14Feb

The New Luddites

If any further evidence is needed to substantiate widespread voter frustration with Washington gridlock, consider the current reaction to the administration’s infrastructure initiative.  “Infrastructure” improvement is as close as we’ll get to a bipartisan call to action. So what’s to complain about — except who will pay and how much? Now we know. Almost immediately […]
12Feb

Power Plan’s Defeat Brought Real Change

Via Huntington News: Two years ago, the outlook for West Virginia’s energy sector seemed grim. We feared for the future of families whose living depends upon coal mining. We were concerned about our state’s economy and energy production. We faced the possibility of another anti-coal president, this one with an environmental agenda even more radical than […]
08Feb

Infrastructure – The Missing Link

Washington is now setting its fleeting sights on rebuilding infrastructure.On Monday the White House will unveil infrastructure “principles” that hopefully will add meat to the bones of the president’s initiative highlighted in his State of the Union address. This week both Senate and House committees examined aspects of energy and infrastructure. To “contextualize” this, the […]
07Feb

Trump Repealed 1 Obama-Era EPA Regulation and Saved Countless Jobs

Via The Western Journal: The Trump administration’s decision to rescind global warming regulations on power plants likely prevented more coal plants and mines from shutting down, according to government data. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest energy outlook projects coal-fired power capacity to continue to decline through 2050, but fewer coal plants will retire than if the Clean […]
06Feb

Chinese Steelmaking Sparks Mini-revival for Ailing Coal Industry

Via The Washington Examiner: Consol Energy saw a record year at its coal export terminal in Baltimore in 2017, serving ships bound for Asia and Europe. The company mined some of the coal itself from its three sites in southwestern Pennsylvania, mostly in the form of traditional thermal — or steam — coal, used for electricity […]
31Jan

Trump Celebrates End of Wars on ‘American Energy’ and ‘Clean Coal’

Via The Washington Examiner: President Trump on Tuesday night celebrated his administration’s success in implementing its “energy dominance” agenda. “We have ended the war on American energy, and we have ended the war on beautiful clean coal,” Trump declared during his first State of the Union address. “We are now proudly an exporter of energy to […]
31Jan

The Builder from Queens

President Trump, a builder from Queens, N.Y., announced his ambition to rebuild the country. “America is a nation of builders,” he reminded Congress last night, a fact largely forgotten among pundits who write and think but seldom build anything. Coal mining is all about building. The three great industrial revolutions – first England’s, then America’s […]
30Jan

Infrastructure Package Could Mean a Win-Win for a Divided Nation

Via The Washington Examiner: These are certainly turbulent times in Washington. But just as partisan division appears to block progress, a new political consensus could emerge on a key initiative—and one that could provide the equivalent of long-term healthcare for the economy. In President Trump’s State of the Union address tonight, we’re likely to hear him […]
29Jan

More Electric Cars Mean More Coal And Natural Gas

Via Forbes: Electric cars are a rapidly growing market. In 2017, sales in the U.S. were up nearly 30%, to about 200,000 units. This surge is even more impressive given that the very low gasoline prices we have seen obviously incentivize sticking with the traditional oil-based, internal-combustion-engine purchase. There are now numerous initiatives globally to ban the sale of […]
29Jan

EPA Frees Arkansas from Obama-era Coal Restrictions

Via The Washington Examiner: The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it has scrapped limits on coal burning that the Obama administration imposed on Arkansas, which were expected to force power plants in that state to invest in costly upgrades or shut down, and instead said Arkansas was free to pursue its own plan to cut […]