Why I Love To Blog -- Reason #2 -- April 2, 2017

Updates

June 11, 2017: on a completely different note, but part of the "war on coal" story, and for the archives, the DrudgeReport banner today: coal mine opens in Pennsylvania. The story:

President Trump lauded the opening of the nation's first new coal mine in recent memory. Corsa Coal Company will operate the mine in Somerset County, Pa. - outside of Pittsburgh.

Corsa CEO George Dethlefsen ... praised Trump's easing of regulations and encouragement for fossil fuel exploration. Dethlefsen told Leland Vittert that for the 70 positions available in the mine, 400 people applied.

"It's a hard day's work every day, but it's worth it," one miner said. Vittert said the news contrasts with Hillary Clinton's message that she would "put a lot of coal miners out of work."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who endorsed Clinton, joined the mine company in watching a video message from Trump commemorating the occasion.

Later, 7:58 p.m. Central Time: when it rains, it pours. A reader asked earlier about Trump, coal, natural gas. My longer reply is in the original post. Now, I see an article in PennEnergy:

Part of a coal-fired power plant in northwestern New Mexico is still scheduled for retirement despite President Donald Trump's executive order Tuesday to roll back measures aimed at tackling global warming.

And the state's largest electric provider has no plans to shift gears when it comes to promoting cleaner energy, a spokesman said.

The president argued his order would revive the coal industry and create a level playing field for workers.

"It will take time to see how the president's actions may or may not impact our business going forward," said Pahl Shipley, a spokesman for Public Service Co. of New Mexico. Pressure to limit regional haze-causing pollution and other emissions from coal-fired power plants resulted in an agreement between the utility and federal and state regulators to close two units at the utility's San Juan Generating Station by the end of 2017.

Trump made good on a campaign promise to unravel the previous administration's efforts to restrict coal use. Several of the mandates could be suspended, rescinded or flagged for review to boost domestic energy production in the form of fossil fuels.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Original Post 

Earlier a reader asked if Trump was doing such a good job taking on Obama's "war on coal," why are so many natural gas power plants being built?

I love it when someone at the The New York Times reads my blog, or someone reads The New York Times and finds a better answer than the one I gave. I don't know if folks have noticed but it seems that for Trump if he can save one American job that's worthy of saving hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Just like a 1,000-mile journey begins with the first step.

And here we have a great example. No, no matter what President Trump does, he isn't going to turn back the tectonic tide  -- or should we say, tsunami -- set in motion by the Bakken revolution. No one is going to put natural gas back in genie's bottle and open the almost-limitless coal resources that the US has.

But if President Trump can save one American job by taking on Obama's "war on coal" he will consider that a job well done.

In this case, President Trump may have just save the livelihood of a number -- a great number -- of Native Americans. The story at The New York Times. Archived.

From the article:

“We don’t know Donald Trump,” said Henry Old Horn, 74, a Crow elder. “All we know is that he’s a good, successful businessman. And we also know that he’s not your typical politician. It’s like rolling the dice. Who knows, he may be our savior.”

Maybe.

I may come back to this one. It's important, as Peggy Noonan would say.

Later: Trump saves 600 jobs and the alt-left blows it off, suggesting 600 jobs is trivial. Tell that to the 600 folks/families who have jobs.  I get a kick out of this: from my perspective, President Trump seems to be the first president truly to be more concerned about folks that couldn't be more different than he is. Abraham Lincoln comes to mind, but Lincoln was coming from an easier valley.

For The Archives - A Lot Of Fine Americans Will Lose Their Jobs And Their Health Care Under This Administration; The President Kept His Word To Kill The Coal Industry

The New York Times is reporting:

The ailing American coal industry, which has pinned its hopes on exports to counter a declining market at home, is scaling back its ambitions as demand from abroad starts to ebb as well.

Just south of here, New Elk Coal terminated its lease late last month at the Port of Corpus Christi, where it had hoped to export coal to Brazil, Europe and Asia. Two days later, when the federal government tried to auction off a two-square-mile tract of land in Wyoming’s Powder River basin, a region once poised to grow with exports to Asia, not a single coal company made a bid.

They were the latest signs that a global coal glut and price slump, along with persistent environmental opposition, are reducing the likelihood that additional exports could shield the industry from slipping domestic demand caused by cheap natural gas and mounting regulations.

United States coal exports this year are expected to decline by roughly 5 percent from last year’s record exports of 125 million tons, and many experts predict the decline will quicken next year. 

Poorly written story, as usual.

If the story were properly written, the lede would state clearly that the "ailing" coal industry is the direct result of O'Bama policy to kill the coal industry. He drew a line in the coal bin ten years ago and that's the ONE promise he has kept. 

Mr President, Have Pity On The Working Man, Randy Newman

And for the 47% who wish they didn't see now, what they didn't know then:

Up Against The Wind, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Bank

Without a job, all the subsidies in the world won't get you the health care you need. 

Clarification On An Earlier Post: President Obama, EPA, Coal Plants; The President Would Ban Even Coal Plants Using New Technology

Link here to the Wall Street Journal story regarding an earlier post asking whether the president went a bit too far too fast trying to kill the coal industry. I don't recall how I portrayed the issue, but a reader was kind enough to explain what was going on.

The Obama administration is weighing changes to a proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule to limit emissions at new power plants, in a preemptive move to protect against possible court challenges, according to people familiar with the matter.

The changes may require the EPA to seek more public input, a move that would push the measure months past an April 13 deadline for finalizing it.

The proposed rule would limit emissions of carbon-dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that many scientists have linked to a warming planet, to 1,000 pounds per megawatt-hour of electricity generated at new power plants, whether fired by coal or natural gas.

The EPA put forth its proposal in March 2012 and immediately drew fire because it would essentially ban new coal-fired power plants that use current technologies.

The agency hasn't decided to alter that part of the proposal, but it is weighing concerns that the rule as written may not withstand legal scrutiny, said people who have been briefed on EPA talks.

The reader pointed out correctly: the president won't quit in his quest to kill the coal industry; at most, this newest wrinkle is only temporary.

Coal: Another Nail in the Coffin

Updates

December 4, 2012: CNP will sells its track west of Tracy, MN, now that coal is dead. The link will take you to a video business news interview (which I hate [the video format, not the news, although in this case, that's bad, also]). The video noted that the cities of Mankato, MN, and Rochester, MN, were both against the CNP deal to ship coal from Wyoming through their cities to the east coast. It was noted that the Mayo Clinic was particularly involved in trying to stop the train coal shipments.

Original Post

From Yahoo! In-Play today:

Canadian Pacific announced it will take a Q4 pre-tax non-cash charge of ~$180 mln over Powder River Basin option: Co announced it will take a Q4 pre-tax non-cash charge of ~$180 mln ($107 mln after tax) on its option to build into the Powder River Basin (PRB).

When CP acquired the Dakota Minnesota & Eastern railroad in 2007, it also acquired the option to build a 260-mile extension of its network into coal mines in the PRB. Components of the charge include the option, engineering design costs, land and capitalized interest.

It is CP's intention to defer indefinitely plans to extend its rail network into the PRB coal mines based on continued deterioration in the market for domestic thermal coal, including a sharp deterioration in 2012.

Cue up Connie Francis.

Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal -- File Under: "What Goes Around, Comes Around"

There are three huge energy stories that could fuel the next decade.

Bakken oil:

• the Bakken is probably bigger than you think
• currently accounts for about 10% of US production
• the unconventional oil research laboratory sine qua non

Natural gas:

• the Marcellus has changed everything
• is probably bigger than we thought

Coal industry

• enough is enough

******************

With regard to the last link, the last story: enough is enough and the coal industry -- file under "What goes around, comes around.'

A long, long time ago I wrote about this very phenomenon: President Obama has a long history of talking about killing the coal industry. As an ideologue, he certainly believes this is the right outcome -- the demise of the coal industry. It happened more quickly than anyone could have predicted and, with a bit of irony, it happened on his watch. And thus, the "what goes around, comes around." If I run across my earlier posts on this subject, I will post the links.

However, I do believe the article underplays the importance of regulations and the administration's attitude toward coal. The article suggests it is more about market dynamics (excess natural gas undercutting use of coal); in fact, the Chinese are eager to buy American coal, but the administration turns a deaf ear. The administration is on record saying that the Chinese are in the forefront of "clean coal" technology. The administration is also on record with "all the above" as a stated policy for energy. Unless "all the above" includes oil, natural gas, or coal.

******************

A huge "thank you" to Don for sending the two links.

A Note to the Granddaughters

My laptop is about to run out energy; the battery is down to 17 percent. An iPad with 17 percent battery life left would last almost two hours. The MacBook Pro might last another twenty minutes. And no outlet where I am to charge the battery.

But I couldn't leave without this short note. Yesterday I didn't get the chance to read the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal (the older daughter had a swim meet a couple of hours distant in driving time -- only a few miles away for a Canadian goose, but the meet was in Salem, Massachusetts, on one of the last weekends before Halloween, perhaps the biggest tourist month of the year for Salem; think witches).

So, today, before the start of the second day of that same swim meet, I will read the WSJ -- all the more so because Starbucks accidentally gave me a "grande" instead of a "tall" which represents about twice as much coffee, three times more than I need. But that's another story for another day.

Back to the WSJ. I used to know some friends (okay, one) who subscribed to Playboy Magazine for the stories. That's the way it is with me. No, not Playboy Magazine, but the WSJ. I subscribe to the WSJ, not for the business news, but for the incredibly good writing, the weekend edition, and the fourth section each day (in that order).

This weekend's issue might be one of the best in a  long time. Or maybe like meat loaf it just seems better because it's a day older and I've been looking forward to it twenty-four hours.

The long, long lead story is fantastic -- read this story if you want to know my reading habits: My 6,128 favorite books, by Joe Queenan. Fortunately he only lists about 100 books. Most of those were books he did not like, so he must have read more than 6,128. You know that any article that mentions Middlemarch in the first few paragraphs is going to be a great piece of reading.

Paul Johnson's five favorite biographies: Macaulay, Sir Arthur Bryant; Ulysses S. Grant, Michael Korda; Lincoln at Gettysburg, Garry Wills; Rossetti: His Life and Works, Evelyn Waugh; and, A Portrait of Charles Lamb, David Cecil. The authors are relatively unfamiliar to me; the lives they have chosen to write about I know very, very well, except for Charles Lamb.

And finally, before I run out of battery (now 13%): How the French Invented Love, Marilyn Yalon. Four hundred pages of what appears to be an exceptionally interesting book. I don't know if this was planned by the WSJ editors or if it just happened, but earlier in the section there is an essay on "the new face of infidelity" by Peggy Drexler. Her findings: infidelity is no longer an exclusive domain for men (it never was, but the statistics are starting to even out): 23 percent and 19 percent. You can google the article to see what the numbers refer to. Something tells me the former number is way, way low [Update, November 9, 2012: how low? Well, when the paragon of virtue, US Army General Petraeus, admits to an extra-marital affair after 37 years of marriage, what can I say?]; the latter number is low, but hard to say by how much. It will be interesting to see what a similar essay reports 15 years from now. My hunch is that the definition of infidelity will have changed. See Marilyn Yalon's book review.

And with that, I leave, with only 11% of battery life left.

Finally, Some Common Sense -- States Rights, Air Quality, Coal

US court rejects EPA's curbs on coal pollution standards.

A federal court threw out a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule aimed at cutting pollution from coal-fired power plants, dealing a blow to the Obama administration’s efforts to curb harmful emissions.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington in a 2-1 ruling today struck down the EPA’s cross-state air pollution rule, saying the agency illegally imposed federal authority over state air pollution programs. The court sided with more than three dozen challengers to the measure, which caps emissions in more than two dozen states. The rule had been put on hold by the court in December while it considered the regulation’s legality. 

States rights issue.

Fracking: states rights issue.

Also, in the story:

The court’s decision, which sparked a rally in coal stocks, could leave the EPA with years of work to replace a regulation the agency said would have “dramatic” health benefits for 240 million people, Whitney Stanco, senior energy policy analyst at Guggenheim Securities LLC, said.

And,

The rule would put the owner of a coal-fired power plant in the position either of having to close the facility or bring it into compliance by installing pollution control equipment, which can be very expensive,” said Sam Brothwell, senior analyst covering utilities for Bloomberg Industries in New York.

Well, yes.

 

Administration: Scope of Coal-Fired-Utility-Planned Shutdown Is Unprecedented

From President Obama's own administration:

Facing declining demand for electricity and stiff federal environmental regulations, coal plant operators are planning to retire 175 coal-fired generators, or 8.5 percent of the total coal-fired capacity in the United States, according to an analysis by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

A record-high 57 generators will shut down in 2012, representing 9 gigawatts of electrical capacity, according to EIA. In 2015, nearly 10 gigawatts of capacity from 61 coal-fired generators will be retired.

While many of those coal plants are old and relatively inefficient, the scope of this new planned shutdown is unprecedented.

“The coal-fired capacity expected to be retired over the next five years is more than four times greater than retirements performed during the preceding five-year period,” EIA noted in the analysis.

Killing A Golden Goose of Jobs

According to the linked article: "Most of the coal-fired generator retirements will occur in the Mid-Atlantic, Ohio River Valley and the Southeast."

Is This Why Natural Gas Continues to Rise in Price? -- Not a Bakken Story

Link here.

Two new EPA pollution regulations will slam the coal industry so hard that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost, and electric rates will skyrocket 11 percent to over 23 percent, according to a new study based on government data.

Overall, the rules aimed at making the air cleaner could cost the coal-fired power plant industry $180 billion, warns a trade group.

I don't know why this is such a big story for US News; the president said as much when he was a senator from Illinois:



President Obama on Bankrupting Coal-Powered Utilities

Meanwhile China will keep burning coal.

The Administration's Worst Nightmare: Coal. Meanwhile, Radioactive Iodine Now Reported in Tokyo Drinking Water

The half-life of radioactive iodine is 8 days.

The sample contained 1.5 becquerals per kg of iodine 131, well below the tolerable limit for food and drink of 300 becquerals per kg, the government added.

When I read that headline, that radioactive iodine is now found in Tokyo drinking water, I imagined what this would mean if our government reported the same thing in one of our major cities.

I can only imagine the first thing folks would do would be to go to bottled water. I remember San Francisco talking about banning bottled water due to plastic waste, but I don't know the status of San Francisco's plans right now.

Meanwhile, when it comes to energy, the administration's worse nightmare: coal.

And the plan when the President was still a senator -- to bankrupt coal plants:


President Obama on Bankrupting Coal-Powered Utilities

Interestingly, that press conference was held in the same city that wants to ban bottled water.