Posted on 05/22/2008 12:57:15 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
But after decades of seemingly terminal decline, Japan's coal country is stirring again. With energy prices reaching record highs — oil rose above $135 a barrel on Thursday — Japan's high-cost mines are suddenly competitive again, and demand for their coal is booming. Production has jumped to its highest in nearly four decades, creating a sensation rarely felt in these mining communities: hope.
"We are seeing a flicker of light after long darkness," said Michio Sakurai, the mayor of Bibai, on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido. "We never imagined coal would actually make a comeback."
Soaring commodity prices have had distorting effects across the global economy, driving up food prices and prompting fears of future energy shortages. But they have been an unanticipated boon to the coal producing regions of countries like Japan that had written off coal mining as a relic of the Industrial Revolution.
In Bibai, once a thriving cultural center that had a ballet troupe and five cinemas showing first-run Hollywood movies in its heyday in the 1950s, the population shrank to 27,800, from 92,000. As mining jobs evaporated, they left behind rows of abandoned clapboard-fronted stores that give some neighborhoods the air of a ghost town.
Oil prices ease a bit, but underlying tension remains While Japan's coal industry remains tiny, its revival is an example of how higher commodity prices are driving a search for resources even in some of the world's most urbanized and developed nations.
In recent months, South Korea has experienced calls to create a domestic coal industry in order to reduce dependence on imports. In the United Kingdom, where coal's decline became a symbol of withered industrial might, companies are increasing production and considering reopening at least one closed mine as demand for British coal rises.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
“OPEC won’t like this...”
Neither will the greenies. I wonder how many of these nations are signatories to the Kyoto protocol?
All of them.
Kyoto was a precursor to the OPEC’s plan for higher prices that countries are forced to buy oil for now. That is my impression at least.
And the good ole USA has more than anyone and we sit on it.
We do not give a rap whether OPEC likes it or not. They had their opportunity to behave as fair and honest brokers, and they chose to go for the big score.
Now if we could only get the US Congress to see that they have built a box they must either dismantle, or find themselves confined to until they perish, there might be some REAL progress on wrestling this demon to the floor.
I haven’t seen anything on other countries and their prices at the pump. Are the pump prices for gas increasing at the same rate for Europe, South America and Asia, like they are here?
Once real solutions are being investigated, it's over.
Hehehe, you mean that when a nation’s economy becomes threatened because of restrictions in the Kyoto protocol then it’s importance becomes a secondary concern?
Bwahahahaha!!!!!
I will be enjoying the schadenfreude of the environmentalists when this becomes common policy to keep the factories running.
“Hehehe, you mean that when a nation’s economy becomes threatened because of restrictions in the Kyoto protocol then it’s importance becomes a secondary concern?
Bwahahahaha!!!!”
I know...it’s delicious.
http://www.world-check.com/articles/2008/05/09/iran-venezuela-use-oil-tankers-manipulate-gliobal-/
Iran & Venezuela use oil tankers to manipulate global markets9 May 2008
Do you wonder why the price of oil has skyrocketed of late? Purportedly the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela are engaged in a major covert effort to keep the world’s oil tanker fleets from carrying petroleum to the thirsty global markets that need it. This is according to reliable sources who monitor the tanker industry, and sources within the American law enforcement community. The Iranian government has leased and engaged the bulk of the available supertankers, and smaller vessels and is storing oil in ten of them in the Persian Gulf, and keeping others idle whilst under lease or charter. The government of Venezuela is allegedly assisting Iran in this manipulative practice, which has resulted in the tripling of the daily charge for tanker use since April, because of a fifty per cent drop in vessel availability during the next thirty days, this is according to authoritative industry sources. Is this the functional equivalent of a declaration of economic war against the United States? What will the response be, and when will it occur?
Here is what we know so far:
A large number of tankers lie at anchor in the Persian Gulf, and elsewhere, all leased by Iran and Venezuela, and all therefore unavailable to carry oil for other prospective charter clients.
Iran has also commenced to lease tankers in the spot, or single-trip, market, where it had previously used only its own vessels. This of course, is a delberate act to tie up additional tankers. Its transparent claim, that it is storing grades of oil which have low global demand, cannot be taken seriously, as all levels of quality are urgently needed for the increased consumption rate.
Venezuela has a clasified agreement with Iran that requires it to engage available tankers, in support of the Iranian objective, which is to delay, and ultimately, deny oil shippers transport to needy consumer markets, thus driving up oil prices to stratospheric levels, and benefitting both countries financially. Notwithstanding its own oil revenues, Venezuela’s economy is in a shambles, and its government has distributed both large amounts of dollars and free or discounted oil, all to fund radical political movements in Latin America. It is in desperate need of more money, and this dark maneuver could accomplish this, though at a high cost to the rest of the world.
The Iranian scheme will not only disrupt global markets, it could cause serious economic distress in both North America and Europe. Since we know that the US government is aware of the scheme, it should also be assumed that they have planned an adequate response, whether it be major regulatory sanctions, universal economic sanctions, limited military action, or even general war.
At this point, country risk evaluators must assume the worst, and create contingency plans to respond to any of these possiblities, no matter how remote the chance that they may occur.
“Are the pump prices for gas increasing at the same rate for Europe, South America and Asia, like they are here?”
I don’t know about SA and Asia, but I did see a story on BBC America about how Ireland, Scotland and England are getting creamed at the pump as well.
Yes, I know that. What I was asking about, is whether, with the increase in demand, the other countries have experienced increases in their gas prices at the same or close to our rate of increase.
I was just asking if other countries have experienced price increases like ours?
So what if the U.S. has a 300-year supply of coal? Nancy and Harry will never, ever, ever let us dig for it. I look forward with perverse enjoyment what the public is likely to do to Congress when gas hits $7 a gallon in August.
Illinois is a big coal state. It will be fun to see if Obama kicks his constituents or the greenies to the curb during the general.
You reap what you sew enviro-wingnuts! Or, put that in your pipe and smoke it! Or, stupid is as stupid does. And last, let the free market decide!
Just sayin’...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/724170/posts
That Trillion-Dollar Ripoff— Clinton’s Utah Coal Deal
various websites | 7-29-02 | The Heavy Equipment Guy
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