-more-than-200-coal-fired-generators-slated-for-shutdown/
 
Copyright © 2009 Daily Caller. All rights reserved.
 



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[Soul Crusher]

Obama’s abandoned power plants
By Ken Blackwell   6:37 PM 09/28/2012

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If voters knew how America’s economy would look after two terms of President Barack Obama’s administration, Mitt Romney would win in a landslide.

In the 2008 campaign, President Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle that the “notion of no coal … is an illusion.” He noted that he favors a cap-and-trade system, “o if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

While Obama did not get to implement cap-and-trade, he found other ways to shut down coal-burning power plants.

In the name of a rigidly anti-prosperity ideology, Obama’s administration, through the Environmental Protection Agency, is continuing its war on jobs and reliable sources of energy. And like most onerous regulations, the true costs are not immediately visible.

Three new EPA regulations on emissions have been announced. Collectively, they’ll cost American consumers more than $13 billion per year. Also, according to estimates by the Senate Republican Policy Committee, other rules dealing with coal ash and air could cost an additional $90 billion annually.

Obama’s claim to have an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy is a ruse. Instead, his administration seems determined to extend our economic recession, while government bureaucrats find creative ways to make energy too expensive.

More than 2,000 employees of the coal industry were laid off this year, and the industry expects 10,000 more layoffs in direct and related jobs. In addition, as reported by Human Events, leaked Obama administration documents estimate that one rule on water quality requirements will be responsible for an additional 7,000 job losses.

The new regulations are so extreme that, in effect, they require all new power plants to be powered by natural gas, an imperfect fuel. This may make the natural gas lobbyists who work with the Obama administration happy, but the incredible amounts of methane-expanded natural gas would not please environmentalists.

In five months, natural gas prices have increased by 52%, with the Obama administration’s rules largely to blame. According to Reuters data, as demand is expanding globally, natural gas is quickly approaching a price which is $2 more than the same per unit, which results in higher energy prices for cash-strapped consumers who already heat their homes with natural gas.

Even though industry has been able to dramatically decrease noxious pollutants from coal over the past 40 years, Obama’s heavy-handed rules have slashed coal production by one-third. In my state of Ohio, the coal industry has been devastated by drastic EPA regulations.

As you can see from this map, 175 fully functional coal-burning plants are being retired across the country, which puts further strain on our outdated energy grid while putting thousands of employees out of work.

Environmentalist groups aligned with the administration, such as the Sierra Club, are happy to see coal-burning plants shut down, and have nearly 400 more plants targeted. But with the administration’s emphasis on efficient “green energy” such as solar panels, they would not want to see the recent Heritage Foundation study which shows such a switch would increase a family’s $200/month energy bill to $700.

President Barack Obama is playing favorites with sources of energy, while destroying jobs and hurting consumers. America is in desperate need of a new direction on energy policy.

Ken Blackwell was the vice chairman of the 2008 GOP platform.

Article printed from The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com
URL to article: http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/28/obamas-abandoned-power-plants/

[Soul Crusher]

With a few words, Romney causes a coal rally: Obama could put 77,000 megawatts out of commission
 The Charleston Daily Mail ^ | October 9, 2012 | Hoppy Kercheval

Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2012 1:01:11 AM by 2ndDivisionVet

"I like coal," Mitt Romney during the presidential debate.

The beleaguered industry got a lift from the Republican presidential candidate, and it needed it.

Romney's endorsement of coal as an essential ingredient to the country's energy portfolio caused company stocks to bump up. Arch Coal, Alpha Natural Resources, Consol, Peabody Energy and Walter Energy all saw increases of at least 4 percent the day after the debate.

"It's amazing what 15 words about coal in a presidential debate can do for stocks," Michael Dudas of Sterne Agee told Reuters. "These stocks have been volatile, but you can't discount what a man running for president said about coal. Call it the Romney rally."

Coal claims President Obama and his EPA have waged a "war on coal" over the last four years. One can disagree with the analogy, but it's clear the president's strategy plays favorites - green energy and natural gas over coal.

The drop in natural gas prices, slack demand and the toughened regulatory approach by the EPA are the trifecta that have triggered industry layoffs and pessimism about the future.

Economists at The Brattle Group reported earlier that market conditions and the regulatory environment will cause about 30,000 megawatts (or 10 percent of coal generating capacity) to shut down between 2012 and 2016.

However, Brattle has now updated its findings based on recent market conditions and "ongoing environmental policy uncertainty."

The research group came up with two scenarios - one based on lenient environmental control technology and another based on strict policies.

Even under a more lenient approach by the EPA, the reduction of coal generating capacity will be twice as large as previously believed, about 59,000 megawatts.

But if the EPA takes a stricter approach, 77,000 megawatts of generation capacity will likely disappear rather than retrofit to meet tougher environmental standards.

The shortsighted view - the one held by the anti-coal crowd - is that a dirtier energy source will be replaced by cheaper natural gas and alternatives.

But natural gas prices, which are now low, aren't going to stay there.

Natural gas prices are highly volatile. As demand increases, prices will naturally rise.

Additionally, domestic natural gas producers are looking to expand exports.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, "Many big consumers of natural gas are worried currently proposed projects, which could export more than a third of daily production in the continental U.S., would raise natural gas prices," reported the Wall Street Journal.

A thriving economy depends on massive amounts of energy that are relatively cheap and readily available. A true all-of-the-above approach is best because it takes advantage of the country's remarkable bounty of coal and natural gas.

The Obama administration and its EPA are openly hostile to the country's primary energy source of coal, while simultaneously propping up questionable green alternatives with taxpayer dollars.

No wonder coal was buoyed by a few kind words from Romney.

[Soul Crusher]

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Coal miners ask Obama to stop ‘absolute lies’ ( Ohio )
The Herald-Star ^ | October 13, 2012 | CASEY JUNKINS
Posted on October 14, 2012 2:12:57 AM EDT by george76

Coal miners at the American Energy Corp. Century Mine said they want President Barack Obama to stop what they term “the war on coal” – and to stop spreading “mistruths” about them.

Miners gathered Friday afternoon to express their opposition to Obama’s energy and environmental policies, which they believe threaten their jobs. Miner Mitch Miracle read aloud a letter the miners mailed to Obama that outlines some of their concerns.

The miners said Obama’s campaign team is running ads filled with “blatantly false” statements about the miners regarding their participation in Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s August campaign stop at the Century Mine. These ads assert that the miners were forced to attend the event by the mine’s owner, Robert Murray.

“There are numerous false statements and absolute lies concerning our participation in this event

(Excerpt) Read more at heraldstaronline.com ...

[Soul Crusher]

Coal miners ask Obama to stop ‘absolute lies’

October 13, 2012

 By CASEY JUNKINS - Special to the Herald-Star , The Herald-Star

Save | Comments ( | Post a comment |


BEALLSVILLE - Coal miners at the American Energy Corp. Century Mine said they want President Barack Obama to stop what they term the war on coal - and to stop spreading mistruths about them.
 
Miners gathered Friday afternoon to express their opposition to Obamas energy and environmental policies, which they believe threaten their jobs. Miner Mitch Miracle read aloud a letter the miners mailed to Obama that outlines some of their concerns.
 
The miners said Obamas campaign team is running ads filled with blatantly false statements about the miners regarding their participation in Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romneys August campaign stop at the Century Mine. These ads assert that the miners were forced to attend the event by the mines owner, Robert Murray.


STANDING UP FOR COAL — Mitch Miracle, a coal miner at American Energy Corp. Century Mine near Beallsville, speaks out Friday against what he and his fellow miners call President Barack Obama’s war on coal.

 
There are numerous false statements and absolute lies concerning our participation in this event, mostly started by a local shock jock radio host, the miners letter to Obama states. Why would you (Obama) lie about the 500 working miners who have signed this letter? We, the employees of the Century Mine would request you immediately stop these false ads.
 
This summer, Murray Energy Corp., parent company of the Beallsville mine, cut or relocated 56 workers with the closure of the Red Bird West mine near Brilliant. Murray also cut 29 mining jobs from The Ohio Valley Coal Co.s Powhatan No. 6 Mine. All of this was done, Robert Murray said, because of Obamas war on coal.
 
Murray then hosted the August Romney campaign stop in Beallsville, during which many miners appeared behind Romney as the former Massachusetts governor spoke about the need to protect coal mining jobs. In response to the assertion some have made about the miners being forced to appear with Romney, the miners made the following points on Friday:

As for anyone who claims the miners were forced to attend, those on-site Friday said these assertions probably came from discharged or disgruntled former employees.
 
Despite the miners Friday statements, Ohio Democrats have requested a federal investigation regarding Murrays campaign contributions and practices.

[Soul Crusher]

Obama Administration Moves Forward on Climate Change Without Congress

Forthcoming regulation likely means no new coal-fired power plants will be built in the United States


 By Rebekah Metzler
February 22, 2013 RSS Feed Print


http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/02/22/obama-administration-moves-forward-on-climate-change-without-congress



Demonstrators march in Los Angeles, Calif., to call on President Obama to take action on the environment, Feb. 17, 2013.

President Barack Obama is tired of waiting for Congress to move on legislation to reduce carbon emissions, and his administration is poised to move forward on actions to do just that—including a move that will effectively eliminate the possibility of any new coal plant opening in the United States, experts say.

"We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence," Obama said during his State of the Union address. "Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science—and act before it's too late."
 
[ENJOY: Political Cartoons About Global Warming]
 
Climate change has been a controversial public policy issue in recent years, as many conservative Republicans have denied a relationship between carbon emissions and incremental increases in temperatures, which many scientists link to increasingly severe weather events.
 
Democrats, on the other hand, have used the evidence to push for regulations limiting carbon emissions. In 2009, the Democratically controlled House of Representatives passed landmark climate-change legislation but the Senate, also controlled by Democrats, declined to take up the measure heading into the 2010 elections.
 
Now, with Republicans in control of the House, it's even more unlikely Congress will act on any bill that would accomplish the president's goals, so the president indicated he's moving forward on his own.
 
[REPORT: Flowers Blooming Historically Early]
 
"If Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will," he said. "I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy."
 
But what can Obama do?
 
Industry insiders, lobbyists, and experts say the president has already gotten the ball rolling on a host of administrative actions that he was likely alluding to in his speech.
 
James McGarry, a policy analyst at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a regional group that supports climate change legislation, says that thanks to a 2007 Supreme Court decision forcing the Environmental Protection Agency to move ahead with regulating carbon dioxide and some other gases as pollutants, the Obama administration is already working unilaterally to curb emissions but their biggest moves to date are imminent.
 
[STUDY: World Coffee Supply Threatened By Climate Change]
 
"It's sort of a two-step process," McGarry says. "So the EPA, probably in the next few weeks, is probably going to set standards that any new power plant that's built in the U.S. has to achieve a certain carbon dioxide emissions rate per unit of energy produced."
 
Those likely standards—limiting emissions to 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt hour—virtually eliminate the likelihood new coal-fired power plants will be built.
 
"That's huge, because just to look at the numbers, coal fired power plants emit around 2,200 pounds per megawatt hour where a new gas-fired, natural gas power plant is about 900 pounds per megawatt hour," McGarry says. "So in order for any new coal to be built in the U.S. in 2013-2014, they would have to have some sort of carbon-capture technology, which at the moment is economically unrealistic."
 
[WORLD BANK: Global Warming Could Devastate Economy]
 
Alisha Johnson, spokeswoman for the EPA, says the agency is working to identify all the options it has available to reduce pollution and transition to sustainable energy sources. She also confirmed the EPA is moving on the rule regulating new power plant emissions.

[Soul Crusher]

Obama’s Energy nominee: We need carbon tax to double or triple energy cost
 Examiner ^ | 3/25/13 | Joel Gehrke

Posted on Monday, March 25, 2013 5:34:34 PM by Nachum

President Obama’s Energy secretary nominee regards a carbon tax as one of the simplest ways to move the energy industry towards clean technologies, though he notes that government would have to come up with a plan to mitigate the burden this tax places on poor people, who would pay the most.

“Ultimately, it has to be cheaper to capture and store it than to release it and pay a price,” MIT professor and Energy nominee Ernest Moniz told the Switch Energy Project in an interview last year. “If we start really squeezing down on carbon dioxide over the next few decades, well, that could double; it could eventually triple. I think inevitably if we squeeze down on carbon, we squeeze up on the cost, it brings along with it a push toward efficiency; it brings along with it a push towards clean technologies in a conventional pollution sense; it brings along with it a push towards security. Because after all, the security issues revolve around carbon bearing fuels.”


(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...