Global Warming on Free Republic here, here and here
Posted on 08/10/2015 11:40:03 AM PDT by newgeezer
The coal industry is facing its toughest challenge since The Great Depression of 1929. The collapse in coal prices and a growing weight from new regulations has claimed dozens of firms. In just recent months, three major coal producers have filed for bankruptcy.
Alpha Natural Resources operates more than fifty underground and surface mines in five states. It is the nation’s largest producer of the type of coal used in steel production. In 2011, Alpha Natural Resources was worth $11 billion in stock value. The firm is now worth less than $7 million.
Peabody Energy Corporation, is the largest private-sector coal company in the world. In 2011, its stock traded as high as $73 per share. Today, you can buy a share in company with one single dollar.
This apocalypse in coal could have been predicted by anyone who read President Barack Obama’s views on the industry. On January 17, 2008, Obama made known his hostility toward, of all things, electricity generated from coal and coal-powered plants. He told the San Francisco Chronicle, “You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal . . . under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”
Obama added “. . . So 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 the greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”
The president argues against the use of coal because he views carbon dioxide as a pollutant. In a recent speech, Obama compared it to mercury. Carbon dioxide is not a poison. It is a natural part of the atmosphere. Green plants need it to grow and produce oxygen. Without it our planet would freeze.
The coal business is a vital part of the American economy. It is responsible for over 555,000 Jobs and contributes $65.7 billion to national GDP. Average wages and salaries in coal mine operations (excluding support activities and transportation) is approximately $72,200. Nearly a third of our nation’s electrical power comes from coal fired plants. The state of Kentucky gets 97% of its power from coal.
A rational president would see the damage his previous policies are inflicting on coal and change direction. Obama obviously doesn’t care about the economic impact. He has ordered the EPA to mandate a 32 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030.
The White House expects wind and solar power to play a much bigger role in our energy needs, but we only get 0.4% of our power from solar and wind topped out at 4%. There is a limit to the number of new hydropower plants we can build. Unless we turn to nuclear power, this goal of coal power reduction is a pipe dream.
Another major flaw in this plan is the increase in coal consumption by other nations. China is building one coal-fired power plant every 7 to 10 days, while Japan plans to build 43 coal-fired power projects to replace its shuttered nuclear units. India is another nation with rapidly growing power needs.
The only thing Obama’s socialist plan is going to get us is blackouts, rolling brownouts, and massively higher electric bills. America has such a good power system, most Americans don’t realize how common disruption are in the third world.
The president is seeking to downsize America because he is a supporter of the de-growth agenda. This movement sees the reduction of production and consumption as a benefit to human well-being and the equity of the planet. It calls for a future where societies live within their ecological means, with open localized economies and resources more equally distributed through new forms of Democratic institutions. Obama thinks the U.S. takes too large a piece of the resource pie, so we need to cut back our demand.
Every nation that has followed the Marxist utopian blueprint has ended in disaster. Venezuela is a prime example. Right now, its economy is in a meltdown mode. Lake Maracaibo, at 5,097 square miles, is the largest fresh water lake in South America. Venezuela’s leftist government has allowed oil to leak into Lake Maracaibo, making it one of the most polluted bodies of water on earth.
The de-growth movement is just another plot by the devil to destroy America. The true goal of the environmental movement is to draw the world into a central body that would set the rules. This plan is part of Satan’s master scheme to recreate the type of control he had during the time of the Babylonian Empire. The only way to get back to Babylon is to push for world unity.
I know that environmentalists would bristle at the idea of a refurbished earth being the ultimate solution to all ecological problems. If the world is going to be “dissolved,” there is no need for us to become too attached to it. Knowing that the earth will eventually be put back in order, we need to be concerned with the preservation of our eternal souls.
“...The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (2 Peter 3:10-11).
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
--Todd
“The White House expects wind and solar power to play a much bigger role in our energy needs, but we only get 0.4% of our power from solar and wind topped out at 4%. There is a limit to the number of new hydropower plants we can build. Unless we turn to nuclear power, this goal of coal power reduction is a pipe dream.”
Why no mention of Natural Gas in this paragraph. It seems obvious that the death of dirty coal is due to the triumph of cheap and clean natty, not any of the other causes you cite, right?
Coal is the cheapest and best form of energy we have. It requires no special storage, it is safe and easy to store, it is safe and easy to transport, it is flexible and easy to adjust to needs.
Therefore, liberals must destroy it.
Is only dirty coal dying out? Or, is cleaner coal threatened, too?
Sure, every day, there are numerous eastbound trains traveling through Iowa, carrying nothing but (clean) coal.
But, the local electric utility just announced it's closing two coal-fired plants, and installing scrubbers and additional emissions controls on others.
(How long is natural gas going to stay "cheap"? And what happens when the EPA clamps down on CO2 "pollution"? Climate-change is the GREATEST THREAT to our existence, ya know.)
I admit to knowing very little about this.
Natural gas is not cheaper than coal per unit energy content. In fact, in my part of the country it is more than TWICE the cost of coal per MMBTU.
How do you view this anyother way, china and others wear masks becuase they cant breathe outside and obama is concerned with our health
Global Warming on Free Republic here, here and here
I do believe if market forces were allowed to play out coal would be quite clean. It is so clean all the environuts can do is cry about “carbon” pollution, as in CO2, which isn’t a pollutant at all. China has a lot more going on than just coal. They have filthy air from no emission controls on coal plants, but more so, on their factories. They belch out every smokey soot from metal processing, mining, plastics, and ESPECIALLY painting (VOCs). Even if China got rid of their coal plants it would be filthy. There is no litigation to persue in China. If a coal plant is belching out soot people can sue and hold them accountable.
That being said we should rely on our natural gas. It is cheaper and yes, cleaner. The infrastructure is just more intensive. Which, in an emergency situation, coal can be used as a backup.
But I always get a kick out of responses on our local rag comment section when I say
“Obama only hates coal because it’s black.”
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