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Post Info TOPIC: Challenges on the rise for Wyoming coal


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Challenges on the rise for Wyoming coal
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Challenges on the rise for Wyoming coal
CASPER, Wyo. Despite strong profits, it has been a bruising 12 months for the U.S. coal industry, which came under fire for mountaintop removal mining and coal ash waste in the eastern half of the country, the Billings Gazette reports.

Wyomings major coal operators avoided those hot-button environmental issues and weathered softening demand by having most if not all 2009 production already under contract for favorable prices.

But the industry faces a multitude of mounting challenges, from the cost of production and transportation to more stringent pollution controls and a more competitive international market. That means utilities are constantly flirting with a switch to natural gas, energy efficiency and renewables.

Were definitely in competition. But I dont feel threatened by natural gas because I feel we can compete with them, said Marion Loomis, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association.

While some Republicans hailed the election of Massachusetts Scott Brown to a U.S. Senate seat as the eventual death knell to climate change regulation in Congress, President Barack Obama is forging ahead with several administrative actions that could ultimately be much more significant for coal.

The Environmental Protection Agency is considering new rules to limit emissions of mercury, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and ozone under the Clean Air Act. Many of the rule-making actions stem from EPA findings and U.S. Supreme Court rulings during the Clinton and Bush administrations.

And some believe it is the EPAs proposed rule change for sulfur dioxide that could be most significant to the coal industry in the short term.

In November, the EPA proposed to replace 38-year-old standards for SO2 emissions with a new, one-hour standard of up to 150 parts per billion and perhaps as low as 50 ppb, representing a major cut in SO2 emissions.

Sulfur dioxide can cause upper-respiratory health problems and contributes to acid rain.

Ned Ford, energy chairman of the Sierra Clubs Ohio chapter, said the cost to meet the proposed SO2 emissions at coal-burning power plants could force many utilities to switch to energy efficiency and real renewable sources of energy.

Retrofitting an old plant would just about double its cost of operation, not to mention that scrubbers reduce efficiency and increase fuel use, Ford told the Star-Tribune.

Ford argues that the average cost of efficiency is about half the cost of using an old coal plant that needs a new scrubber. Even power plants that currently burn low-sulfur Powder River Basin coal would still have to add scrubbers, if the new SO2 standard is implemented, Ford said.

He said the Powder River Basin might maintain only a marginal advantage over higher-sulfur, Eastern bituminous coals.

However, That could be wiped out in a heartbeat by transportation costs when oil prices rise, Ford warned.

Each day, some 75 of the nations longest trains roll empty into the Powder River Basin and squeeze under silos to take on 18,000 tons of subbituminous coal each. Most disperse south to Texas and eastward across the nation, delivering their payloads to power plants, electrifying nearly a quarter of the nation.

With more than 100 square miles of some of the thickest coal seams on earth, its hard not to compare the Powder River Basin to Saudi Arabias oil wealth.

At current rates of roughly 450 million tons per year, Powder River Basin reserves would support over 400 years of continuous coal production, University of Wyoming economics professor Tim Considine wrote in his recent study, Powder River Basin Coal: Powering America.

Yet, some believe such statements obscure the down-to-earth logistics of such a feat, and leave a false impression that relying on Powder River Basin coal for the next 400 years is a simple a matter of choice.

Hoping that (Powder River Basin) coal will continue to power our country as it has increasingly from 1980 to the present, without doing a rigorous analysis of the geologic, economic, legal and transportation constraints, is not doing the industry or our country a favor, said Leslie Glustrom of the Clean Energy Action group in Boulder, Colo.

Rather, Glustrom argues, it leaves the U.S. vulnerable to being blind-sided by coal supply constraints much like China is now experiencing, forcing that country to idle plants and ramp up coal imports.

She said production in all of the top 15 coal states has peaked, except for Wyoming and Montana. Beyond 10 years in Wyoming, the big-producer mines in the southern Powder River Basin face significant geologic and economic constraints, not the least of which is the need to remove more overburden to chase downward-sloping coal seams.

The Black Thunder mine, now mining 282 feet of overburden, according to the Bureau of Land Management, will move to a lease sometime around 2020 where the top of coal is 428 feet down. The North Antelope Rochelle mine, in roughly the same period, will move from about 211 feet of overburden to about 347 feet.

This means that future supplies of coal from the (Powder River Basin) are not likely to be as cheap as those that have been accessed over the last three decades, Glustrom said.

Considines own study confirms that labor productivity is on the decline in the Powder River Basin. In fact, Powder River Basin coal mines actually added miners in 2009 while production declined, according to figures from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Aside from taxes, royalties and payroll, the largest mining expense reported by Powder River Basin mines in 2008 was fuel supplies and services to the tune of $538.5 million, according to Considine.

The same is true of all the nations coal resources. The cheap and easy stuff has already been had, Glustrom said. And the expenses are passed on to the customer.

In South Dakota, Black Hills Power is asking for a 26.6 percent rate increase. A big portion of that would go to pay for about half of the cost $128.5 million of the new WyGen coal-fired power plant in Gillette.

Increased fuel prices were listed as a significant factor in Rocky Mountain Powers 2010 filing for a 13.7 percent rate hike for its Wyoming customers.

The largest increase in fuel cost is for coal, said Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Jeff Hymas.

(This item appeared in the Billings Gazette Jan. 28, 2010.)

 

January 28, 2010


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Uke


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There was a big meeting earlier this evening down in Tacoma over the plan(s) ta build ONE of three possible coal export terminals either on the Columbia River, Cherry Point, or in Oregon, closer to the Pacific Ocean... The discussions at hand are over the dust/pollution, and traffic problems relating to extra trains, and blocked crossings IF Cherry Point is allowed to go ahead. meanwhile CSX reports...

 

CSX Hopes to Expand Profit Despite Coal Slowdown

 

CSX Corp. remains optimistic the railroad's profits will improve over the next two years even though coal demand has remained stubbornly weak.

Officials at the Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad said Wednesday that shipments of intermodal containers and merchandise will continue to be a larger part of their business.

"All in all, we're looking at the economy and it looks like it's poised to continue to grow. Still there's a lot of room to grow yet," said Michael Ward, CSX's chairman, president and CEO.

CSX officials expect the economy to grow slowly next year, driving shipment expansion. The railroad has seen robust growth in shipments of crude oil and products related to housing construction. CSX is also trying to persuade more shippers to use rail instead of trucks.

CSX said Tuesday its third-quarter net income rose 2 percent to $463 million, or 46 cents per share, as revenue rose 4 percent to nearly $3 billion. That beat Wall Street expectations.

S&P Capital IQ analyst Kevin Kirkeby maintained his "Buy" recommendation on the stock because of CSX's prospects for growth in grain chemical and construction shipments. But Kirkeby trimmed his earnings per share prediction for 2013 because expenses were higher.

The railroad predicts this year's earnings per share will improve slightly over last year and expects annual growth of between 10 to 15 percent from 2013 through 2015.

But CSX will have to continue grappling with diminished demand for coal, which once accounted for nearly 30 percent of its business. All the major freight railroads have been struggling with weak coal demand over the past two years as cheap natural gas prices prompted many utilities to switch fuels.

CEO Ward said he expects coal will eventually stabilize at around 18 percent of CSX's carloads, close to what it was in the third quarter. But utility demand will remain soft at least for the first several months of next year because stockpiles remain high in the territory CSX serves.

"Since the beginning of 2012, the CSX team has successfully overcome almost three quarters of a billion dollars in coal revenue loss due to the transition taking place in the energy market. As you heard this morning, we expect that this transition will continue into next year," Ward said Wednesday.

In the third quarter, CSX's coal revenue fell 9 percent to $720 million, but intermodal revenue improved 8 percent and other merchandise shipments grew 7 percent to more than offset the coal decline.

Shipments of crude oil and supplies for hydraulic fracturing has grown and chemical shipments were up 12 percent in the quarter.

Ward said CSX is currently delivering about one train a day of crude oil to refineries in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

CSX Corp. operates over 21,000 miles of track in 23 Eastern states and two Canadian provinces.

Another major U.S. railroad, Union Pacific, will release its third-quarter earnings report Thursday.

 



-- Edited by Uke on Friday 18th of October 2013 08:45:39 PM

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Part of my recycling effort... Anyway, I signed up to buy my electricity from renewable sources. I have reduced the demand for coal. Coal is soon to be no longer King. I expect railroad unemployment will rise at a greater rate than normal this winter.


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Uke


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Some of the story from yesterday's presentation (?).

http://createnwjobs.com/?gclid=CPak6YP_oboCFYpxQgodvU8ApQ



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Uke


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This was supposedly the last meeting, and commentary concerning the coal terminal(s) in our area. And the meeting was last night, not earlier tonight as i said earlier.

 

Big crowd at final coal terminal hearing at Tacoma

Updated 11:04 pm, Thursday, October 17, 2013
  • Protesters taking part in a demonstrative protest against coal trains in Washington state link arms encased in pipes on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in Tacoma, Wash. The protest occurred prior to the fifth and final public hearing on the environmental impact statement for a proposed coal export terminal in Longview, Wash. The Millennium Bulk Terminals facility would export coal arriving by train from Montana and Wyoming to Asia. Photo: Ted S. Warren, AP / AP
    Protesters taking part in a demonstrative protest against coal trains in Washington state link arms encased in pipes on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in Tacoma, Wash. The protest occurred prior to the fifth and final public hearing on the environmental impact statement for a proposed coal export terminal in Longview, Wash. The Millennium Bulk Terminals facility would export coal arriving by train from Montana and Wyoming to Asia. Photo: Ted S. Warren, AP

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) A crowd estimated at 800 packed the fifth and final public hearing on a proposed coal export terminal at Longview, Wash., and once again red-shirted opponents outnumbered supporters.

The News Tribune (http://is.gd/T0f291 ) estimated that only about 100 of those in the Tacoma crowd on Thursday night supported the plan to build a $643 million Millennium Bulk Terminals facility that would export to Asia coal arriving by train from Montana and Wyoming.

Opponents want an environmental impact statement on the project to consider impacts far from the actual terminal. They're concerned about congestion from long coal trains and environmental risks from burning coal anywhere in the world.

Supporters say the project would provide construction jobs and jobs running the terminal. They say the project would boost the economy across the state.

Tacoma City Councilman Ryan Mello appeared at an opponents' pre-hearing rally.

"Together we're going to say no to those coal trains," Mello said.

One of the few to testify in support of the terminal at the hearing was Mark Martinez, executive secretary of the Pierce County Building & Construction Trades Council. He said it will create jobs.

"These are not the sexy, so-called 'green' jobs that everybody thinks they want," Martinez said. "They are old-fashioned, middle-class jobs that people can use to support families."

The Washington Ecology Department and Cowlitz County scheduled the five hearings to gather public comment on the scope of an environmental impact statement on the Longview site on the Columbia River. The Corps of Engineers is conducting a separate environmental impact statement.

State Ecology Department spokeswoman Linda Kent says 50,000 comments have been received so far.

Hundreds of supporters and opponents have attended each of four previous hearings at Vancouver, Pasco, Spokane and Longview. Thousands have submitted written testimony.

Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, and Washington Environment Council, are organized in the group Power Past Coal. It says polling shows a majority of Washington and Oregon residents oppose coal exports from Northwest ports.

Plans to export coal are increasing as Americans phase out coal power and turn to cleaner energy, Power Past Coal says.

Millennium Bulk Terminals CEO Ken Miller spoke at a brief rally and news conference before the hearing started.

"This project is not the reason power plants are being built in Asia," he said. "In the year 2000, Asia consumed 2 billion tons of coal. In 2010 it was 5 billion tons. In the next several years we will see the use of coal continuing to increase, in the order of at least another billion tons."

Millennium is backed by business organizations in the Alliance for Northwest Jobs & Exports. They say Millennium will clean up the former Reynolds aluminum smelter site, create 1,300 construction jobs and add $2 million a year in state tax revenue when it's operating.

Other terminals that would ship coal to Asia are proposed at Cherry Point near Bellingham and at Boardman, Ore.



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