[Pulp Fiction]

Let's be honest.... COAL IS DEAD!!!!

There are mines that are still open, but they are far and few between.
Train companies are laying off for lack of production.
Seems like every week another coal company is closing, laying off or filing for bankruptcy.
Families are moving at a record pace from small towns to the cities just to have a job.

Both sides of my family have deep roots working in the mines. Deep mines, strip mines, coal truck drivers, production plants..... and I support coal as much as anybody. But the time has come to move on.


Some people are so far behind the times to realize that we are our own worst enemy. Instead of putting forth the same efforts to attract new industries and shift away from coal, some people are stuck in the 1970's and trying fight a war that is already over.

East Kentucky is dying. Schools are seeing lower enrollment numbers, other businesses and industries that relied for years on the coal business are shutting down.... the list could go on.




If we are still fighting the 'War on Coal' in five more years, The counties east of I-75 & South of I-64 will be ghost towns.

[vector]

Kentucky may be the nation’s third-leading coal producer, but over the years it has increasingly turned to other states to supply coal for its power plants.
Kentucky power plants use only a fraction of the coal they once did from the state’s struggling eastern coalfield, and according to federal data compiled by the state Energy and Environment Cabinet, coal mined in other states has almost entirely displaced it.
Kentucky relies on coal for more than 90 percent of its electric power needs, and is burning more than it did in 1983. Though more than half the state’s mining jobs have disappeared since 2009, the amount of coal the state consumes has barely budged.
The data show that over the long term, the percentage of eastern Kentucky coal that fires the state’s power plants has plunged from 32 percent in 1983 to 4 percent in 2015. Meanwhile, coal produced in western Kentucky still supplied an estimated 57 percent of what the state consumed last year.
The balance of Kentucky’s coal needs last year, about 39 percent, was met by other states, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado and Wyoming.
WE LIKE THE IDEA OF KENTUCKY COAL BEING USED TO CREATE KENTUCKY ELECTRICITY. WE ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT THE UTILITIES HAVE TO DO WHAT’S BEST FOR THEM BASED ON COST AND AVAILABLE RESOURCES.
Bill Bissett, president of the Kentucky Coal Association

[WideRight05]

Kentucky may be the nation’s third-leading coal producer, but over the years it has increasingly turned to other states to supply coal for its power plants.
Kentucky power plants use only a fraction of the coal they once did from the state’s struggling eastern coalfield, and according to federal data compiled by the state Energy and Environment Cabinet, coal mined in other states has almost entirely displaced it.
Kentucky relies on coal for more than 90 percent of its electric power needs, and is burning more than it did in 1983. Though more than half the state’s mining jobs have disappeared since 2009, the amount of coal the state consumes has barely budged.
The data show that over the long term, the percentage of eastern Kentucky coal that fires the state’s power plants has plunged from 32 percent in 1983 to 4 percent in 2015. Meanwhile, coal produced in western Kentucky still supplied an estimated 57 percent of what the state consumed last year.
The balance of Kentucky’s coal needs last year, about 39 percent, was met by other states, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado and Wyoming.
WE LIKE THE IDEA OF KENTUCKY COAL BEING USED TO CREATE KENTUCKY ELECTRICITY. WE ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT THE UTILITIES HAVE TO DO WHAT’S BEST FOR THEM BASED ON COST AND AVAILABLE RESOURCES.
Bill Bissett, president of the Kentucky Coal Association

Well, look who's back.

You might want to list the source you copied/pasted that from. nicker:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-w...56840.html

[TheRealThing]

Let's be honest.... COAL IS DEAD!!!!

There are mines that are still open, but they are far and few between.
Train companies are laying off for lack of production.
Seems like every week another coal company is closing, laying off or filing for bankruptcy.
Families are moving at a record pace from small towns to the cities just to have a job.

Both sides of my family have deep roots working in the mines. Deep mines, strip mines, coal truck drivers, production plants..... and I support coal as much as anybody. But the time has come to move on.


Some people are so far behind the times to realize that we are our own worst enemy. Instead of putting forth the same efforts to attract new industries and shift away from coal, some people are stuck in the 1970's and trying fight a war that is already over.

East Kentucky is dying. Schools are seeing lower enrollment numbers, other businesses and industries that relied for years on the coal business are shutting down.... the list could go on.




If we are still fighting the 'War on Coal' in five more years, The counties east of I-75 & South of I-64 will be ghost towns.

What resource did you have in mind to replace coal with?

[vector]

He should said Eastern KY and Southern Wv is dead cost to high

[RunItUpTheGut]

The biggest thing hurting coal right now is Russia and China. Russia is mining coal like crazy and China isn't buying any.
Take it from a guy who is in the coal industry and has been for many years. Coal will only come back when 1. Natural gas either goes up or they tear into it for the environmental factors. 2. Deregulation. And 3. When idiots realize coal is the cheapest most efficient option to use for electricity. This will start happening when people get electric bills much higher than they should be. I averaged over a 100 more a month in the winter months this year.

But the biggest obstacle is if and when the country goes back to coal fired power plants. That's the biggest worry for me personally. Will they want to go back threw the hassle. There's a crap load of coal in these mountains and it will come back one day whether we have to sell it to China or burn it here. This environmental garbage is just a phase. It will die out.

And p.s. there were 130,000 big glaciers when al gore was born. Sadly, today, there are only 130,000 glaciers left :biglmao:

[Hoot Gibson]

The biggest problem with the coal industry is the regulatory abuse by federal agencies. Coal is a commodity and has historically gone through many boom and bust cycles in response to wild swings in spot market prices. What is happening now is much different. Obama has kept his word on waging a war against the coal industry and used unconstitutional methods to accomplish his goals.

As long as this country elects liberal presidents, regardless of their party affiliation, the coal industry will continue its current death spiral. A four year respite from a serious of liberal presidents will not be enough. Agencies like the EPA, MSHA, OSM, and others with whom the industry must deal, are heavily staffed with anti-industry liberals. Obama has also managed to put environmentalist and union extremists in influential positions in federal agencies and in our judicial system. The job of purging Obamunism from regulatory agencies and rolling back unconstitutional regulations will be a daunting task for a conservative president.

The last president who actually worked to simplify and reduce the amount of regulation on the coal industry was Ronald Reagan.

As you know, a large amount of capital investment is necessary for coal companies to be competitive. Until mining companies can make those investments with a reasonable expectation of long term profitability, the industry will continue to shrink east of the Mississippi River.

The other problem that Obama has created is that he has forced thousands of young coal miners in the eastern U.S. to find employment outside of the coal industry. People are reluctant to embark on careers in the coal mining industry because of the uncertainty of its future. The Global Warming/Climate Change extremists show no sign of coming to their senses and their demonization of coal is a big PR problem for the industry and they will continue to make it more difficult to attract new people into the industry.

Countries like Russia, China, and Australia cannot match the quality of coal produced from central Appalachia. Obama has managed to inflict damage on the domestic market for steam coal, but there will be a market for U.S. coal as long as it exists, provided the federal government does not artificially price our companies out of the market.

[Old School]

IMO, coal is not dead, although it may be on life support here in Central Appalachia.

With the closing of so many power plants across the nation, the demand for high quality steam coal has been reduced to record low levels. The majority of the remaining coal plants have the ability to burn the cheaper coal and lower quality coal from the Illinois and Powder River Basins.

For mines to survive in Central App. I think they will have to depend on met coal and exporting coal around the World.

[Pulp Fiction]

As long as coal is on "life support", so will the economy of our area. While we're on life support, other areas are competing in the Olympics.

East Ky., & West Virginia CANNOT take another Presidential administration that doesn't support coal.

There is NO TYPE of major industry in my home county of Johnson. NOTHING!!!!!
American Standard went out of business about 7/8 years ago. Now, there is NOTHING!!!

There is enough reclaimed strip mines that we could have several types of industries move in and set up shop, but it hasn't happened yet.




Johnson, Floyd, Martin, Magoffin, Lawrence...... the list could go on.
People that have recently graduated high school or families with young kids are leaving as fast as they can because there are no jobs. Most of the people I know that have left for the city for work all say the same thing..... "We hate to leave, but, there are no jobs for us or jobs for our kids."

I hate to see my hometown turn in to a Ghost town.... but I see it coming like a freight train.

[RunItUpTheGut]

As long as coal is on "life support", so will the economy of our area. While we're on life support, other areas are competing in the Olympics.

East Ky., & West Virginia CANNOT take another Presidential administration that doesn't support coal.

There is NO TYPE of major industry in my home county of Johnson. NOTHING!!!!!
American Standard went out of business about 7/8 years ago. Now, there is NOTHING!!!

There is enough reclaimed strip mines that we could have several types of industries move in and set up shop, but it hasn't happened yet.




Johnson, Floyd, Martin, Magoffin, Lawrence...... the list could go on.
People that have recently graduated high school or families with young kids are leaving as fast as they can because there are no jobs. Most of the people I know that have left for the city for work all say the same thing..... "We hate to leave, but, there are no jobs for us or jobs for our kids."

I hate to see my hometown turn in to a Ghost town.... but I see it coming like a freight train.

To be honest pulp the future doesn't look bright for hazard or anything east of there.
Major industries will move into the I 75 corridor around London and Corbin long before they branch out all the way to the mountains of EKY and it hasn't even happened here yet.
If something significant doesn't happen with coal after this election I think coal for the most part will be completely washed out of the economic factors of appalachia. It will be responsible for so little if the economy it won't have any effect UNTIL it comes back. And one day it will. Hopefully we don't forget how to mine it by then.