Coming Soon: The Politics of Coal

The more oil producing countries have trouble pumping enough oil to satisfy the growing world markets, the more people will be looking towards coal. But coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and its increased use over the next few years is expected to dump enormous amounts of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which will likely increase the problem of global warming. Coal also involves other pollution issues that are not easy to handle. The pressure to use coal will be considerable in the coming years. But the longterm risk of using coal faster than the Earth can absorb cannot be dismissed.

Here's an AP article by Bob Moen that talks about the growing problems of coal transportation and is a good survey of coal in 2006:

In the time it takes to microwave a frozen dinner, 120 more tons of coal are dumped from a railroad car at the Laramie River Station. It’s a scene that can occur 200 times a day.

To keep electricity flowing to 1.6 million homes, the power plant burns up to 24,000 tons of coal every day. Operating 24/7, the plant’s three generating units require a dependable, steady stream of coal.

This past year, however, the stream of coal was anything but steady, even though the plant is only about 100 miles from the largest producing coal mines in the United States – the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming, home to the nation’s top 10 producing coal mines.

(snip)

“People call us the Saudi Arabia of coal. But if you don’t get it to the power plants, it doesn’t matter,” said Mike Grisso, executive director of the Alliance for Rail Competition, a shippers’ organization.

The two main shippers of U.S. coal – BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad – say they are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to ship more Wyoming coal and keep up with an ever-growing demand for power.

Anthony Hatch, an independent transportation analyst in New York, said he believes railroads will meet future demands for shipping coal. But it will take time because of the enormous task of expanding an industry that until only a few years ago was abandoning track as its business dwindled.

(snip)


“It’s not increased generations causing the stockpile to go down,” Basin Electric spokesman Robb said. “It’s lack of coal deliveries.”

Other power companies are having similar supply problems. Entergy Arkansas said its coal shipments declined up to 20 percent last year, forcing it to reduce operations at two power plants in Arkansas and to buy power on the open market. Wisconsin utilities incurred nearly $50 million in extra costs last year because of interruptions in coal shipments.

(snip)

•There are an estimated 275 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves in the United States, or about one-fourth of the world’s total.

The energy content of U.S. coal reserves is four times greater than the recoverable oil of Saudi Arabia and exceeds that of all the world’s known recoverable oil reserves.

•U.S. coal production reached a record 1.133 billion tons in 2005, while consumption reached a record 1.128 billion tons. Electric generation accounted for 92 percent, or 1.039 billion tons, of all coal consumed in the United States.

The use of coal is going to be unavoidable in the coming years but the time to start bringing more alternative energy online and the time to start being more energy efficient is now. George W. Bush and the current crew in Washington do not appear to be up to the task. We need change and the American people need to be part of the solution.