03Aug

Off to the Coal (aka “Swing”) States

August 3, 2016 This week finds the candidates embarking on campaign swings through battleground states – Colorado with nine electoral votes, Virginia with 13, Pennsylvania with 20 and Ohio with 18. Another description for battleground states is “coal states.” Like most toss-up states this year, they either produce or use lots of coal, and sometimes […]
03Aug

Examining the Impact of the EPA’s Recent Regulatory Activities

Via The Springfield News-Leader: Since 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published nearly 4,000 rules — totaling over 33,000 pages — that threaten affordable energy and jobs in the coal, natural gas and many other sectors of our economy. Many of these have been vast oversteps of federal authority like in the agency’s “Clean […]
01Aug

Wyo.’s Gov. Mead Blasts Federal Coal Leasing Review

Via E&E Publishing: Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) contends his state was “caught by surprise” by the Obama administration’s decision to halt federal coal leases and review the program, declaring that “coal miners and their families are at risk.” In a 75-page letter last week to the Bureau of Land Management, as well as 4,179 […]
01Aug

Missouri Faces a Troubling Uptick in Energy Prices

Via The Southeast Missourian: We sometimes forget Missouri has been a coal-producing state for decades. Although not a major producer like Wyoming or West Virginia, our state has mined coal, along with lead, zinc, copper and silver for more than a century. And all of this mining has not only employed thousands in family-supporting, middle-class […]
29Jul

These Climate Change Regulations Will Increase Your Electric Bill

Via The Daily Signal: Amid the summer heat, American households are thankful foraffordable, reliable air conditioning. But the Obama administration’s war on coal is going to drive up energy prices for families who want to keep cool in the summer and stay warm in the winter. A recent study by Heritage Foundation economists estimates that […]
28Jul

Via The Morning Consult: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are miles apart on the greenhouse gas-cutting Clean Power Plan. She’s for it. He’s against it. No matter the polarized rhetoric, the plan’s future is much more convoluted than “live or die,” in part because its fate lies in the hands of the courts. Outside observers […]
27Jul

Holdren the Heretic

July 27, 2016 It’s hardly newsworthy when energy experts question the “keep it in the ground” doctrine, the new battle cry of fossil fuel critics. This doctrine has now become the litmus test for the party faithful gathering in Philadelphia this week. In fact, a specific commitment to keep fossils in the ground was even […]
27Jul

Raising Coal Leases Would Cost, County Says

Via The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:  Boosting the price of coal mined from beneath public lands will result in mine closures and worsening damage to rural economies, Mesa County officials told a federal agency. The federal coal leasing program provides an “adequate return to the public,” the county said in a letter to the Bureau […]
26Jul

Study: Wind & Solar up to 5X More Costly than Existing Coal and Nuclear

Via The Institute for Energy Research:  A new study from the Institute for Energy Research finds that electricity from new wind and solar power is 2.5 to 5 times more expensive than electricity from existing coal and nuclear power. This innovative study relies on data from the Energy Information Administration and the Federal Energy Regulatory […]
25Jul

The Platform Is Right: Coal Is Clean

Via National Review:  Some in the media are alarmed that the just-approved Republican-party platform takes a positive view of fossil fuels. “The platform tosses aside an environmental regulatory structure built on congressional legislation and judicial rulings over more than four decades,” wrote Steven Mufson of the Washington Post. It’s no surprise that mainstream media and […]