U.S. Coal Industry Continues to Suffer in Current Regulatory Atmosphere

Written by Brock Ramey, Power Specialist for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Since 2010, there have been approximately 40 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired generation closed, shuttered or mothballed in the U.S., with another 14 GW due to be retired, mothballed or shuttered in the next 18 months, according to information from Industrial Info's Power Generation Plant and Project Database. Market forces, including low natural gas prices, can be blamed for most of the losses but current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory policy has not helped to support those who are losing jobs in the Coal Industry.

In a recent interview by science celebrity Bill Nye at the Climate Action 2016 summit in Washington, D.C., EPA chief Gina McCarthy said "we rock" at writing regulations, and that critics and the U.S. Supreme Court have mischaracterized the agency's Clean Power Plan. McCarthy went on to say the agency is going in the right direction and renewable energy markets--especially solar--were growing 12 times as fast as the current economy.

McCarthy also maintains the EPA is leaving the door open for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) as a viable option in the future. However, the U.S. Department of Energy has backed away from several CCS projects, saying the high cost of CCS is impractical with today's technology. There are several CCS test sites, but to apply CCS to a complete power plant is very expensive. McCarthy said it would aide in natural gas and oil recovery. However, the NRG Petra Nova Project, which is being constructed at NRG Energy's W.A. Parish power plant in Fort Bend County, Texas, has a price tag of about $1 billion for 240 megawatts generation from one single unit. This comes out to a project cost of about $4 million per megawatt. This cost compares with a $300 million, new technology, coal-fired power plant without CCS.

Later during the interview at the climate summit, McCarthy was asked about concerns over laid-off or out-of-work coal power plant and coal mine workers. About 100,000 jobs have been lost to coal mine and coal plant closures. According to McCarthy, the unemployed should be able to find jobs in arenas like broadband and renewable energy. Coal miners in Appalachia coal region have an average age between 30 and 50 and the high side of their income is about $83,000 annually, before taxes. In contrast, the re-educated miners would be provided jobs that on average pay about $36,000 to $50,000 annually, according to data from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and communication associations.

McCarthy said the administration was trying to aid the Appalachia areas with a $65 million fund to help the area diversify. Communities in the region are unlikely to reject the aide because coal jobs have disappeared, and the unemployed are now over taxing the welfare and social services systems. The loss of coal mines and power plants also affects the numerous service companies that support the industries, not to mention the federal, state, county and local taxes that have been lost.

Advocates of the current regulations say replacing these coal-derived jobs with renewable energy jobs is on the way. But the average windfarm produces about 125-200 MW and employs about 5 to 15 workers, and some are operated remotely by a central operations building and require minimal or zero employees on site. By comparison, the average coal-fired power plant employs about 30 to 500 or more depending on the capacity of the plant.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.