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COLUMN-Asian coal miners, traders face up to grim realities – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – June 4, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

Clyde Russell is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia, June 4 (Reuters) – “There is no skin left on my teeth to hang on with,” was the lament of a coal trader, expressing a sentiment echoed time and again at the industry’s largest gathering in Asia.

Normally coal miners, traders and shippers are a fairly optimistic bunch, their good humour likely shaped by a tough industry that is increasingly unloved across the world despite being essential to keeping the lights on.

But the mood at the Coaltrans Asia conference in the Indonesian resort island of Bali this week was subdued, and the question on everybody’s lips was how much lower can coal prices go.

At a roundtable session, a well-known analyst talking about the outlook for prices was mobbed, while an expert on valuing coal mines cut a lonely figure, underscoring that nobody is currently interested in investing in coal production.

The price of coal at Australia’s Newcastle Port , an Asian benchmark, fell to $73.89 a tonne in the week to May 30, down 14.3 percent so far this year and close to the 4-1/2 year low hit in March.

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Obama to Take Action to Slash Coal Pollution – by Coral Davenport (New York Times – June 2, 2014)

http://www.nytimes.com/

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Monday will announce one of the strongest actions ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change, a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, according to people briefed on the plan who spoke anonymously because they had been asked not to reveal details.

The regulation takes aim at the largest source of carbon pollution in the United States, the nation’s more than 600 coal-fired power plants. If it withstands an expected onslaught of legal and legislative attacks, experts say that it could close hundreds of the plants and also lead, over the course of decades, to systemic changes in the American electricity industry, including transformations in how power is generated and used.

It is also likely to stand as President Obama’s last chance to substantially shape domestic policy and as a defining element of his legacy. The president, who failed to push a sweeping climate change bill through Congress in his first term, is now acting on his own by using his executive authority under the 1970 Clean Air Act to issue the regulation.

Under the rule, states will be given a wide menu of policy options to achieve the pollution cuts. Rather than immediately shutting down coal plants, states would be allowed to reduce emissions by making changes across their electricity systems — by installing new wind and solar generation or energy-efficiency technology, and by starting or joining state and regional “cap and trade” programs, in which states agree to cap carbon pollution and buy and sell permits to pollute.

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The Obama coal carbon plan flies in the face of global trends – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – June 3, 2014)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

The new Environmental Protection Agency plan to reduce U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions is being hailed by environmental activists and green industry lobbyists as “momentous,” “historic,” “the most important in history,” “a critical step,” a triumph for President Obama and, by Mother Jones magazine, as a “really big deal.” All of which is a sure sign EPS’s 650-page rhetoric-filled plan to force a 30% reduction in carbon emissions from power plants is a really bad deal.

The EPA’s regulatory shambles of a plan, in which different states in the union will face different targets, aims to cut emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. It is one of these grand schemes that is destined to fall apart before it gets off the ground. It is, in fact, more of a political gambit than a policy initiative.

In that case, green enthusiasm may also be more political strategy than a genuine belief that the government of the world’s biggest and most dynamic economy is going to begin an internal war on relatively inexpensive coal-generated electricity at a time when the rest of the world is heading in the other direction.

Just about everywhere, including coal-free Ontario, the goal of curbing coal use in electricity production generated billions in costs for consumers at zero benefit to the climate.

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Barack Obama’s new rules on coal underline the hypocrisy of U.S. emissions policies – by Kelly McParland (National Post – June 2, 2014)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

President Barack Obama is to unveil a new environmental policy today, to curb U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by establishing a national standard for the reduction of carbon production by power plants.

It’s a big deal, even though the White House is making little noise about it because it’s likely to upset a lot of people, Democrats and Republicans alike. The New York Times, in a weekend article, heralded it as possibly “[Obama’s] last, most sweeping effort to remake America,” and “a chance to transform the nation’s energy sector and, at the same time, his own presidency.”

It may be good news for Canada, in a backhanded kind of way. With no plan of its own, Washington has spent a good deal of time complaining that Canada lacks an adequate strategy to address the emissions issue. Coal is by far the dirtiest way to produce electricity, and Canada uses far less of it than the U.S. – and is farther ahead in reducing its usage – yet Washington keeps citing Canadian emissions policies as a significant reason Mr. Obama hasn’t been able to bring himself to make a decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Now that the U.S. has an actual plan on the table, maybe it will quit beefing about Canada and focus on whether its own efforts are adequate.

The prospects on that front aren’t promising. The key to the Obama plan will be strict restrictions on emissions levels, forcing power plants to find ways to lower their output. The White House wants producers to adopt alternative means of generating electricity, such as solar and wind power, or greater use of natural gas.

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Under fire Australian miners look to repair their image – by Jamie Smyth (Financial Times – June 1, 2014)

 

http://www.ft.com/home/us

Bulga, Australia – Tony Brown typically spends his days ferrying tourists to and from the Great Barrier Reef. But last month, the charter boat operator flew to Europe where he helped persuade Deutsche Bank and HSBC not to fund the expansion of a coal port that green groups claim could destroy the Unesco World Heritage-listed site.

“The dredging required to build the port is a risk to the reef and the A$6bn tourist industry that depends on it,” says Mr Brown, who has vowed to continue the fight to block what would become the world’s largest coal port at Abbot Point in Queensland.

The decision by the banks is the latest victory in a global campaign being waged against the funding of fossil fuel projects and companies by green groups, which allege they are causing catastrophic global warming.

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The War On Coal Miners: How Companies Hide The Threat Of Black Lung From Watchdogs And Workers – by Dave Jamieson (Huffington Post – May 29, 2014)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

The dust was so thick that Justin Greenwell could barely see what was in front of him.

A 29-year-old miner, Greenwell had grown accustomed to working in the coal dust below ground in the Parkway Mine in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Yet the prevalence of the dust in the air bothered Greenwell more and more. He’d labored for seven years in the mines, and already he was experiencing shortness of breath when he worked on his farm on the weekends.

Prolonged exposure to coal dust leads to coal worker’s pneumoconiosis, known colloquially as black lung. It’s a miserable disease that forces miners to live out their last days coughing and gasping for air. To protect employees, mine operators are required by law to keep their coal dust levels in check. While inspectors do some of the monitoring, the operators themselves also collect samples and provide them to federal regulators to prove they’re in compliance.

According to Greenwell, there was a simple reason the Parkway Mine managed to avoid fines despite all the dust: Its operator, Armstrong Coal, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Armstrong Energy, was submitting misleading samples to regulators.

“It’s been going on since I started there,” Greenwell alleged in an interview. “All these guys in management, they know it’s wrong. But they don’t care about our health.”

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RPT-Turkish mine disaster highlights gaps in safety regulation – by Humeyra Pamuk, Ayla Jean Yackley and Tom Bergin (Reuters India – May 29, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

SOMA/ISTANBUL/LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) – Taner Yildirim was never surprised when safety inspectors turned up at the Soma mine in eastern Turkey, where 301 miners were killed this month just weeks after inspectors gave it a clean bill of health. He said he always had plenty of warning.

“They (management) tell us about a few weeks prior to the inspection; so we get ready,” the miner, who wasn’t working on the day of the disaster, told Reuters. Even then, he said there was no need to go to too much trouble to prepare for the visit.

“All the inspections I have seen are on paper. They are ‘office-based’ inspections. The plant managers and the inspectors are hand in hand and drink tea at the managers’ office,” said Yildirim, who has worked at the mine for 13 years.

The Labour Minister could not be reached directly, but his ministry, which is primarily responsible for regulating mine safety, declined to comment.

The governing AK Party has said the mine had been inspected 11 times over the past five years, sometimes unannounced, and denied there were loopholes in mining safety regulations.

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ANALYSIS-U.S. industry gears up to fight Obama’s climate rules – by Roberta Rampton (Reuters India – May 28, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON – May 28 (Reuters) – This summer is likely to see a series of attacks by industry opponents of a U.S. plan to curb carbon emissions from power plants in a bid to stir voter anger ahead of elections in November, when voters in states such as Kentucky and West Virginia may determine whether Democrats keep control of the Senate.

On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose new rules to crack down on power plant emissions, part of President Barack Obama’s efforts to combat global climate change. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will release a report Wednesday analyzing the effect the yet-to-be-announced regulations will have on the economy.

Coal industry lobbyists say the new rules will probably raise household electricity costs, prompt power brown-outs during heat waves and cold snaps, and destroy jobs at coal mines and manufacturing plants.

“We fully expect that whatever comes out will be overly stringent, and will be something that is not good for American consumers or businesses,” said Laura Sheehan, spokeswoman for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

In March, Sheehan’s group, which represents coal mining companies as well as owners of coal-fired plants like American Electric Power and Southern Co, released a report warning that the EPA plan might cause retail electricity prices to rise in 29 states and kill more than 2.85 million jobs.

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COLUMN-Pain of low coal prices finally too much for Australian miners – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – May 27, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

Clyde Russell is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, May 27 (Reuters) – Like a pot of water being slowly brought to boil, it’s taken a long time for Australian coal miners to reach the point where the pain becomes too much to bear.

In recent weeks a slew of announcements of mine closures, production cuts and job losses has served to underscore that ultimately the sustained low-price environment would have to result in lower output from the world’s largest coal exporter.

So far the announced closures have been modest, but the chances are increasing that they are merely the harbinger of more cutbacks in the beleaguered coal industry. The cost of producing about half of Australia’s thermal coal and about 45 percent of its coking coal is above the prevailing prices, Morgan Stanley said in a report on Monday.

The spot price of thermal coal at Newcastle Port , an Asian benchmark, was $74.33 a tonne in the week to May 23, close to a 4-1/2 year low of $72.98 hit in March. It has lost 45 percent since the post-2008 recession high of $136.30 reached in January 2011.

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Raise resources for education and healthcare through disinvestment and denationalization of coal – Editorial (Times of India – May 26, 2014)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/international-home

PM-designate Narendra Modi wishes to put the Indian economy on a new footing. A good way to set the ball rolling would be to pick up the threads of two ideas mooted by Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government. Public sector companies should be put up for disinvestment, not through piecemeal sale of shares but rather through big bang transfers of controlling stakes.

Second, coal mining must be denationalized. Both measures will invite determined opposition from vested interests. But failure to do so will mean a far greater number of people are deprived of opportunities to better their lives.

State ownership of a commercial venture such as Air India represents throwing good money after bad. Borrowing more money to do this will increase the size of fiscal deficit and eventually push up inflation. In this situation, how will a BJP government make good its promise to invest in building capabilities of India’s ‘neo-middle class’ through scholarships, better healthcare and extensive public transport?

Disinvestment is the answer as it allows for transfer of resources from areas such as airlines and steel plants — where private companies are competitive and do the job anyway — to activities that improve the productive capabilities of Indians.

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New rules aim to curb black lung, coal mine owners deem regulation costly – by Don Hopey (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – May 22, 2014)

http://www.post-gazette.com/

The coal mining crowd of 250 shoehorned into a small ballroom at the Meadow Lands DoubleTree Hotel in Washington County Thursday morning was asked if they knew anyone who had black lung disease.

Fewer than 100, but still a good number, raised hands. The guy who asked the question, Joseph Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, had posed the same query at two previous coalfield meetings, held in Beckley, W.Va., and Hazard, Ky., to explain the new, controversial federal mining rule aimed at reducing coal dust in the mines and ending black lung.

He counted similar numbers of affirmative votes at each. “It shows that miners are still getting the disease and miners are still dying from it,” Mr. Main said. “And that is the inescapable truth.”

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration is holding the meetings with miners, mine owners, coalfield businesses and union officials to review how the final rule to lower miners’ exposure to coal dust will be phased in over a two-year period beginning Aug. 1.

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Mining plays a vital role in southeast Saskatchewan – by David Willberg (Saskatchewan Lifestyles – May 22, 2014)

http://www.sasklifestyles.com/section/estlifestyles

The Westmoreland Coal Company is using the upcoming Saskatchewan Mining Week as an opportunity to promote the impact that mining has on southeast Saskatchewan.

Kraig Wanner has been the general manager for Westmoreland Coal’s Estevan mines for a little more than a year, and the char and activated carbon plants for about eight months. He said that the company’s mandate is to provide the lowest cost fuel to SaskPower, while generating employment for hundreds of people, and support for many different initiatives.

Between the two mines, a char plant and an activated carbon plant, Westmoreland has nearly 375 employees in the Estevan area, with 295 employees who are part of the United Mine Workers of America, and another 75 staff and management.

Safety plays an important role in the mines’ operations, Wanner said. “I would hope that would be the case for any workforce in Saskatchewan, but especially at the mine site where we’re dealing with big equipment,” said Wanner.“All of our employees have to be focused on the task at hand in whatever their classification of job is at the mine site.”

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Miners Enter The Fray In Eastern Ukraine – by Claire Bigg (Radio Free Europe – May 20, 2014)

http://www.rferl.org/

The shrill wails of sirens resounded throughout Ukraine’s eastern rust belt on May 20, a rallying call for miners and steelworkers to unite against separatists seeking to take over their region.

Industrial workers have remained largely on the sidelines of the smoldering conflict in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian militants have been occupying key government buildings in a dozen cities.

But with separatists increasingly disrupting business, industrial bosses and trade unions are urging workers to rise against the insurgency. Coal and steel magnate Rinat Akhmetov, who has an estimated 300,000 employees on his payroll, this week called on his employees to stage peaceful protests at their workplaces.

“The rally will start tomorrow at noon with a siren ringing at all industrial businesses of the Donbass in support of peace and against bloodshed,” he said in a televised address late on May 19, adding that sirens would ring daily at noon “until peace is established.”

In his sharpest condemnation of the separatists so far, Akhmetov said people were “tired of living in fear and terror” and warned that the violent tactics used by separatists would spell disaster for the economy and lead to “genocide” of eastern Ukraine.

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NEWS RELEASE: Wood Mackenzie: Railroads to struggle with summer US coal demand

Cold weather and higher gas prices cause upward pressure on railroad capacity and coal production

HOUSTON/EDINBURGH 21st May 2014 – With demand for US coal higher than in recent years due to record setting cold weather and high natural gas prices, railroads are struggling to ship required amounts of bulk fuel says Wood Mackenzie in a new report titled “Can railroads meet summer US coal demand?”.

The harsh, snowy winter slowed down performance at railroad systems already contending with a record grain harvest and higher demand across various commodities in 2013 into 2014. Ultimately, the impact on coal prices will depend on mine and rail capacity.

“Even if the railroad capacity problem is fixed, mine capacity may not be able to grow fast enough to meet demand,” notes Matt Preston, Principal Analyst, North America Thermal Coal Markets for Wood Mackenzie.

With stockpiles significantly depleted during winter as a result of railroad performance issues and the railway networks likely inability to increase the rate of deliveries much beyond 2013 levels, there is a high probability coal producing units relying on western coal will not be able to increase their output despite higher demand.

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Modi exploring breakup of Coal India, opening up sector – sources – by Krishna N. Das (Reuters India – May 21, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW DELHI – (Reuters) – Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi is exploring breaking up state behemoth Coal India Ltd(COAL.NS) and opening up the sector to foreign investment to boost output and cut imports, said two sources with knowledge of the matter.

Red tape, strikes, protests against land acquisition and delays in obtaining environmental approvals have kept coal output far below demand, making India the world’s No.3 importer even though it sits on the fifth-largest reserves.

Modi wants to fix the coal sector quickly to ensure unbroken electricity supply across the country, as in his home state of Gujarat where manufacturing has flourished. Coal generates more than half of India’s power and is the cheapest form of energy.

Any reform will begin with Coal India, as it accounts for 80 percent of India’s total coal output, said a source at Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The world’s largest coal mining company has failed to meet its output targets for years.

“The story is about Coal India, whose productivity as we all know has been poor,” said the source, a member of the BJP’s economic policy team.

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