13Mar

Storm Warnings for the SS Grid

Have we successfully weathered doubts about grid resilience and reliability? We’ll know more after FERC digests the assessments from grid operators that were due Friday. But Beltway pundits appear to have already consigned fears over possible brownouts and rate hikes to yesterday’s news. The Department of Energy’s staff report concluded that the SS Grid was […]
06Mar

Rick Perry Seeks New Path to Save Coal

Via The Houston Chronicle: Energy Secretary Rick Perry is pushing the development of a new generation of coal power plants while seeking to slash spending on technology that many government officials and analysts view as critical to coal’s survival a low-carbon world. The effort represents another move by the Trump administration to fulfill its promises to […]
28Feb

The Great Game 2018

Ever since the 19th century, when European powers vied for dominance in The Great Game, Central Asia and the Middle East have offered rival empires the prize of abundant natural resources. Armed conflict has often been the result. If Japan and Germany were resource self-sufficient, a second world war might have been avoided. Today the players […]
27Feb

Clean Power Plan: Just Repeal, Don’t Replace

Via CEI.com: Yesterday I submitted comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), which discusses options for replacing the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) with some other regulation to control carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing power plants. The EPA is in the process of repealing the CPP, which was President […]
27Feb

Boosting US Coal Exports Vital to WV’s Economy

Via The Herald-Dispatch: I am often asked about the future of coal in the United States. And I always respond by saying that’s the wrong question. The right question is this: What is the future of coal globally? Today the global need for coal to generate electricity and produce steel is rising, even as its use […]
26Feb

Coal Jobs Get a Boost—From Exports

Via The Wall Street Journal: Miners in Indiana and other states are getting a small lift from global markets: American companies are shipping more coal to Europe and Asia, helping to stop the yearslong drop in the number of U.S. mining jobs. The latest job increase runs counter to the long-term decline in coal used to generate electricity in the U.S., as […]
21Feb

Trump’s Tariffs Reinvigorating Coal Industry

Although controversial, President Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports could provide a much-needed boost to the coal industry. Paringa Resources CEO Grant Quasha explains why. Watch the video.
21Feb

The Iliad – A CPP Parable for Our Time

EPA has scheduled listening sessions on the Clean Power Plan (CPP) for today (Kansas City), next week (San Francisco, Calif.) and next month (Gillette, Wyo.), dragging the controversial carbon control machinery back in discussion. Stayed by the Supreme Court, the CPP’s fate now resides with EPA under new management. Although a decision to repeal and […]
20Feb

Reliable Energy Production is Too Important to Risk

Via The Kansas City Star: What to do about the Clean Power Plan, or CPP, which has been hanging around in bureaucratic limbo since the closing days of President Barack Obama’s administration? Obama considered it the centerpiece of his climate agenda. But the Supreme Court issued a stay against its massive costs in 2016, and then President Donald […]
14Feb

NMA Supports Tax Credit to Safeguard Reliable Coal Based Power Generation

National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn today issued the following statement in support of “The Electricity Reliability and Fuel Security Act,” sponsored by Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.). The bill, a response to threats to the resiliency of the nation’s power grid due to the loss of almost 600 coal plants nationwide since […]