Forum Post: Obama’s war on coal hits your electric bill
Posted 12 years ago on May 23, 2012, 9:38 p.m. EST by peacup
(-44)
from Murray, KY
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Obama’s war on coal hits your electric bill
By Phil Kerpen
Published May 22, 2012
Obama’s War on Coal has already taken a remarkable toll on coal-fired power plants in America.
Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a shocking drop in power sector coal consumption in the first quarter of 2012. Coal-fired power plants are now generating just 36 percent of U.S. electricity, versus 44.6 percent just one year ago.
It’s the result of an unprecedented regulatory assault on coal that will leave us all much poorer.
Last week PJM Interconnection, the company that operates the electric grid for 13 states (Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia) held its 2015 capacity auction. These are the first real, market prices that take Obama’s most recent anti-coal regulations into account, and they prove that he is keeping his 2008 campaign promise to make electricity prices “necessarily skyrocket.”
The market-clearing price for new 2015 capacity – almost all natural gas – was $136 per megawatt. That’s eight times higher than the price for 2012, which was just $16 per megawatt. In the mid-Atlantic area covering New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and DC the new price is $167 per megawatt. For the northern Ohio territory served by FirstEnergy, the price is a shocking $357 per megawatt.
Why the massive price increases? Andy Ott from PJM stated the obvious: “Capacity prices were higher than last year's because of retirements of existing coal-fired generation resulting largely from environmental regulations which go into effect in 2015.” Northern Ohio is suffering from more forced coal-plant retirements than the rest of the region, hence the even higher price.
These are not computer models or projections or estimates. These are the actual prices that electric distributors have agreed to pay for new capacity. The costs will be passed on to consumers at the retail level.
House Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) aptly explained: “The PJM auction forecasts a dim future where Americans will be paying more to keep the lights on. We are seeing more and more coal plants fall victim to EPA’s destructive regulatory agenda, and as a result, we are seeing more job losses and higher electricity prices.”
The only thing that can stop this massive price hike now is an all-out effort to end Obama’s War on Coal and repeal this destructive regulatory agenda.
The Senate will have a critical opportunity to do just that when it votes on stopping Obama’s most expensive anti-coal regulation sometime in the next couple of weeks. The vote is on the Inhofe Resolution, S.J. Res 37, to overturn the so-called Utility MACT rule, which the EPA itself acknowledges is its most expensive rule ever.
This vote is protected from filibuster, and it will take just 51 votes to send a clear message to Obama that his War on Coal must end.
Of course, Obama could veto the resolution and keep the rule intact, although that would force him to take full political responsibility for the massive impending jump in electricity prices.
I have a form set up at www.WarOnCoal.com to make it easy to contact your senators on this crucial issue.
Phil Kerpen is president of American Commitment and author of “Democracy Denied.”
We should nationalize our oil companies (or at least our pipelines and refineries), so we can force a transition to alternative energy. As for electrical production, it really doesn't get any dirtier than coal (so we should do everything we can as fast as we can to stop using coal).
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Who the fuck are you calling shortbus ... bubba? When's the last time you shoved your cock in your sister, inbred fucktard :)
Are you one of those dudes with eyes where your temples should be?
I'm calling you shortbus, shortbus!
You can call me shortbus all day bubba ... at least I'm educated, don't live in a swamp, do not have sex with family members, do not play with snakes on Sunday, and I'm not functionally retarded.
I cant support your ad hominems, but then again, he did not deny your claims.
Sounds like you're functionally retarded, shortbus.
Nationalize oil? Hahaha. Great stuff. Economically illiterate, just like Hope & Change at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave!
Goddamn ... couple long words in there, I'm impressed bubba. Sounds like you might have made it past 6th grade (not bad for a swamp fucker).
Look people, these fuckers are just too stupid to understand (let alone support) enlightened ideas, and that will take generations to change. So anyone who expects a kumbya moment with inbred red necks, is seriously naive. The good news is, these fucktards only inhabit about a dozen states.
I am so fucking stealing that. It's one of the top ten greatest insults. Swamp fucker
It's definitely one of my personal favorites :)
Oh, you're part of the "enlightened" crowd. I see.
My "kumbya" [sic] moment will come when you put your own funds up to implement alternative energy, not demanding everyone else do so, shortbus.
For some strange reason, I really don't give a shit what your dumb ass thinks (hold on, inbred and thinking, oh yeah, oxymoron ... my bad).
Neither do I, shortbus.
For a drug test or what?
Well?
Why are you a collector of urine?
Fetish?
How about some facts:
http://www.iea.org/textbase/npsum/ElecCostSUM.pdf
"The study was carried out by an ad hoc group of officially appointed national experts. Cost data provided by the experts were compiled and used by the joint IEA/NEA Secretariat to calculate generation costs."
"At 10% discount rate, the levelised generation costs of nearly all coal-fired power plants range between 35 and 60 USD/MWh. Investment costs represent around 50% in most cases. O&M cost account for some 15% or the total and fuel costs for some 35%."
"At a 10% discount rate, levelised costs of gas-fired plants range between 40 and 63 USD/MWh. They are barely higher than at the 5% discount rate owing to their low overnight investment costs and very short construction periods. Fuel cost remains the major contributor representing 73% of total levelised generation cost, while investment and O&M shares are around 20% and 7% respectively."
So, between 35 and 60 versus 40 and 63. Not such a big difference after all.
"In particular, the cost estimates presented are not meant to represent the precise costs that would be calculated by potential investors for any specific project. This is the main reason explaining the difference between the study’s findings and the current global preference in reformed electricity markets for gas-fired technologies."
"Clean coal" and the Tooth Fairy, equally real, equally relevant, but one kills miners and one doesn't.
First of all, the IEA/NEA Secretariat sits in Amsterdam. Yes, we all know how swell things are working out for the yurripean elitists, don't we? Seen Greece lately? Heard of the PIIGS?
"Secretariat"? Sounds like some post soviet top down authoritarian department trying to sling numbers on costs of energy. This isn't Europe either. They're ahead of us in debasing their currency. Have you seen how their "economic studies" are turning out for them?
"Very short construction periods" doesn't do much good when you're sitting in the dark because the bureaucracy has basically outlawed whole forms of energy in favor of others. What is short in that case? They're talking four years in your own study.
When did solar come about? 1954. Since then, it still hasn't been perfected to a point where it can meet baseload. It's about 1% of the current energy production in the U.S. We lose about 20 times that much over long haul lines through resistance! It's so expensive, government funded enterprises are going broke trying to force it on us, witness Solyndra and several others. And it's pretty dirty when you have to start producing the panels. All those nasty heavy metals. Hell, we don't even make them here. They're all coming from China, so, so much for shovel ready, huh?
Do you know what you're talking about, or is a cut and paste job all you can give here?
Are you trying to disprove this statement, because you aren't...
"The market-clearing price for new 2015 capacity – almost all natural gas – was $136 per megawatt. That’s eight times higher than the price for 2012, which was just $16 per megawatt. In the mid-Atlantic area covering New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and DC the new price is $167 per megawatt. For the northern Ohio territory served by FirstEnergy, the price is a shocking $357 per megawatt."
What exactly do you expect to happen when prices skyrocket to the end consumer? Magic?
See above.
I lived by coal-fired generating plants in Arizona for many years. The three closest were the Cholla Power Plant at St Joseph, the second the Coronado Generating Station near St Johns, the third the Springerville Generating Station by Springerville.
They do produce a lot of electricity, but they also pollute the air even with scrubbers. The visible pollution is a dirty haze clearly apparent to the naked eye on most days, but I don't believe the people living near the plants would be willng to trade their jobs and local economic stability to further environmental protection.
I've been in eastern Kentucky many times. My family comes from Spencer, WV. So I am familiar with coal mining in Appalachia. I also realize that any major reduction in coal production would seriously affect the economic well-being of the local residents.
The difficulty comes from balancing the needs of the residents, who depend on coal-mining for their region's economic health against the environmental damage done. People that live in urban areas, not heavily dependent on a single industry, often fail to realize the havoc caused by reducing or even eliminating that industry's revenues.
I know that much of Appalachia would be plunged into a real depression (as if many areas aren't there already) if coal mining were heavily restricted or eliminated. http://asphome.org/learn_about_appalachia/overview_of_poverty
Maybe the people eager to reduce or eliminate the coal industry can come up with alternatives to create other revenue-producing sources in the coal-mining regions. I don't believe anyone wants to worsen the conditions of an area that is already considered a poverty belt. A good start may be to eliminate so much absentee ownership of land by returning the property to local residents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CO2_per_capita_per_country.png
Obama against Kohl this is understand because these so called black partys use black skinned persons which the USA understand as "amazing!!!" "insane!!!" "great!!!" what a person did . the Black party translate this into would be insane , he is following maniac or maniac or something like this. in the purpose to steal a reputation. thru this black skinned persons have just to do with white insanes where these black party give "answer" over they would know that he is insane but tell this about balck but the white is insane. as normal non rassist you even have a problem to have contact to black persons if you are not part of black party. just white black party can have contact to black skinned which even fool these or use. this is insane a reputation steal even history things complete oposite the balck party which are even the person which made something where these went against and thru this that this got "beated" or fixed they stand there and say Great!!!!.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/coal-turns-ugly-as-tumbling-gas-cuts-demand-to-20-year-low-energy-markets.html
Appalachian coal, the U.S. benchmark grade, sank 15 percent in January and is down 26 percent from a 2011 high, prompting companies from Alpha Natural Resources Inc. to Patriot Coal Corp. and Arch Coal Inc. to close mines. Natural gas has dropped 31 percent in the past year as higher-than-average temperatures cut demand and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at shale formations drove inventories to record highs.
Gas costs for power plants plunged to the equivalent of $1.16 per million British thermal units less than coal on Jan. 19, the biggest discount since coal futures began trading in 2001, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. The difference was 72.7 cents per million Btu as of 1:41 p.m. in New York. Coal was at $58.95 a ton on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday. Natural gas for March delivery rose 4.6 percent to settle at $2.684 per million Btu today in New York.
Yes, and your GDP is based largely on energy consumption. If you take that as good news, you're wrong. Energy demand is down because GDP is down because the economy is down.
Regulating coal out of existence has nothing to do with that. And, how much heartburn are you going to have as carbon is formed in the production of energy from natural gas? Is that the next thing to demonize?
And BTW, what is a "ad hoc group of officially appointed national experts." ? Is that supposed to mean something to me? Wow, it sure does sound "official". Must be true. Official experts say so!
Being a free market guy, you should listen to the market. Even with nominally slave labor, coal will not be able to compete with gas. The sound of pipelines coming to the East coast can even be heard at the bottom of a mine. I have been in at least four industries that have been made obsolete. Taking away safety regulations, which means more dead miners, will not reverse the inevitably of this situation.
Maybe these articles are all wrong. Multiple coal trains go through my town daily, while their drilling into the shale under our feet, accelerates. Blame Obama and you will still get rolled over. Beat me on a point I really care nothing about, and your cause still loses.
I feel sorry for you and/or the people who made buggy whips. My grandson went to Harlan Kentucky and replaced leaking roofs on out-of-work miner's houses (without compensation), as a service project.. I am not going to argue with you.
What does this have to do with the free market...
"The market-clearing price for new 2015 capacity – almost all natural gas – was $136 per megawatt. That’s eight times higher than the price for 2012, which was just $16 per megawatt. In the mid-Atlantic area covering New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and DC the new price is $167 per megawatt. For the northern Ohio territory served by FirstEnergy, the price is a shocking $357 per megawatt."
We're being de-industrialized by the EPA. This will not end well, especially when everyone is complaining about lack of jobs, rising costs and lower standards of living.
Oh please. So you saw the Movie "Harlan County, U.S.A." and you're suddenly some expert. Give it a rest.
You are not interested in the truth. The market is switching to gas. Gas is coming on stream at an accelerating rate the price is going down and will stay dirt cheap. If this wasn't true you would not be hysterically distorting the facts. Gas costs for power plants plunged to the equivalent of $1.16 per million British thermal units less than coal on Jan. 19, the biggest discount since coal futures began trading in 2001, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.
I didn't mention the movie Harlan County and haven't seen it. I said, "My grandson went to Harlan Kentucky and replaced leaking roofs on out-of-work miner's houses (without compensation), as a service project." If you would stop lying and start listening you might learn something. You are living in an echo chamber on Murry, Kentucky and are fighting a trend like the nuclear people are that you will never win.
There are more rigs drilling now than there have ever been in the US. That gas will be used.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/new-industry-new-jobs-check-it-out/
This message has been brought to you by Clean Coal for your childrens health and our future profits.
Getting rid of coal is a good thing. Coal does nothing for our health, safety, and welfare, not to mention our environment.
Personally, if we it rids us of coal, I'm willing to live without a lightbulb.
What are you typing your messages on? A typewriter? Are you using a carrier pigeon?
Or are you sending smoke signals to the OWS forum webserver?
We don't need coal. We could easily transition to any number of alternatives that would be much cleaner than coal. I like light bulbs, my computer, the internet, and just about everything else electricity makes possible, but the choice between coal and electricity is a false dichotomy.
I see you live in Kentucky, maybe you guys have a coal industry down there (I don't know), but even the promise of a few thousand additional jobs should not persuade people to support the destruction of our planet. It's not like New Yorkers aren't willing to make similar sacrifices. I mean, New Yorkers started Occupy Wall Street, and some of the things OWS has called for (like restoring Glass Steagall) would probably result in job losses within the NYC banking industry. But we (at least some of us) are not willing to trade a few thousand jobs for the well being of the entire country (and Wall Street has become an economic parasite, likewise, our oil and broader energy industry has become a planetary parasite). The people should not allow the only planet our species can inhabit, to be destroyed.
Hey shortbus, what's this "we" schit?
What are you typing your messages on? A typewriter? Are you using a carrier pigeon?
Or are you sending smoke signals to the OWS forum webserver?
How are these electrons you form (for these inane thoughts you generate) getting to the interwebs? Are you "trading those off" TODAY or are you all talk? How is your income generated? The welfare line? Yes, I thought so, shortbus.
Awww, sorry bubba (someone pass this man a tissue), but it's not my fault you people like having sex with family members. However, I'm the bearer of good news. If you guys stop having sex with family members, within a few generations, the genetic garbage should wash out, for the most part (and you guys might be able to understand real science, not just your buybull).
Oh no honey, it's evolution, and his evil friend calculus ... hide the children :)
Hey Shortbus, what alternative energy are you speaking of that can meet baseload consistently?
Forcing your wife and kids to peddle a bicycle (attached to a generator). I figure, the only jobs you inbred fuckers can get is shit like coal mining, and at least peddling a bicycle is healthier.
Yes, exactly; you would force. The iron fist of government to get your way.
In your dreams, shortbus.
Coal and all fossil fuels are polluting the planet. destroying the air we breath, the water we drink, and the land we grow our food on. you must think of your children, and make the sacrifices necessary to end that pollution and implement new job creating green energy. vote out ant alt energy pols
You got it ... gansters do not enjoy the freedom to destroy our planet and country, so you're goddamn right, I endorse using coercion to stop them.
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This is what we get for being duped into continued dependence on fossil fuels, when we should have dumped them 30-40 years ago!!!
Big Fuel will kill the entire world making sure they get the last dime of profit out of it!!
Better late than never!!!
Just don't blame big business a few years from now when rates start skyrocketing.
This was your fearless leader, the Barackster, fulfilling his promise of makes energy "necessarily" skyrocket (to quote him).
Fossil fuel is a dead end that makes a few greedy bastards rich. Should have dumped it 40 years ago!!
This is what we get for being duped into continued dependence on fossil fuels, when we should have dumped them 30-40 years ago!!!
Big Fuel will kill the entire world making sure they get the last dime of profit!!
Better late than never!!!
Go to the corner and sit in the dark.