Coal industry shows new optimism

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney smiles a little more these days.   Raney said a lot of people in the industry are smiling after Tuesday’s executive order by President Donald Trump which begins the process of unraveling the Obama Era emission restrictions which made up the Clean Power Plan.

Surrounded by coal miners and industry officials, Trump proclaimed the “war on coal” was over.

“It was a good day,” said Raney. “It’s all been negative for eight years and that has had its toll. Through the financial community, through the mining community people begin to feel bad about themselves, because nobody says anything good about them.”

But the big question with the EPA hurdle apparently cleared is how big of a rebound can be expected from the industry.  Raney is optimistic, but even he admitted it’s unlikely the industry will ever near its peak of production in West Virginia of 187 Million tons annually.

“When you’ve got 400 power plants that have shut down, some of those might be able to come back on line if you get the proper regulation and they don’t have to adhere to some of the ridiculous things that had been thrown in front of them,” Randy explained on MetroNews Talkline. “So you’re naturally not going to have that demand domestically here.”

But this year production is up 18 percent through the first quarter.  At that pace, according to Raney, it’s reasonable to expect the state will produce 110 to 115 Million tons in 2017 after the low point of 87 Million tons in 2016.

“They’re ramping up production and bringing on employees who have been laid off, both in the metallurgical as well as the steam market,” said Raney. “We’ve got mines opening up that have been closed for several years.”

Coal’s biggest opponent now is the ability to produce natural gas at a much cheaper rate.   Coal industry officials have acknowledged the competition from gas for several years, but Raney believed Trump’s action helps level the playing field for all sectors of the energy industry. He believed the next 24 months will provide a window of growth opportunity for the coal industry, but added West Virginia needs to take steps to be ready for that growth.

“We need to get our water quality standards and all our rules that have some federal authority and jurisdiction aligned with other states and the federal rules,” he said. “At least then we can have the discussions in Washington.”





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