From:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pow ... ce5c4ee347"President Trump made one big promise to voters when it came to energy policy: He would bring back coal-mining jobs and save the coal industry by lifting the regulatory burden foisted on it by the Obama administration. Energy and environmental policy analysts countered that it was not bureaucrats, but coal’s competitors, that were driving it out of business. The boom in electricity generated by cheap natural gas and renewable sources over the past decade was undermining old and cost-intensive coal-fired power plants.
But new numbers published by the EIA shows that coal production has actually grown since Trump became commander-in-chief. During the first nine months of 2017 — coinciding more or less with Trump’s time in office — coal production was 12 percent higher than during the same period in 2016, according EIA data published Wednesday.
Energy and environmental policy analysts countered that it was not bureaucrats, but coal’s competitors, that were driving it out of business. The boom in electricity generated by cheap natural gas and renewable sources over the past decade was undermining old and cost-intensive coal-fired power plants.
Why is coal production up if the fuel is supposed to be on its way out? Should we give credit to Trump for that bump? The short answer to that second question is no, not really. The long answer to the first, energy analysts say, is that economic factors at home and abroad — and all largely beyond Trump's control — play a bigger role in explaining that year-over-year increase than the changing of the presidential guard. Potentially to the president's surprise, China even helped out a bit with the increase.
Bouncing back from bankruptcy: In 2015 and early 2016, Peabody Energy, Alpha Natural Resources and Arch Coal, along with several other smaller companies, filed for bankruptcy. Together, those three accounted for more than 40 percent of U.S. coal production"
You may recall some commenting that those bankruptcy filings signalled the end of those companies. Such enthusiasm was based on the complete ignorance of why the Chapter 11 bankruptcy law exists: to make companies economies viable once more. And typically done by eliminating some debt entirely and restructuring the remaining so companies can more effectively manage them. Now that those companies have cleared Chapter 11 they are in a much better place to carry on operations.
But that didn't eliminate coal's primary problem. Which isn't govt policies as it is more competition from NG. Competition due in large part to low NG prices. But what would happen if/when NG prices increase? And given the historical volatility of those prices not an unsupported possibility. And we don't need to go very far back in time for an example. From
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/C ... ted_States"Beginning around the year 2000, in response to increases in natural gas prices, utilities across the United States began a renewed push to build new coal-fired electricity generating plants. By the spring of 2007, approximately 150 such projects were either under construction or in various stages of planning. The National Energy Technology Laboratory, a division of the Department of Energy, maintained a database of such projects, but ceased providing project-specific information as of May 2007."
But the most critical factor that will come as a shock to some Americans: the United States is not the world! LOL. CO2 levels are not a function of what the US does or doesn't do with respect to burning coal. Since 2010 y-o-y the capacity of new coal fired plants has increased over the capacity retired. Sometimes by a fact of 10X. Even the latest numbers during coal's "dying" moment new coal capacity has increased more the 2X that of retired plants."
And the US is doing its part to help the world's coal burners: US coal exports totaled 7.78 million mt in August, up 19.4% from July and up 71.4% from the year-ago month. It was the highest monthly total since June 2014. And note that in 2014 President Obama, the "greenest" POTUS in history, was captain of the ship.
The good news: just because that new capacity exists it isn't being fully utilized. Even true in Texas. But again that's primarily the result of lower NG prices. And when those prices increase significantly there won't be a lag time for increased coal consumption: they will just need to fire up those existing burners and start using the MILLIONS of tons of EXISTING coal already piled up at those plants.