Posted on 11/19/2016 3:16:30 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Donald J. Trump made coal a centerpiece of his campaign, holding rousing rallies with miners in hard hats, who he said had been neglected under eight years of the Obama administration. The strategy paid off, helping him score crucial wins in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Now, though, coal may prove a different sort of symbol — that is, of the challenges that the president-elect will face delivering on his many promises to restore struggling sectors of the American economy.
The United States coal industry and the jobs that support it have been in decline for decades as a result of environmental concerns, automation in mining and slowdowns in manufacturing industries that burned coal for power.
And these days, no matter who is president, coal is at the mercy of market economics. Coal’s No. 1 rival is cheap, cleaner-burning natural gas — which could become an even more potent competitor under the incoming administration. The probable easing of restrictions on pipeline building and loosening of rules on gas exploration and production would mean more natural gas reaching the market.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Now the Slimes is all for fracking because the natural gas it produces out-competes coal.
Did the New York Slimes forget that the EPA might be a department ‘downsized’ to the point where they might be two desks, phones and two computers???
“The United States coal industry and the jobs that support it have been in decline for decades as a result of environmental concerns, automation in mining and slowdowns in manufacturing industries that burned coal for power.” (in the article)
Lying false news.... didn’t work in the election and it won’t work now.
Lying false news.... didn’t work in the election and it won’t work now.
Get the EPA off of our backs, and we might be able to bring back some of the coal fired power plants.
...Now the Slimes is all for fracking because the natural gas it produces out-competes coal....
Liberalism is a mental disease racked with this kind of cognitive disonance.
Computers with the "O" keys missing.
Why would we want to do that if nat gas is cleaner and cheaper?
... the EPA might be a department ‘downsized’ to the point where they might be two desks, phones and two computers??...
Just like Obama, a downsized previously liberalized EPA can reek damage with just a pen and a phone.
Nobody predicts the future quite as well as the Times...hahahahahahahahaha
It is possible to burn coal in a responsible and clean way. We should keep it as a fall back energy source.
FROM U.S. Energy Information Administration:
Coal may surpass natural gas as most common electricity generation fuel this winter
After declining for several months, the share of U.S. electricity fueled by coal is expected to slowly begin growing when compared to the same period last year. In contrast, the share of generation from natural gas is expected to experience year-over-year declines. Based on expected temperatures and market conditions, coal is expected to surpass natural gas as the most common electricity generating fuel in December, January, and February.
Natural gas had long been the second-most prevalent fuel for electricity generation behind coal, but it became the power industry’s primary fuel source for the first time in April 2015. Natural gas-fired generation has surpassed coal-fired generation in most months since then, and generation fueled by natural gas reached record levels this past summer. During the first six months of 2016, natural gas supplied 36% of total U.S. electricity generation compared with 31% for coal.
During periods where available generation capacity exceeds electricity load, selection of which capacity to run often reflects relative operating costs, which largely reflect generators’ fueling cost. When measured in terms of the cost of fuel it takes to generate a megawatthour (MWh) of electricity, to account for the different efficiencies of power plants, the prices for natural gas and coal were relatively competitive for much of 2015. At the beginning of 2016, the national average price of natural gas was consistently below the cost of coal delivered to power plants, reaching a low point of about $16/MWh in March, while coal has averaged between $21/MWh and $23/MWh for the past two years. Natural gas prices were low earlier this year because of ample fuel supplies and mild winter weather, which also reduced overall electricity demand. . .
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=28832#
It is not cheaper per BTU. But if coal has unreasonable emissions standards placed on it then it can be more expensive than gas.
Plus power producers and consumers should spread the fuel source around as a hedge on reliability and prices.
How fast will Trump be bringing coal-powered power plants back online?
He needs to make a big deal out of it. And keep reminding people to watch their power bills going down.
Yea, Hold My Beer, Watch This!
.
Coal remains the fuel that powers every electric car in the entire US.
More electric coffins on our highways means more coal has to be mined.
.
Trump should say something like...
“If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. And it won’t bankrupt them... Under my plan … electricity rates will necessarily plummet.”
What Trump needs to do is eliminate the 10% ethanol mandate, solar and wind subsidies, and replace them with a 20% domestic coal-based synthetic fuel mandate for Diesel. You will see the immediate construction of several Fischer-Tropsch plants around the country, and a huge boost to the coal mining industry. An added bonus will be the implosion of OPEC and, most importantly, the house of Saud and the Wahhabists (the parent entity of ISIS). The strategic oil reserve should be sold off and replaced with a strategic fuel reserve that is 100% synthetic fuel derived from coal. Production and addition to this reserve should be continuous, and it should be large enough to use as an economic weapon against Saudi Arabia and Iran. Stop exporting violent Islam, take in refugees, etc., or we flood the world with cheap fuel and watch you burn like Venezuela.
It is cheaper at the moment, no assurances about the future and modern smoke stack scrubbers and add on technology makes coal plants much cleaner than they used to be.
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