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Despite accident, coal's future is bright
A section on the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, W.Va.
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TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: In Montcoal, W.Va., today crews were rushing to get emergency drilling equipment in place. Yesterday's explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine has left 25 miners confirmed dead, four others remain missing.
Upper Big Branch is owned by Massey Energy. It's the biggest coal producer in Appalachia. It's also, according to federal records, has a worse-than-average safety record. Mining does sometimes seems like a 19th century industry -- especially on days like today -- but Brett Neely reports that coal's future remains bright.
BRETT NEELY: The accident sent shares of Massey Energy down by as much as 10 percent today. But overall, shares in coal companies were up. That's because the coal industry, for better or worse, isn't going away.
William Watson is in charge of energy analysis at the Energy Information Administration.
WILLIAM WATSON: Coal consumption is growing at somewhere around 1 to 1.5 percent a year.
He says 40 years ago, Americans used about 600 million tons of coal a year. Now, it's over a billion tons. One reason the U.S. burns so much of the stuff is...
WATSON: We have a lot of it.
At least another 100 years worth of domestic supply, Watson says. Most of the coal in the U.S. is used to produce electricity. It often comes from coal seams near the surface out West or from dynamiting Appalachian mountaintops. The Upper Big Branch mine was different. It produced met coal, which is used to make steel.
JIM THOMPSON: It tends to be very, very high quality coal, it's in very short supply.
Jim Thompson is the managing editor of Coal and Energy, an industry publication. He says high demand from Asia and the rest of the world makes met coal a lucrative export business for American firms.
Met coal is almost always found deeper underground, where the mining is more dangerous. But other coal miners in Appalachia may also have to start digging deeper too. That's because new federal environmental rules may soon make it next to impossible for mining companies to keep blowing up mountaintops.
Here's Jim Thompson again.
THOMPSON: It is a tradeoff. If you are going to limit surface mining then you are going to be mining in more dangerous conditions.
As more and more coal mining shifts underground, Thompson said more accidents are bound to happen. When it comes to Massey Energy, analysts at Jeffries & Co. said the met coal producer remains undervalued. And recommended investors buy its shares.
In Washington, I'm Brett Neely for Marketplace.
This story is disappointing because it entirely ignores the growing evidence that the US can and is moving away from coal. In the past three years, 127 proposed coal-fired power plants have been cancelled due to the fact that they are economically unviable. In addition, cleaner alternatives, including energy efficiency, wind, solar, geothermal, combined heat and power, and natural gas combined cycle plants are falling in price and gaining market share. This accident in West Virginia is yet another example of how coal is a dirty source of power. From the mining and transport of the coal, to the burning of the coal in power plants, to the storage of the waste that is created, coal has the highest lifecycle impacts of any source of power. If we require coal to internalize the cost of these impacts (through, for example, a cap and trade system, regulation of coal ash disposal, and requiring existing coal plants to install modern pollution controls), we quickly come to realize that coal is an expensive source of power that cannot compete with cleaner sources of power.
Interesting how quickly the comments turn to straw man attacks when questions are raised concerning the veracity of claims made concerning coal.
I too, would wish that the folks who report for marketplace would more closely examine the claims of the coal industry spokespersons, and show more journalistic skepticism.
Just as an example, the issue mostly under discussion, at least implicitly is Massey Energy, WV coal in general, and the outlook for the coal industry at large. The claim that there are '100 years of supply' remaining basically is meaningless without some context. There is most certainly NOT '100 years remaining' of coal in the greater allegheny reserves are current rates of extraction. This is however, implied in this article.
I believe that marketplace can do a better job of informing the public at large than is being done. This article is an example.
For the record, there are a lot of problems facing 'big coal', and there are a lot of problems with the broad generalities expressed in this article.
For shame marketplace! How about digging a little deeper (excuse the pun) and report on the real costs of mineral exploitation in wv? Projecting an increase in share price covers only one small perspective and is simplistic. Yes, demand is high for coal and natural gas and companies like Massey Energy, hell-bent on extracting these resources at any cost, will surely just get richer. But how about an accurate cost analysis of mineral extraction? Who is getting rich and at whose expense? WV is a third world economy. Its citizens, their health, and the Appalachian environment are under the thumb of mineral extraction companies. Check your facts about the economic state of WV and you will see. Whenever folks ask for safer mining, for the preservation of clean air or water, for reasonable measures of protection, or for the return of some of the resources from mineral extraction back to the local community, big business plays the fear card and threatens a pull-out. Please investigate the true costs and tell a full story. As I understand, the coal from that Massey Energy mine was headed to India. American lives are lost to supply other countries with energy, meanwhile WV is mired in deep poverty. Don't even get me started on the mad-dash rush to exploit shale natural gas. I would not argue that these resources should never be extracted, but tell the whole story of the real cost! Current drilling for shale natural gas is exploding in WV without any thought to protecting an even more esstential resource, water. Please help and tell this story, investigate the real price for future generations.
So, what's your solution to the great need for coal to power the Web site you commented on, with a computer you use that requires electricity that more than likely was powered by coal? Solar and wind as energy sources? Sure, but they have serious drawbacks. Invent the solution to the problem, and you will definitely be a rich man.
