Updates
December 6, 2012: update on the Decker mine, layoffs, coal shipments, etc.
November 21, 2012: see comments and the stand-alone post regarding the Decker coal mine story, as well as BNSF and the Bakken
Original Post
Link here to Montana Headlines. While this may not be directly related to the war on coal that the Obama administration has waged, it certainly couldn't have helped: the Decker coal mine in southeastern Montana is laying off 75 workers.Don sent me the article on the Decker coal mine earlier but I didn't post it -- I was worried about getting too far afield of the Bakken but then I saw it posted at the link above. Couldn't resist posting it now. I was not aware that I was linked at the link. Ping pong.
The increased regulation laid on coal-burning electricity plants by the EPA have already cost a good number of workers in Billings their jobs at PPL's plant, now scheduled to be mothballed. And now, another set of workers in a major southeastern Montana coal mine. Many of them live in the Sheridan area, but as everyone knows, folks in Sheridan come to Billings all the time for shopping, medical care, and other services that are found here in the nearest "big city" to Sheridan and surrounds.
But very nice to see. Thank you.
A significant portion of the coal produced at the Decker mine has historically gone by train to the Midwest Energy Resources Company (MERC) site in Superior, WI, unloaded there, and then placed onto vessels for ultimate delivery to coal plants located along the Great Lakes. The amount of coal being brought in to Superior has really declined the last couple years, not necessarily because of actions in the US (though there's no denying the future of coal in the US does not look bright), but because of what's happened in Canada. Coal has essentially been abandoned as an energy source in Canada in general, and the province of Ontario in particular. Several large coal-fired power plants in Ontario that were receiving regular shipments of coal out of Superior have shifted to natural gas or renewables, causing MERC to lose a big chunk of business. To combat this loss, as well as losses that loom due to United States policy, MERC has been pushing to establish export deals, especially with European markets. There's been some success to date, with a deal to send coal out of Superior to the Netherlands and Spain, but so far not enough is being exported to make up for the business that has been lost. The ramifications are being felt all along the railroad tracks and, now, all the way to the mine in southeast Montana. The Duluth News-Tribune has covered this with some articles over the past year, but the links to those have long died. Still, I'm sure you could find some more information by running adequate terms through Google.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, there's something Bakken-related I can work into this comment. Because of the decrease in demand for coal at places like the port in Superior and elsewhere in the Midwest and along the East Coast, BNSF recently announced that some trains that normally would have passed through Minot and Williston on their way between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest will be shifted to BNSF's historically coal-laden corridor that runs southwest from Chicago and passes through Iowa, Nebraska, and northern Wyoming. The main reasons cited were in order to make room for more oil trains set to come out of the Bakken region, as well as the railroad's continuing difficulty to attract crews to eastern Montana and North Dakota, which I think most honest observers would attribute at least partially to union regulations (I can explain that in greater detail, if desired).
FWIW, Trains Magazine was the one to report on the traffic shifts and a link to what was said is at (http://trn.trains.com/Railroad%20News/News%20Wire/2012/11/Bakken%20oil%20increase%20shifts%20other%20traffic%20around%20BNSF.aspx). It's behind a paywall, though, but what I typed was the crux of the article.
Wow, thank you for taking the time to post the back story to the Decker, and then the Bakken/BNSF bit -- very, very interesting.
DeleteIt's late tonight; I was just ready to close down for the night, but I will post this as a stand-alone tomorrow -- in case some folks don't read the comments.
I know there is much more to the story than just ideology with regard to the "relative" demise of coal, so it's nice to have this additional information.