What fate awaits Wyoming coal?

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

By Bill Sniffin

Will Wyoming’s coal mines be cut back or closed down at some point during our lifetimes?

When the current energy boom started in the fall of 2002-2003, just five short years ago, several prognosticators (including this columnist) predicted we would see a period of prosperity that stretched for decades. This was based on two things. First, our 250-year supply of low-sulphur coal makes Wyoming “North America’s Saudi Arabia” when it comes to coal. Second, vast reserves of natural gas continue to be discovered in our state. And it’s estimated that more than 100,000 coalbed methane natural gas wells will be developed in the next decade.

In the meantime, a boogeyman named global warming has entered the nation’s consciousness and is starting to put a crimp into some of these developments, especially coal.

Ten years ago, who could have imagined that today nuclear energy would be viewed as “clean” and coal would be viewed as “dirty”? Just recently, a huge development of coal-fired plants in Texas that would have used 7 percent of Wyoming’s coal was cancelled in favor of nuclear power. In another recent news item, residents in Utah are up in arms about a coal-fired plant scheduled for nearby Mesquite, Nev., and are marshalling forces to kill it. Coal plants that were on the drawing boards in Wyoming are now becoming more of a long shot, as financing and long-term power contracts are being renegotiated.

You even see Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger leading California lawmakers into a program where they refuse to buy energy that is produced in a way that causes global warming, like coal fired plants. Meanwhile the Union Pacific Railroad is setting new records for the amount of coal it is transporting out of the Powder River Basin back to the Midwest, the South and the East.

That coal train is a symbol of a global battle. No doubt we are seeing the beginnings of an epic struggle between the folks concerned about global warming and the pro-energy-at-any-cost folks.

It is a fact that the thirst for more electricity could easily outstrip the supply. Energy demand is growing much faster than supplies are being developed. Perhaps the biggest victims in this are the big utility companies. It often is hard to feel sorry for them, but in this case they perhaps deserve a tear or two. They operate monopolies and thus cannot allow the power to ever go off. So, as energy demand grows, so does the threat of brownouts or blackouts. These companies have invested heavily in coal-fired plants, which produce energy pretty darn cheaply, and, in their minds, pretty darn cleanly, too. It will take over a decade for some of these companies to convert their energy production to wind, nuclear, natural gas or clean coal.

What happens in the meantime? If the power goes out, they risk big fines and even losing their franchises. Many in the utility industry feel they are in a no-win situation. They preach conservation, but Americans are big consumers of energy and are showing no real measurable change of lifestyle, at present.

That said, Wyoming’s energy future is still very bright. The development of new clean coal technologies could provide even more opportunity than what the coalfields are now providing. With leadership from industry, state government and UW’s School of Energy, wonderful things could happen.

Meanwhile, up north, a different sort of attitude prevails. Montana has almost as much energy as we do, although not nearly so well developed. A major news story in the Missoula daily newspaper proclaimed how scary it would be if “Montana turned into another Wyoming.” A Montana Trout Unlimited spokesman was quoted saying, “You’re not going to see another Jonah Field in Montana yet, but that’s what people are afraid of. … We want to get ahead of the curve so that won’t happen.”

Whether it is Montana or Wyoming, it appears that a lot can change once blackouts and brownouts occur. Until that happens the public relations advantage is definitely in the hands of the global warming folks.
PERMALINK:
What fate awaits Wyoming coal? | Planet JH News Article: Right Wing Local

Leave a Comment