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In a sign of the times, the world’s largest private sector coal miner just went bankrupt. The St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp. warned a month ago that it was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and on Wednesday they made it official. Peabody’s mines will continue to operate uninterrupted through the bankruptcy process. According to Peabody’s court filing, it has obtained $800 million in debtor-in-possession financing facilities. “Through today’s action, we will seek an in-court solution to Peabody’s substantial debt burden amid a historically challenged industry backdrop. This process enables us to strengthen liquidity and reduce debt, build upon the...

“Cheap natural gas is killing coal.” While that headline has been written dozens of times over the last few years, it continues to be true. In fact, natural gas has become even cheaper over the past year, and the slow death of coal is poised to accelerate. In a new report from Moody’s, and reported on by SNL, the ratings agency predicts that cheap natural gas could lead to another massive wave of coal-fired power plant closures over the next year and a half.

the U.S. Supreme Court .. issued an injunction blocking the EPA from implementing its Clean Power Plan, which would end America’s use of coal, its cheapest and most abundant source of electricity. ... Western Colorado’s economy is so dependent on coal. It employs more than 2,000 people and generates $58 million in federal and state royalties, $28 million in private landowner royalties, $4.5 million in reclamation funds, and pays $28 million in property, severance, and sales taxes — all of it on the Western Slope. EPA has never tried anything so unpopular in its 45-year history, and that is saying...

It may be April 1, but apparently Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is not joking about supporting Donald Trump for the Republican nomination if — if — he emerges as the party's nominee in the general election. Paul said Friday morning that he would support whoever is named the Republican nominee, even if it's Trump, telling a Cincinnati Enquirer reporter during a visit to the metro area in Kentucky that backing the Manhattan businessman would be better than going for Hillary Clinton. The senator, according to the report, specifically criticized Clinton's comments in Ohio that she would "put a whole lot...

Controversial coal executive Robert Murray is planning a fundraiser for Ted Cruz on April 6, though he says he isn’t endorsing the Texas senator for president. Murray, the CEO of the Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp., said he would support the eventual Republican nominee but wants to help fill Cruz’s campaign account to keep him competitive with front-runner Donald Trump. “I have not picked a candidate, but I do know that Ted Cruz needs some money,” Murray told The Hill from his office in St. Clairsville, Ohio, which is located directly over a coal mine. “I think at this time in...

President Obama openly declared war on coal in his last State of the Union address. And it’s going to be a very, very expensive war. “Now we’ve got to accelerate the transition away from old, dirtier energy sources,” Obama said. “Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future - especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels. We do them no favor when we don’t show them where the trends are going. That’s why I’m going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they...

By now, most people probably know about one of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s biggest campaign gaffes to date: “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” As soon as I heard it, I tweeted: “Imagine a presidential candidate running for office based on putting people out of work?” I wasn’t the only one shocked by the uncharacteristic clarity of her statement. Lacking the usual political-speak, her comments were all the more surprising in that they were not made at a fundraiser in billionaire environmental donor Tom Steyer’s posh San Francisco living room. They were...

Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal producer, warned early Wednesday it may go out of business, the latest sign of the brutal conditions in the battered industry. In a regulatory filing the company said that ongoing losses and its decision to miss certain interest payments means it may not have enough cash to "sustain operations and continue as a going concern."

Obama Administration has illegally bypassed Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the States and their Public Utility Commissions The global warming/climate change industry has been aggressively pushing renewable energy, wind, solar, and biofuels for a long time even though the economies of various industrialized countries need much more energy than what renewables generate. The green activists have been zealously lobbying Congress and the EPA to change the laws, rules, and regulations that would make it much more expensive and difficult for fossil fuel energy producers to survive while passing the higher costs onto consumers, impoverishing those customers on fixed...

During her time as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was an avid proponent of advanced energy recovery methods such as hydraulic fracturing. Yet it now seems her efforts to gain the Democratic Presidential nomination have led Clinton to completely reverse this support, moving towards an anti-energy stance, which could prove damning for her in energy rich swing states. During the March 6th Democratic debate, in response to a question about hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” as commonly referred,Clinton laid out a list of anti-energy conditions she’d impose to end the practice. Clinton stated, “By the time we get through all of...

Facing a backlash from Appalachian Democrats, Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Monday tried to reaffirm her commitment to coal communities one day after declaring on national television she was going to “to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” Clinton’s comments came during a Sunday night appearance on CNN, where she was asked a question about how her policies would benefit poor white people in southern states who generally vote Republican. […] Clinton was touting a plan she released last year that would set aside $30 billion to protect the health benefits for coal miners and...

...But trust her! Normally, if Hillary says she “won’t forget you,” you start looking for a way into some kind of witness protection program. It’s sort of like when a character in a mob movie promises to “take care of you.” The endgame is implied. ...And so it is with America’s coal industry and the people it employees. Except, in the case of fossil fuels, Hillary isn’t even going the double-entendre route. She’s being explicit in her promise to destroy coal companies, and eliminate the jobs they provide. As Hillary says:

And, the liberal zombies sat there and nodded in agreement. Hillary Clinton bragged during her CNN town hall in Ohio that she’s going to put a lot of coal miners out of work. It should be no surprise that the Republican Party carries working class districts in America by a 2-1 margin. And working Middle Class Americans support Donald Trump.

The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $300,000 to develop technology that will track the energy and water use of office buildings, with a colored light bulb system that will send "visual messages" to employees when they are using too much.

Separating reality from ideology and political agendas is difficult, but essential, if we are to revitalize our economy and help the world’s poorest families take their rightful places among Earth’s prosperous people. Energy reality is certainly in our favor. But ideological forces are powerful and persistent.Right now, 82% of all US energy and 87% of world energy comes from oil, natural gas and coal. Less than 3% is non-hydroelectric renewable energy – and globally half of that is traditional biomass: wood, grass and animal dung that cause millions of respiratory infections and deaths every year. Thankfully, the transition to fossil...

The West Virginia legislature did not waste any time in overriding Governor Tomblin’s veto of HB 4145, also known as “Constitutional carry” or permitless carry.  Governor Tomblin vetoed a similar bill in 2015, but the veto occurred after the legislature had adjourned, making a veto override difficult.This year, 2016, the Constitutional carry bill was passed early enough for the legislature to vote on a veto override if necessary.  Governor Tomblin received the  Constitutional carry bill on 26 February.  He waited to the last possible day to veto it, 3 March.  The House of Delegates overrode his veto on 4...

Renewable energy advocates like to point out that the cost of renewable fuels, like solar power, have dropped substantially in the last few years. The cost of solar power for instance has fallen by more than two-thirds since 2009. Yet for all the excitement about renewable power, the reality is that the entire energy sector has essentially been in a state of deflation for the last decade. The notable drop in oil prices over the last two years aside, costs of producing oil both in the U.S. and in many parts of the world have fallen dramatically. The phase out...

upreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a plea Thursday to block a contentious air pollution rule for power plants in a big victory for the Obama administration. Roberts’s order came despite his court’s 5-4 decision last year ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation, known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, is illegal. Michigan led a group of 20 states last month — empowered by the Supreme Court’s recent unprecedented decision to halt the EPA’s carbon dioxide rule for power plants — in asking the court to live up to its ruling last year and block the...

Railroads would be required to have at least two crew members aboard freight trains when they are traversing the state under a bill that won preliminary approval in the Colorado House . ... Minority Leader Brian Del Grosso, R-Loveland, took the Democrats to task over the bill, saying it is a poor way to deal with a problem he said they created. He said over the past several years, Democrats have made policy decisions that have contributed to the slowdown, and even closure of coal mines, citing the recent closure of the Bowie No. 2 mine near Paonia specifically. That...

Oregon lawmakers on Wednesday gave final approval to pioneering legislation that will eliminate coal from the state's energy supply by 2030 and provide half of customers' power with renewable sources by 2040. [...] It makes Oregon the first state to eliminate coal by legislative action, and places it among a handful of other states with renewable energy standards 50 percent or higher. [...] GOP lawmakers voiced worry about the cost to consumers in the long run and questioned whether the benefits to the environment are being overstated. ...