04Dec

Climate Change Dominates Energy Forum with EPA Chief

Via DailyEnergyInsider: The Trump administration is supporting clean energy policies to reduce air and water pollution, while critics claim these initiatives cannot be legitimized without embracing the recently released National Climate Assessment. In the Washington Post’s forum The Energy 202 last week, acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Andrew Wheeler said he had […]
28Nov

The World Needs Affordable, Reliable Energy. Coal is Here to Stay.

The New York Times has once again discovered that the world needs coal. In a recent piece examining – or more accurately, demonizing – coal’s staying power, particularly in Asia, The Times gave a glancing and biased treatment of a selection of reasons big and small for why coal remains the world’s leading fuel for […]
28Nov

Consol’s Pa. Coal Complex Setting Production Records but Keeping Focus on Safety

Via S&P Global Intelligence: Despite an ongoing secular decline in domestic consumption, Consol Energy Inc. is set to post a record coal production year from its three-mine complex in Pennsylvania, a sprawling underground mining operation several times larger than the island of Manhattan. The company has not only survived but thrived during an overall decrease in U.S. coal demand […]
21Nov

The Value of Balance

As an early snow fell on Washington last week, the east coast got a timely reminder of the value of fuel diversity. Despite U.S. natural gas production continuing to set records, U.S. natural gas prices spiked. The Financial Times reported that natural gas prices jumped 16 percent in one day – their biggest one-day gain […]
20Nov

Coal Plants May Get A Lifeline in New Senate Bill

Via The Daily Caller: A Senate bill introduced Monday would expand a federal loan program to cover coal plants that meet efficiency and emissions standards. Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana introduced the Reinvigorating American Energy Infrastructure Act to make coal plants eligible to receive federal loans under the Department of Energy’s loan program for fossil fuel, […]
20Nov

Coal and Energy Alliance Presents Awards

Via Southwest Virginia Today: Eleven awards of excellence were presented to Southwest Virginia coal companies during the Virginia Coal and Energy Alliance’s 47th annual Fall Meeting and “Excellence In Mining Awards,” Monday bat the Russell County Government Center in Lebanon. Awards presented included those for AML enhancement, best active surface mine, best completed surface mine, […]
19Nov

Global Coal Demand Increased In 2017

Via Forbes: Even with the Paris climate accords signed in late-2015, global coal demand in 2017 rose for the first time in two years, as reported by the Paris-based International Energy Agency during its annual World Energy Outlook release week. We energy-saturated Westerners, of course, have a hard time understanding this. We should know, however, that any anti-coal policy that we impose is […]
16Nov

Trump is Keeping his Promises to Forgotten Coal Communities

Via The Lexington Herald-Leader: On inauguration day, President Donald J. Trump promised America that “the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.” In few areas was that promise better fulfilled than for American coal miners. Before the president took office, eight years of the “War on Coal” had taken its […]
15Nov

We Shouldn’t Turn Our Backs on Coal Power

Via The Eastern New Mexico News: We’re now getting an idea of just how expensive shutting down coal plants can be. A study by IHS Markit, an energy research firm, shows that higher electricity prices resulting from a loss of fuel diversity, due in large part to the shutdown of coal plants, could lead to […]
14Nov

The Chorus of Alarm Grows Louder

Fuel Security, like ball security for you football fans, is something you don’t think much about until you don’t have it. Unfortunately, the fuel security of the grid is no longer a sure thing. The loss of so much baseload power so fast is setting off a growing chorus of alarms. The latest voice to […]