cerveloguy wrote:
Rodred wrote:
cerveloguy wrote:
CruseVegas wrote:
"You can come right out of high school and make
$70,000 a year," said Missy Perdue, 22, a stay-at-home mother whose husband, Jeff Perdue, Jr., 22, is a miner.Apr 7, 2010
Source My point exactly. Thank you for proving it. How are you going to compete against labor costs in China or India if you're thinking exporting it. And then its almost a dead product on the domestic market. Coal generating plants can't compete against natural gas. . Donny is telling fibs.
Sorry Canuckian but you may have to adjust your optimist appraisal. Literally two after the election coal shipments by rail went crazy, along with evil oil and fracking sand. A power plant near Detroit ordered 52 train loads of coal a month. That's 100+ railcars per train which I believe converts to 5trucks per railcar which is all going to being fired up shooting some coal dust your way. Enjoy.
Glad you know more than Yale. Where is your source? And 52 train loads a month is fuck all in the big picture.
The author of the article isn't from Yale. He's a professor at the West Virginia University College of Law.
Coal is definitely on the decline, but it's far from dead. Last year was the first time in the US that natural gas electricity production surpassed coal, partially due to the decrease in gas prices due to shale plays. However, as natural gas prices are expected to climb short term, coal is expected to regain some share.
https://www.eia.gov/.../detail.php?id=29872 And with respect to exporting coal to China, that is also a possibility. In 2016, China imported 225.5 million tonnes. The US only exported 74 million tonnes (from a total production of ~ 600 million tonnes). Coal is a global commodity, it doesn't matter where it's from, the cost remains the same. Increased labour costs only decrease profits for the owners, it doesn't effect the price per tonne. Smaller profits are better than no profits.
Additionally, the majority of the coal mined in the US is from Wyoming due to it's low SO2 content. Unfortunately, it's also subbituminous which generates less BTU/lb than bituminous coal. However, the bituminous coal found on the east coast has high SO2 content. The high SO2 content increases the cost of the electricity produced from bituminous coal due to the extra scrubbing requirements. If the EPA loosens the emissions requirements, the bituminous coal becomes more lucrative. What are the environmental regulations like in China? How about India?
Don't get me wrong, I dislike Trump and hate coal. But coal will be with us for some time.