Coal must read: Industry takes a look in the mirror
You would be hard pressed to find a publication that’s more pro-coal than Bill Reid’s Coal News.
But even you Coal Tattoo readers who don’t like coal much at all should give it a look sometimes. Like this month, when it features an opinion piece that outlines a dozen reasons why “the coal mining industry and the coal-burning utilities share a well-deserved antipathy from the public at large.”
Among the reasons?
Coal mining industry resistance to abandoning mountaintop removal and valley fills, despite readily available alternatives. This is probably the most contentious current issue facing the industry.
So, is Bill Reid letting me write for him now? No. This piece, called “Coal, Energy Policy and Climate,” (starting on page 28) was written by Maurice Deul, a coal consultant who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Mines and the University of Pittsburgh.
Deuel writes that, “in the sixth decade of my involvement with coal research and affinity with the coal industry” he wanted had “these observations to make concerning ssome of the causes” for the general public’s negative view of coal.
Some of the list go way back in time:
The historical record of coal workers battles for high wages and better working conditions, resentment of use of State Militia and U.S. Federal Troops to suppress miners’ demands; and the battle for ‘portal to portal pay.’
Others are pretty darned timely:
Continued failure of the coal-burning electric utilities (including the TVA) to find alternatives to ponding for fly ash disposal.
And some show that the coal industry hasn’t come nearly as far as its PR agents would have us all believe:
The fact that miners continue to contract Black Lung forty years after passage of legislation to eliminate the disease through health regulation.
After his list (see the entire thing below), Deul concludes:
Not everyone is aware of all these issues, but experienced and knowledgeable coal people know that these are real attitudinal problems that the coal and electric power industries must overcome before they can achieve public acceptance.
The broader piece is a little all over the place, addressing topics that range from electrifying U.S. railroads to big-picture questions like the role of nuclear power in any future national energy policy.
Deul hardly believes that all criticism of coal is valid. For example, he writes that coal gets an “undeserved bum rap” for its greenhouse gas emissions:
… Coal is almost exclusively blamed for the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to Global Climate Change, while the fact is that methane, the main constituent of natural gas, is 75 percent carbon, and that petroleum is more than 80 percent carbon. The combustion of all fossil fuels yields carbon dioxide.
He criticizes “naysayers who insist that there is no such thing as clean coal” as “either uninformed” or refusing “to face facts,” noting that “as a modern industry, coal mining has evolved, as has nearly every other industry, in response to public demand and government regulation. But, he also notes:
About 80 percent of the coal mined in this country is burned by electric utilities and that influential group has for decades tried to avoid costly retrofitting of older power plants. Instead of hiring high-priced lobbyists (are there any other kind) to hamper implementation of practices the industry should continue to embrace environmental preservation.
Deul explains that coal had an easier time when:
… Everyone was familiar with coal: It heated our homes, it was used to manufacture gas for cooking and heating, it powered the railroad steam locomotives that crossed the oceans, always displaying the tell-tale cloud of black smoke … Coal was ubiquitous and a clearly visible presence.
But, he notes:
All this soon changed and suddenly coal became invisible to most of the citizens of this country even though more than 50 percent of the nation’s electricity is generated from coal-fired power plants.
Deul writes that he knows how most people in the industry respond to criticism of coal:
“Nonsense! Outrage!” The response will be, “We are a proud, profitable and successful industry, how can we be so criticized?”
If I’m following Deul correctly, he believes that coal “will be the fuel of choice and necessity to bridge the interval between the age of petroleum and the nuclear age”:
I may appear naive, but that doesn’t mean that I am wrong.
I challenge the leaders of the coal industry to engage the public in an extended dialogue that will expiate the industry for past-perceived wrongs and will provide an accurate account of the coal industry as it is evolving.
Here, now is Deul’s list of 12 issues that cause the public to think poorly of the coal industry:
1. The historical record of coal workers battling for higher wages and better working conditions; resentment of the use of State Militia and U.S. Federal Troops to suppress miners’ demands; and the battle for “portal to portal pay.”
2. The slow acceptance (after strong opposition) by the coal industry and the utilities to control the sulfur dioxide emissions that stoked the national environmental movements.
3. The slow and resentful acceptance by the coal industry to deal with acid mine water drainage.
4. Intense resistance, though relatively short-lived, to the implementation of the Coal Mining Health and Safety Act of 1969 that continues to this day with the industry fighting the details and updates to the law.
5. The fact that miners continue to contract Black Lung forty years after passage of legislation to eliminate the disease through health regulation.
6. Overloaded coal hauling trucks traveling on public roads despite residents’ objections; generally a local issue near mines and power plants.
7. Broad resistance to implementation of the Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act of 1977.
8. Industry failure to prevent collapse of coal mine waste slurry dams that resulted in substantial loss of life and property destruction.
9. Electric utility industry rejection of EPA pollution controls for mercury, sulfur and NOx.
10. Coal mining industry resistance to abandoning mountaintop removal and valley fills despite readily available alternatives. This is probably the most contentious current issue facing the industry.
11. The slow and reluctant acceptance of pre-mining methane drainage from coalbeds despite the considerable economic benefits demonstrated over the past 30 years.
12. Continued failure of the coal-burning electric utilities (including the TVA) to find alternatives to ponding for fly ash disposal.
7 comments
[…] Blogs @ The Charleston Gazette - » Coal must read: Industry takes a look in the mirror blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2009/11/12/coal-must-read-industry-takes-a-look-in-the-mirror – view page – cached You would be hard pressed to find a publication that’s more pro-coal than Bill Reid’s Coal News. […]
Here’s another hit to coal:
November 12, 2009
HOUSTON - (Business Wire) Construction of the final 195 miles of Rockies Express-East is complete and service began today on the final portion of the pipeline from the Lebanon Hub in Warren County, Ohio, to Clarington in Monroe County, Ohio.
—
Rockies Express Pipeline (REX)is a proposed 1,679-mile natural gas pipeline system from Rio Blanco County, Colorado, to Monroe County, Ohio.
The Rockies Express Pipeline System is a significant investment in the U.S. energy infrastructure and will help meet the nation’s need for energy. At 1,679 miles, this project is one of the largest natural gas pipelines constructed in North America – and one of the most significant in the last 25 years. There is growing demand for safe, clean-burning natural gas in the United States. Additional pipeline capacity will be needed to deliver natural gas to end users.
http://www.rexpipeline.com
Map:
http://www.rexpipeline.com/docs/rex_project_map_basic_route.pdf
—
http://www.rexpipeline.com/docs/rex_east_6_2_08.pdf
(Excerpt)
HOUSTON, June 2, 2008 – Rockies Express Pipeline LLC., today announced the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved construction of Rockies Express-East (REX-East), which comprises 638 miles of 42-inch diameter pipeline that will extend from Audrain County, Mo., to Clarington, Ohio. Construction is expected to begin this summer.
Subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, REX-East is expected to begin interim service to the Lebanon Hub in Warren County, Ohio, by Dec. 31, 2008, and be fully operational in the summer
of 2009.
Pittsburgh Geological Society Meeting
October 21, 2009
Coal and its Role in Shaping U.S. Energy Policy
by Maurice Deul, Consultant
,Formerly with the US Geological Survey, US Bureau of Mines, University of Pittsburgh
Coal will be the essential fuel for the fifty to one hundred years during which the USA will transition from a hydrocarbon-fueled economy to a nuclear-fueled economy. Our speaker has extensive experience in the coal industry and will be addressing the future of coal.
See his abstract for more details of the presentation.
http://www.pittsburghgeologicalsociety.org/abstract/oct212009.doc
Just so that no one gets the wrong idea: coal does produce more CO2 when it’s burned than any other fuel. Yes, it’s true that, by weight (mass), natural gas is 75% carbon. However, any fuel’s energy content is found in the covalent bonds that hold its atoms together. A methane molecule is one carbon atom bonded to FOUR hydrogen atoms. In coal, only about half the carbon atoms’ bonds are to hydrogen atoms, the other half are to other carbon atoms. That’s why coal produces twice as much CO2 when it’s burned as does methane.
Thanks, Ken, for posting excerpts from this interesting article. In another recent post on Coal Tattoo, I gave a little summary/recollection of how my late friend Richard diPretoro explained the economic fundamentals that he thought created almost inescapable pressures for coal mining businesses to engage in the conduct that Maurice Deul describes as justifiably angering the public, over many years.
Richard would say: “there’s lots more readily mineable coal in the ground all over the world than is needed at any given moment, and usually a surplus of capital, people, and machines to dig it up. The almost unlimited supply and the relatively inelastic demand for coal means that coal production companies that can keep/reduce costs below competitors are going to win out — creating a constant and powerful pressure to limit the costs associated with social “rules” about mining — costs for miners’ benefits, water treatment, spoil placement, whatever.”
Richard contrasted the coal production business with businesses like the chemical industry, with large fixed capital plant costs, which he said really did want certainty and fixed rules, and then could live with them, even if they were very strict and costly. “Coal, in contrast,” Richard said, “will ALWAYS be pushing against the rules.”
Deul is apparently not an economist, but his examples may fit with Richard’s theory. What do people think?
Actions — not words — matter: Follow the money
ST. LOUIS (November 12, 2009) - Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) and Great Northern Properties Limited Partnership (GNP) announced today that they have signed a coal lease comprising all of GNP’s coal resources in the Otter Creek Tracts located in southeastern Montana. The coal lease will give Arch the right to mine approximately 9,600 acres of GNP-owned minerals that encompass approximately 731 million tons of high-quality, low-cost sub-bituminous coal reserves. (more)
http://investor.archcoal.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=424012
November 14, 2009
The state controls more than a half-billion tons of coal beneath 9,500 acres of land near Ashland. Adjacent parcels of privately owned coal were leased last week to the nation’s second largest coal mining company, Arch Coal Inc. of St. Louis. The move stepped up pressure on the five-member land board, made up of the state’s top five elected officials and chaired by Gov. Brian Schweitzer. (more)
http://wvgazette.com/ap/ApTopStories/200911140285
November 14, 2009
Murray said Redbird West has not shipped a pound of coal since Nov. 5 as a result of the destruction of the American economy and job markets. “Further, our customer for OhioAmerican Energy has cut their coal order from 1.9 million tons in 2009 to only 1 million tons next year. Without a market for our product, we simply cannot employ these very good people and have to lay them off. It’s a terrible situation,” Murray said. (more)
http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/530928.html
(Note: Murray was likely mining coal owned by AEP; Also, the AEP Cardinal Power Plant burns western coal too.)
Revenue recovery: OSMRE and other federal agencies are required to impose user charges to recoup costs for services to private parties — like permitting and inspecting.
For instance, in Fiscal Year 2008, OSMRE expected to spend $5.9 million to fund regulatory programs in non-primacy States (Tennessee and Washington),$1.5 million for OSM to regulate Federal Lands and $2.4 million for regulatory programs on Indian Lands. Plus $4.8 million for program development and maintenance to ensure that regulatory standards adequately reflect changes in technologies and program needs.
The OSMRE regulatory program in Tennessee has a staff of 34.
OSMRE has not reported its amount of revenue recovery (that I could find).
Leave a Comment