Coal Is No. 1

Townhall.com ^ | August 1, 2017 | Stephen Moore

[ClearCase_guy]

Elon Musk has some pretty cool coal-powered cars. But they are expensive.

[bert]

----the industry is producing a lot more coal with a lot fewer workers---

and guess what? Those fewer workers are mostly non union.

Yesterday it was announced there was a deal to sell American Coal to the Ukraine

[Wuli]

“But coal jobs are not just tied to the actual mining of coal. Coal is tied to steel jobs, trucking jobs and manufacturing jobs.”

Coal also contributes into railroad jobs, transporting U.S. coal domestically, and shipping jobs for exporting coal. Coal exports were up this past year. And even if domestic use declines further, for whatever reason, exports are still likely to be stable or grow. Conversion to “renewables” is expensive and many markets need the coal.

[BBB333]

We have 14 coal trains that go through town each day.

And we have a Coal Trust Fund that has $1,000,000,000 in it (real money, not IOU’s).

Coal is good!

[Wonder Warthog]

"Does any of this sound like the last gasps of an industry that is "dead"?

Article is idiotic. How many coal-fired generating plants are planned to be constructed in the USA?? For electricity generation, coal can simply no longer compete with natural gas in the US.

[ArtDodger]

I went to the site of the Energy Information Administration and did not find a chart of info to back this up. Maybe there is an update problem...
If true, it refutes a new film out that lambasts the coal industry.

[Don Corleone]

The USA has at least a thousand year reserve of coal.

[Kaslin]

Perhaps the article is going over your head.

[dynoman]

Real time fuel mix on the MISO footprint;

https://www.misoenergy.org/MarketsOperations/RealTimeMarketData/Pages/FuelMix.aspx

Real time prices on the MISO footprint;

https://www.misoenergy.org/LMPContourMap/MISO_All.html

[dynoman]

Click the links in post ten.

[KC_Lion]

After Trump meeting, Ukraine to import US thermal coal for the first time

[dynoman]

Also click the “Generation” button on this link;

http://pricecontourmap.spp.org/pricecontourmap/

[aumrl]

obviously

[Ben Ficklin]

That's MISO, its going to be different in SPP, the Texas Grid, CAISO, or elsewhere.

The author is correct but he is wrong to think it is a revelation. EIA predicted this back in 2016.

The author is a well known opinion shifter writing at a right wing political website, which is not a good choice as a place to get your information on energy.

[dynoman]

SPP is linked in post 13. It’s not different.

[dynoman]

MISO is running 10%-15% more coal in the fuel mix than last summer. I know because I watch the MISO map every day at work.

[Ben Ficklin]

If you want to believe Town Hall, that is your choice.

Even if Trump and the GOP try to indemnify coal, coal use will continue to fall, but it won't cease, we will be using coal to generate in 2050.

The lions share of investment in new generation capacity over the next 40 years will be in renewables.

[Wonder Warthog]

Your links lead to pretty graphics, but without some background explanation, I have no clue as to what you think they prove.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***coal can simply no longer compete with natural gas in the US. ***

But, but twenty years ago the Earf huggers were saying we were running out of natural gas! Close to fifty new power plants were being built most to run on Natural gas! WHERE WOULD THAT GAS COME FROM!
I saw several in construction going on vacation in 2001. In 2002 those same plants were shut down and abandoned.
Now they are up and running, on natural gas!

As for coal, Obama killed off lots of good working efficient coal plants. Our local one is still running after spending millions on unneeded but govt demanded upgrades.