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US Desperate For Coal Miners To Meet Soaring Global Demand
Zubu Brothers ^ | 10-7-2021

Posted on 10/07/2021 4:19:50 AM PDT by blam

Coal supply shortages in Asia and Europe are pushing prices for the dirtiest fossil fuel to record highs and have become a challenge for US suppliers due to a shortage of miners, according to Bloomberg.

For the last three and a half decades, the number of coal mining jobs in the US has collapsed from 180,000 to 42,500 in August. The industry remains 9,500 miners short from pre-COVID times.

With coal prices worldwide screaming to all-time highs ahead of winter as China and Europe scramble for supplies, the US coal industry is failing to find new miners willing to do the dirty work as demand soars.

“That’s making it difficult for mining companies to boost production at a time when the global energy crisis is making utilities desperate for every lump of coal they can dig up. Even with coal prices surging around the world, the labor shortages are another sign that it’s going to be tough to shore up energy stockpiles,” Bloomberg said.

Erin Higginson of Custom Staffing Services, which recruits miners in the Illinois Basin, said miners used to walk into their office for jobs, but now they have to “hold job fairs all over just to find a few miners.”

Attracting new miners in the US has been a difficult sell to prime working-age men and women convinced by mainstream media that the green energy transition is imminent. However, with surging natural gas, coal, and oil prices heading into winter, it appears the transition will take decades, not years, because renewable energy is not reliable, as the UK found out the hard way late in the summer when its wind turbine generation plunged forcing it to power up natgas generators to protect the grid from collapse.

What this suggests is there are many jobs available in the fossil fuel space.

“There’s a perception that the coal industry, if not dead, is dying,” Ernie Thrasher, chief executive officer of Xcoal Energy & Resources LLC, a Pennsylvania coal trader that works with several suppliers. said. “Young people just have many more choices.”

Mining companies are getting creative in hiring, said Rich Nolan, CEO of the National Mining Association trade group.

Along with higher pay, some firms offer benefits like daycare. “Everyone is scraping for employees,” Nolan said. “They’re using every trick in the book to attract qualified workers.”

Some mining firms are desperate enough that they are offering $100k per year for new talent.

Miners might not meet the surge in demand due to years of decommissioning mines to reduce carbon emissions and transition the economy from fossil fuels to green energy. A sustainable energy transition will likely take decades, not years:

“There is an energy transition taking place,” said Xcoal’s Thrasher. “But it’s going to take longer than people think.”

To sum up, Asia and Europe need fossil fuels as the green energy transition is unreliable, triggering one of the great power crunches the world has ever seen. But the US might come up empty handed as labor shortages plague the industry.


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: coal; economy; shortages; workers
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1 posted on 10/07/2021 4:19:50 AM PDT by blam
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To: blam

Meanwhile, in NYS...

https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NY#tabs-3

Check out the amount we get from coal.

Then check out our energy prices.

Note to the rest of the nation: You can’t say you weren’t warned.


2 posted on 10/07/2021 4:22:15 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: blam

F’ China! MAGA

If you want to live, that is.


3 posted on 10/07/2021 4:25:00 AM PDT by Empire_of_Liberty
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To: blam

They’ll just have to give up those new coding jobs for a spell...


4 posted on 10/07/2021 4:28:13 AM PDT by BiglyCommentary
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To: blam

the US coal industry is failing to find new miners willing to do the dirty work as demand soars.>>>>>>>>>>

Can’t we retrain a few silicon valley employees?


5 posted on 10/07/2021 4:28:14 AM PDT by Candor7 ((Obama Fascism:http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html) )
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To: blam

All those electric cars burn coal to fill up. Imagine coal prices when EV’s begin to really come on line in numbers!


6 posted on 10/07/2021 4:41:40 AM PDT by blackdog (Let's go Brandon!)
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To: blam

Do coal mining jobs require the vaxx?


7 posted on 10/07/2021 4:51:56 AM PDT by jacknhoo ( Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation. I)
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To: blam

wonder what santa will use as substitute stocking stuffers this year...


8 posted on 10/07/2021 4:55:32 AM PDT by heavy metal (smiling improves your face value as well as making people wonder what the hell you're up to... 😁)
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To: blam

We were told to learn to code


9 posted on 10/07/2021 4:55:45 AM PDT by Craftmore
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To: blam

We should let the free market function. And this includes transparency on any Mine’s safety factors so the workers can make informed decisions to protect themselves.


10 posted on 10/07/2021 5:05:44 AM PDT by Degaston
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To: blam

Wyoming open coal pit haul truck jobs 10 years ago began at 100K starting pay. No experience needed. 3-D training simulators use to teach people how to drive and operate the giant trucks


11 posted on 10/07/2021 5:08:37 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: blackdog

Coal is nowhere near the dominate energy source in the USA.

Less than 20% is coal. Natural gas is the largest.

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

U.S. utility-scale electricity generation by source, amount, and share of total in 20201
Preliminary data as of February 2021
Energy source Billion kWh Share of total
Total - all sources 4,009
Fossil fuels (total) 2,419 60.3%
Natural Gas 1,617 40.3%
Coal 774
19.3%
Petroleum (total) 17
0.4%
Petroleum liquids 10 0.2%
Petroleum coke 8
0.2%
Other gases 11 0.3%
Nuclear 790 19.7%
Renewables (total) 792 19.8%
Wind 338
8.4%
Hydropower 291 7.3%
Solar (total)
91
2.3%
Photovoltaic 88
2.2%
Solar thermal 3
0.1%
Biomass (total) 56 1.4%
Wood 37 0.9%
Landfill gas 10 0.3%
Municipal solid waste (biogenic) 6
0.2%
Other biomass waste 2
0.1%
Geothermal 17 0.4%
Pumped storage hydropower3 -5 -0.1%
Other sources4 13 0.3%


12 posted on 10/07/2021 5:08:46 AM PDT by JD_UTDallas ("Veni Vidi Vici" )
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To: blam

Education and energy: another two areas that politicians and the federal government should have absolutely no business being intimately involved in other than to ensure there is enough fuel for national defense.


13 posted on 10/07/2021 5:12:33 AM PDT by lgjhn23 (Pray for America....)
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To: blam

Shutting down mines doesn’t help either!


14 posted on 10/07/2021 5:18:11 AM PDT by 100%FEDUP (I'm seeing RED!)
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To: blam

So, we need to get all those people who learned to code back into the mines? Got it.


15 posted on 10/07/2021 5:19:47 AM PDT by Gen.Blather (W-w-wait a minute. Did I do that?!)
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To: blam
Remember when Barry Sorto banned coal and his handler Soros came in and bought up coal mines for pennies on the dollar? Heavy manipulation on industries is never good.
16 posted on 10/07/2021 5:38:59 AM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: Gen.Blather
Remote controlled trucks and mining equipment are available.

Autonomous ones are beginning to become available.

The price of coal just has to be high enough to justify the expense.

There is little need for humans to go underground any more.

17 posted on 10/07/2021 6:00:47 AM PDT by Mogger
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To: blam
Didn't Trump say something about this when was President?

The MSM told me Coal was bad.

18 posted on 10/07/2021 6:03:53 AM PDT by KC_Lion
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To: blam

Who wants to get another day older and deeper in debt?


19 posted on 10/07/2021 8:09:00 AM PDT by Stosh
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To: Stosh

I don’t know, having one fist of iron and the other of steel would be pretty cool


20 posted on 10/07/2021 8:11:07 AM PDT by This_Dude
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