Coal news and updates

Coal loses more ground to natural gas

As an economic summit in Eastern Kentucky approaches, two new reports illustrate the continued downward slide of coal in the state and across the southeastern United States.

In Friday’s Today in Energy briefing, the U.S Energy Information Agency said the nation’s biggest shift from coal to natural gas for electricity generation was occuring in the Southeast.

“Lower natural gas prices, a concentration of highly efficient natural gas-fired generators, and the high cost of shipping coal from production regions (in the West) have all contributed to this shift,” the agency said.

Coal accounts for less than 40 percent of the southeast’s electricity generation, down from nearly 60 percent for much of the last decade.

And the most recent quarterly coal report from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, covering July through September, found coal-mining employment was down 3.4 percent from three months earlier, with a loss of another 439 mining jobs, nearly all of them in eastern Kentucky.

Eastern Kentucky has lost about 6,000 coal mining jobs since July 2011, with the state’s overall coal employment at the lowest level since Kentucky began keeping mining employment statistics in 1927, state officials said.

The sobering economic news for coal comes as Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, a Republican, plan for a Dec. 9 summit in Pikeville titled “S.O.A.R.: Shaping Our Appalachian Region.” Organizers expect participants to share ideas and recommendations about how to move Kentucky’s Appalachian region forward. More than 1,100 people have registered.

“While the future of the coal industry will certainly be part of the conversation, the day's sessions will focus on a number of topics, including tourism, education, health and entrepreneurship that will influence the region's future,” the governor said in a written statement. “We are looking forward to an engaging summit that will bring together the best ideas and plans for this vital region.”

Coal isn’t going away but the industry recognizes the need for regional economic diversification, said Bill Bissett, president of the Kentucky Coal Association.

“It’s important to remember that we are still mining millions of tons of coal in Eastern Kentucky,” he said. “We are kind of waiting to see where we are going to plateau.”

The state report showed 9.5 million tons were mined during the third quarter, roughly divided equally between surface and underground mining. Western Kentucky coal production was 10.3 million tons, about the same as the previous quarter. The large majority there is from underground mining.

Source: www.courier-journal.com