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Nonsense. The market is deciding on natural gas because fracking has sent its price through the floor.
End of story.
Do you think a company building a power plant that is going to be in existence for upwards of half a century considers what the competitive price is now or what they think it's going to be down the road?
Here's very simple real world explanation if it still hasn't sunk in. I use the most expensive coal available to heat my home which is about triple what it costs for the coal they use in coal plants yet it's still cheaper than what it would cost me to heat with natural gas. Now if you were considering changing your heating sytem are you going to opt for the cheaper coal if the EPA is hanging this axe over your head that may make your significant investment into a coal burning furnace no longer legal to use? Of course not, you'd have to be fool because it's a huge gamble that would be very expensive if you lose.
The cost of NG vs. coal long term is what is driving this, it's the burdensome and as I already mentioned unattainable proposals like the CO2 limits that are driving the cost of coal up and making it undesirable to investors. Companies want stability and the current spate of regulations and the uncertainty of future regulations of coal certainly isn't a stable business environment.
What do guns and jihads have to do with this? Oh nothing.
Guns, jihad, wind/solar, birth certificate....
All rubbish expounded by the right.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the president doesn't dictate the market. The government can't even do something as simple as getting the banks to lend more money; despite years and years of trying. They just can't because they don't dictate the market.
If Obama is smart enough to single handedly lift wind/solar into the mainstream. You know what? He deserves to be re-elected, because he'd have done the impossible.
He most certainly can through the actions of the EPA.
Nope. Blaming the EPA for coal is like blaming the referees for the Lakers losing to the Thunder. I'm not saying regulation doesn't share some blame but the stake to the heart of the coal industry is not the EPA.
Let's see what a right-leaning business-driven analyst has to say:
Quote:
The coal industry is in shambles because of regulation, or that's what some would like you to think. Coal is an abundant resource in the U.S. and I do not doubt that regulation has had an impact on the state of the industry.
So the struggles of coal companies must be making energy more expensive, right?
The answer is a definitive -- not really. The cost of electricity has risen every year since 2002, but the rate of growth has slowed in the last three years.
The problems for coal have largely been driven by another fossil fuel -- natural gas. Is regulation impacting electricity prices negatively? Maybe. But the evidence shows that price growth of electricity has slowed in recent years, not picked up.
The market has spoken - price increase of electricity has slowed, benefiting consumer; despite the coal industry's struggled. The main objective here is the price of electricity, it is doing exactly what we as a country want it to do. This is exactly what an efficient market does and let's not ignore the fact that it is good for the country even if it is bad for the coal industry.
Also, EPA is not the primary reason for coal's struggle, it's the fact that it got out competed by natural gas.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the president doesn't dictate the market. The government can't even do something as simple as getting the banks to lend more money; despite years and years of trying. They just can't because they don't dictate the market.
If Obama is smart enough to single handedly lift wind/solar into the mainstream. You know what? He deserves to be re-elected, because he'd have done the impossible.
You are posting on a thread where coal plants are being shut down because the government dictated they follow rules that are impossible to follow and then you come here six pages later and say they government can't dictate anything?? Remain blind all you want. Many do.
As for banks lending more money you have heard of the housing bubble popping?? Apparently not. Never mind stay on topic.
The real threat to the coal industry is not some politically-motivated "War on Coal;" it is cheap natural gas that is killing coal. The EIA report represents a milestone in the energy industry, confirming trends underway for some time. Growing natural gas production across the country is rapidly eroding coal's share of the electricity market. Technological breakthroughs in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have allowed drillers to extract gas from shale rock at low cost.
Contrary to coal industry claims, the erosion of coal's position is due to market forces, not regulation, as many of the regulations proposed under the Obama administration so loathed by the coal industry have not yet taken effect. Instead, it is becoming increasingly difficult for coal to compete with natural gas on price.
Additionally, the coal industry's claim that government regulation is killing jobs seems to ignore the fact that the loss of jobs in the coal industry correspond to a surge in employment in the natural gas industry. IHS Global Insight estimates the natural gas industry supported 1 million jobs in 2010, and it will create an additional 500,000 jobs by 2015. Shale gas drilling has expanded so rapidly that the hotel industry in Pennsylvania is booming as local housing cannot satisfy the influx of new workers. This is an example of 'creative destruction,' a phenomenon that the free market enthusiasts like those claiming a "war on coal" supposedly support.
You are posting on a thread where coal plants are being shut down because the government dictated they follow rules that are impossible to follow and then you come here six pages later and say they government can't dictate anything?? Remain blind all you want. Many do.
As for banks lending more money you have heard of the housing bubble popping?? Apparently not. Never mind stay on topic.
The plant got shut down because they can't compete with natural gas. They can blame the Martians for all I care. The facts are facts.
Quote:
Contrary to coal industry claims, the erosion of coal's position is due to market forces, not regulation, as many of the regulations proposed under the Obama administration so loathed by the coal industry have not yet taken effect. Instead, it is becoming increasingly difficult for coal to compete with natural gas on price.
Nope. Blaming the EPA for coal is like blaming the referees for the Lakers losing to the Thunder. I'm not saying regulation is helping coal but the stake to the heart of the coal industry is not the EPA.
Yes regulations that cost 10's or 100's of billions of dollars or in some cases the proposals for CO2 regualtions that are unattainable no matter how much money you throw at it have nothing to do with it whatsoever.
Certainly the lower cost of natural gas is a factor but it's not the only factor and to think otherwise is being naive. FYI it's only last year at this time when comparing BTU to BTU that the cost of NG has gone lower than coal, there is bottom to this and it will rebound. To think otherwise is being naive.
What's your plan now when coal is no longer around to provide a competitive market and the full force of the environazis set their sites on NG?
"As federal air pollution regulations tighten, utilities are increasingly shifting to natural gas and closing old, inefficient plants. It's likely that other companies will follow Alpha's lead and look to the export market in the future, Hamilton said. West Virginia has historically accounted for about half of U.S. coal exports."
They are being forced to close. The government is picking winners and losers. That is not how the free market works. When the fracking regs they are holding back on hit what will we do? Well of course pay higher prices for EVERTHING which was the goal from the beginning. Instead of waiting until the wind and solar was competitive with what we have now they decided to make what we have now as expensive as wind and solar so then everybody will say well hell may as well use wind and solar. Only problem other than the folks who can't afford it is wind and solar won't provide enough power for a country the size of the US. Why do you think Germany is building 23 new coal plants after they went "green"? Spain's "green revolution" was a green debacle. Yet we march right along down the same path.
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