DOE report: Gas boom 'biggest contributor' to coal decline

[mahatmakanejeeves]

DOE report: Gas boom ‘biggest contributor’ to coal decline

Ken Ward Jr. , Staff Writer
August 24, 2017

A new U.S. Department of Energy report says that competition from natural gas -- not Obama administration regulations -- has been the largest reason for the decline of the Appalachian coal industry, offering a conclusion that sharply contradicts President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and the public relations campaign waged in the region by the mining industry and most local political leaders.

The DOE staff report acknowledges that action on long-delayed environmental rules meant to implement decades-old pollution laws played a role in the closure of coal-fired power plants, but also places the largest share of the blame squarely on the natural gas boom in West Virginia’s Marcellus Shale and other shale-gas fields across the country.

“The biggest contributor to coal and nuclear plant retirements has been the advantaged economics of natural gas-fired generation,” says the 187-page report made public Wednesday night.

The report noted that horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques, especially in the shale-gas fields like the Marcellus, have “significantly expanded the availability of natural gas and lowered its costs” across the U.S. and the world.
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Reach Ken Ward Jr. at [email protected], 304-348-1702 or follow @kenwardjr on Twitter.

[madokie]

1. CO2 is killing our planet

Just as sure as if you put a bullet through its heart. We're fucked no matter what at this point in time. Theres no going back as most of us are too used to the way things are to change. Especially when that change needed will be so bold as it will have to surely be.