Obama Adds Last Minute Anti-Coal Regs Before Trump Takes Office
The Obama administration added another layer of anti-coal mining regulations to the books Monday, just before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The new regulations require coal companies which have finished mining in an area to restore the land to the same condition that existed before digging began. Obama’s Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell called the new regulations “a balanced approach to meeting the nation’s energy needs.”
Companies are currently obligated to rehabilitate the areas they mine, but the new regulations are much more strict and largely focused on groundwater protection. The regulations replaced by the rule had been in force for 33 years — a rule under development since 2009.…
Study: Obama ‘war on coal’ responsible for 84% of decline in coal use – Fracking only 16% responsible
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Watch: ‘Collateral Damage’ – ‘Forgotten Casualties of the Left’s War on Coal’ – See Human Devastation of Anti-Coal Policies
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Several months ago, MRCTV sent a camera crew to the southern counties of West Virginia to document the impact of EPA regulations on communities that have historically relied on the coal industry for their livelihood. What the team found was devastating.
The effect of shuttered coal mines and the loss of thousands of coal jobs have trickled down into nearly every facet of these communities, crippling local businesses, destroying housing markets, and forcing desperate families from their homes. Thousands are without work, while still thousands more live under the constant threat of job loss and economic ruin. Local charities struggle to meet the needs of their communities. While the media are focusing on macro issues like “climate change,” hardworking Americans are left to wonder how they will keep food on the table and lights on in houses they’re struggling to hold on to.
Through up-close footage and a compelling series of brutally honest interviews, “Collateral Damage” exposes in stark detail the real, human impact of President Obama’s promised and delivered assault on the coal industry, and on the hardworking American families of Appalachia.
This is a real story about real people. Please help us tell their story by sharing this video.…
Analysis: ‘Trump’s Energy, Climate Plans Will Put America First Again’
Bad news for the 10,000 climate bureaucrats who recently vacationed in Marrakesh.
Donald Trump’s election as the next president of the United States has left liberal environmental activists and international climate bureaucrats reeling. Just one of the many examples of the widespread depression expressed by environmentalists appeared in a recent issue of the Washington Post in which Steven Mufson and Brady Dennis lamented, “Trump comes into office with a plan to toss out most of what President Obama achieved on energy and the environment.”
President Barack Obama seemed committed to prostrating America before the world for the nation’s alleged climate sins, punishing the United States for its success and economic ascendancy. He regularly put international treaties and non-treaty agreements ahead of the U.S. Constitution he swore to uphold and defend. He has attempted to saddle the country with crippling climate policies that would foster a great transfer of wealth from poor taxpayers and ratepayers in America to wealthy, politically connected green-energy business people and rich, corrupt politicians both in the United States and in developing countries on the other side of the world.
Reality check: In 1908, fossil fuels accounted for 85% of U.S. energy consumption. In 2015, more or less the same
…Media claim: ‘Renewables surged past coal…become world’s biggest source of electricity’ – Reality: Coal produced 41% & Renewables 6%
The business news network featured an article in the “Sustainable Energy” section of its Website that proclaimed: “Renewables surged past coal in 2015 to become world’s biggest source of electricity: IEA.”
In reading that headline, one might get the impression that wind turbines and solar panels produced more electricity last year than coal. But the fine print actually reveals a very different picture.
The opening paragraph of the article by “Freelance digital reporter” Anmar Frangoul gives a clue as to the sleight of hand being used. Frangoul cites the International Energy Agency (IEA) as reporting that “Renewable energy moved past coal in 2015 to become the biggest source of global electricity capacity.” The key word there is “capacity.”
What’s noteworthy is that capacity is far different from actual production. The average wind turbine has a maximum rated capacity of roughly 2 megawatts. That means, if the wind is blowing between 26-56 mph, the turbine can spin up to its peak generating capacity. In such moments, the wind turbine can produce its full 2 megawatts.
However, wind turbines, like solar panels, offer only intermittent power generation. Wind turbines can only produce power when there is sufficient wind—and when they are not shut down due to cold weather, repairs, or high winds. And solar panels only produce electricity during periods of direct sunlight. Thus, while a wind turbine can have a maximum capacity of 2 megawatts, its typical output may often be far less, or even 0 megawatts (on a windless day).
Thus we see some of the misleading language in the CNBC article.
Frangoul talks about renewables producing 23 percent of world power generation in 2015—which is only possible when hydropower’s robust 16.4 percent is added to renewables’ paltry 6.3 percent share. And while the IEA says that “renewables represented more than half the new power capacity around the world” in 2015, one has to remember their frustrating intermittency. Wind turbines only generate roughly 20 percent of their installed capacity, and solar panels yield an even more meager 10 percent.
So, while Frangoul is happy to tout all of
India To Overtake U.S. And China As World’s Biggest Coal Miner
India is set to surpass the U.S. as the world’s biggest coal producer after China by 2020, as state-miner Coal India Ltd. ramps up output to meet demand from domestic power producers, according to BMI Research.
The South Asian nation’s share of world output will increase to 12.7 percent by 2020 from 9.8 percent in 2016, BMI said in a report Thursday. It cautioned that the country will still fall short of the government’s ambitious coal output target and domestic demand will continue to exceed production up to 2020.
India, where coal accounts for 61 percent of electricity generation capacity, is seeking to reduce imports of the fuel by boosting domestic output. India foresees coal as a dominant source of energy at least for a couple of decades, while other countries, including the U.S., are moving faster toward replacing the fuel with cleaner energy sources such as natural gas to meet tougher emissions standards.
India plans to expand coal output to 1.5 billion metric tons by 2020 from an estimated 634 million tons in the year ended March 31. China produced nearly 3.7 billion tons of coal last year, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.…
Green Nightmare: War On Coal Can’t Stop Fuel’s Enduring Demand
Green Nightmare: War On Coal Can’t Stop Fuel’s Enduring Demand
http://www.thegwpf.com/war-on-coal-cant-stop-fuels-enduring-demand/
You know the war on coal isn’t working when it’s up more than 50 percent this year. “The strength in coal is amazing,” said Trevor Sikorski, an analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd. in London. Prices in Europe and Asia have rebounded from a half-decade of declines after China cut domestic production so much that local consumers had to step up overseas purchases. Even as nations are shutting plants and the world’s biggest wealth fund is selling out of coal companies, demand will remain little changed for decades, according to the International Energy Agency and BHP Billiton Ltd. Analysts at Commerzbank AG and energy consultants Nena AS see prices holding at current levels at least until the end of the year as the northern hemisphere winter will boost demand and France keeps some nuclear plants offline for safety checks. “Because of the anti-coal war, investors want to diversify away,” said Guillaume Perret, director of Perret Associates in London, which provides research on the industry. “But the demand is still there.” Coal’s resurgence has benefited miners including Glencore Plc and Anglo American Plc, with commodities stocks up 34 percent in 2016, the best performing industry group in Europe’s Stoxx 600 index. Barclays Plc moved its European mining industry view to positive last month, saying the sector could deliver gains of more than 20 percent. Nuclear Strain Demand for fossil fuel-fed power is expected to increase after Electricite de France SA cut output at some of its 58 French nuclear plants for extended safety checks. The outages cut EDF’s available atomic power to 46 gigawatts, 16 percent below usual levels, according to Bruno Brunetti, a senior director of electricity at Pira Energy. A gigawatt is enough to power 2 million European homes. Miner BHP predicts coal use worldwide will continue at current levels for the next two decades, while IEA analysts see demand rising 0.4 percent a year through 2040 in its base-case scenario. In Europe, coal production fell 3.4 percent last year, while use of the fuel only dropped by half that amount even with Britain taking steps to close all of its coal plants by 2025, BP Plc data show. Coal demand remains robust because “a lot of the existing coal capacity has been added recently,” said Matt Brown, an analyst at Poeyry Oyj. “We are in a business with long-lived assets.” Full story
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WikiLeaks reveals Clinton’s split personality on energy policy
Newly released emails from WikiLeaks purportedly reveal the contents of#Hillary Clinton’s paid speeches to various groups around the world. They show a personal stance on the#Environment, pipelines, and fracking that is quite different from her public energy policy.
The various paid speeches allowed the Clinton Foundation to pull in over $200 million in speaking fees from Wall Street firms, corporations, banking institutions, consultants, and more. Overall, they provide a window into dozens of speeches that Hillary Clinton has refused to release to the media or the public.
Notably, on the subject of fracking, the emails demonstrate a presidential candidate with private and public agendas. As demonstrated in the speeches, Clinton clearly believed that fracking could allow the United States to become energy independent, and drive more power plants to use cleaner burning natural gas rather than coal.
Two-Face #HillaryClinton says, you need to have a private & public position on policy.#WikiLeaks #HonestAbe#Debates2016
vid@drewwyatt