U.S. halts new coal leases on federal land in wide-ranging review

The U.S. Interior Secretary has announced the government is halting leases for coal mining on Federal land.

They are "pausing" & "reviewing".

They are going to study the impact on global climate change and how much is happening on Federal land !!!

They even have plans for a database to micro-manage the whole thing.

This is being initiated at the Executive level of government, not legislative or judicial.

So who gets rich from this new deal?


U.S. halts new coal leases on federal land in wide-ranging review

U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Friday ordered a pause on issuing new coal leases on federal land in another step by the Obama administration to control climate change in the first major review of the country's coal program in three decades.

The pause could last three years, Jewell said, while officials determine how to protect taxpayers' stake in coal sales from public lands and how burning coal could worsen climate change.

Federal land accounts for over 40 percent of U.S. coal production.

a reply to: xuenchen
There's two things in your OP that gave me the creeps...

"This is being initiated at the Executive level of government, not legislative or judicial."
"Federal land accounts for over 40 percent of U.S. coal production."
Don't know if it's relative or not, but I dug this gem out of the 'Hoax' forum...

Source
Something Very Strange Is Taking Place Off The Coast Of Galveston, TX
Having exposed the world yesterday to the 2-mile long line of tankers-full'o'crude heading from Iraq to the US, several weeks after reporting that China has run out of oil storage space we can now confirm that the global crude "in transit" glut is becoming gargantuan and is starting to have adverse consequences on the price of oil.

While the crude oil tanker backlog in Houston reaches an almost unprecedented 39 (with combined capacity of 28.4 million barrels), as The FT reports that from China to the Gulf of Mexico, the growing flotilla of stationary supertankers is evidence that the oil price crash may still have further to run, as more than 100m barrels of crude oil and heavy fuels are being held on ships at sea (as the year-long supply glut fills up available storage on land). The storage problems are so severe in fact, that traders asking ships to go slow, and that is where we see something very strange occurring off the coast near Galveston, TX.

FT reports that "the amount of oil at sea is at least double the levels of earlier this year and is equivalent to more than a day of global oil supply. The numbers of vessels has been compiled by the Financial Times from satellite tracking data and industry sources."

The storage glut is unprecedented:

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but the timing is odd.

a reply to: twitchy

It's not coincidence at all.

Remember when Obama said this:

“If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them,” Obama said, responding to a question about his cap-and-trade plan. He later added, “Under my plan … electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

Uttered in 2008, still haunting Obama


He wants higher energy prices.

a reply to: EternalSolace

Coal is nasty stuff, but it also produces about 44% of our electricity in the US. A moratorium on new leases will certainly cause electricity prices to 'skyrocket' as the energy industry is sure to take a massive hit from this.

a reply to: EternalSolace

Yes, Obama does want higher prices and whoever wins the election will want even higher prices. The end of the carbon economy will be the end of the middle class........another government goal.

Our energy needs will be met with pixie dust..

Obama may be killing coal but he's also killing places like West Virginia and Southwest Virginia where it was the primary industry. Bad enough to allow mountain top removal mining and pollute nearly flowing water source (because coal was so valuable!) then just abandon mining coal altogether by shutting down coal fired generation plants.

Nobody can plan ahead in this kind of turn on a dime policy making.
Obama thinks we need to charge more for electricity that people can't afford now.
Hope you can survive the change should have been his election slogan.

Get ready to pay and pay and pay.

All for the global agenda.

Barack Obama: "Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." (January 2008)

Obama: My Plan Makes Electricity Rates Skyrocket

"Necessarily"

I really believe that the coal industry does need to go the way of the wagon wheel.

Power companies commonly buy bankrupt or troubled coal power plants for their pollution credits, so they can repurpose those credits to other coal plants they own that are running below capacity because of pollution limits.

As far as West Virginia etc, if you have ever toured those states, you will see abject poverty. It has been that way for slot of years. And it is the direct result of the coal industry, not because of government intervention or regulation.

originally posted by: smirkley
As far as West Virginia etc, if you have ever toured those states, you will see abject poverty. It has been that way for slot of years. And it is the direct result of the coal industry, not because of government intervention or regulation.

I don't think that is a fair association at all, poverty in that region is more likely to do with being isolated in the middle of the Appalachian mountains than blaming the only viable industry available to the working class people who live there. Shutting down the coal industry will only exacerbate that poverty, aside from mining and lumber there just isn't much else there.

a reply to: twitchy

I agree, shuttering coal mining will not benefit the communities.

I only did a quick search for a link, but the results are many. And the theme is common.
www.thenation.com...

a reply to: xuenchen
This will get rid of the last of small operations. Just like they have done with oil/gas leases, make the regulations and reporting requirements so burdensome that only giant, multinational corporate interests have the resources to comply with the regulatory reporting. This will weed out the little guys who don't have the capital to make huge donations to politicos. When you need three employees filling out forms for every person working in the mines, you have an untenable situation.
Congress will moan, groan and mackle about it but do NOTHING!

a reply to: smirkley

And those rising rates will make much of the US like the poverty in that area.
But, that is OK?

My electric bills in the last few years have already doubled. My income has not.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I do believe that, electricity may bump up if coal is shutdown.

But we really do need to keep in mind that solar and wind is fast coming of age. The wind farms out here are becoming huge. Solar panels pricing is dropping like a rock and spreading everywhere. And we havent even touched the fact that the oceans are vast green energy sources.

If electricity prices were to drop, the economic incentive of change would not exist.

And high prices drive innovation.

Yes, kill coal, nuke nuclear, and spread solar and wind.

The time is now.

originally posted by: smirkley
I really believe that the coal industry does need to go the way of the wagon wheel.

Power companies commonly buy bankrupt or troubled coal power plants for their pollution credits, so they can repurpose those credits to other coal plants they own that are running below capacity because of pollution limits.

As far as West Virginia etc, if you have ever toured those states, you will see abject poverty. It has been that way for slot of years. And it is the direct result of the coal industry, not because of government intervention or regulation.

I spent lots of time in West Virginia having friends up there. You're right about the abject poverty because of corporate greed that would soak up every cent instead of giving raises or doing anything beneficial to their community. They have consistently resisted EPA pressure to replace or repair anything resulting in nasty chemical spills like the one in the Elk river last year. Mountain top removal practices reduced the number of workers needed by 75% and gave shareholders record profits while leaving the surrounding area filled with toxic minerals that are released in to the local streams.

Now with traditional underground mining nearly gone (and the jobs) it seems fracking will be the only way out of poverty for many there. Once again trading their health for short term gains. West Virginia has some of the highest rates of cancers and emphysema in the entire US. After all coal miners did for worker in this country through their strikes to get living wages and safe conditions this is how they are repaid. It's corporate rape and they aren't even leaving a tip anymore.

A significsnt part of the problem is the state governments desire to take money from these industries. Their priorities are misplaced.

A progressive state would try to attract other tech industry. Other states have done that very successfully. Plus they need to really start pushing and subsidizing education. That would be a great start.

a reply to: smirkley

Well, that would be really nice....if what is left of the middle class could afford these alternatives......no one I know can afford thousands...even hundreds...for solar panels.
If your suburban home could even be fitted for them.

Coal is used to fire nuclear plants here....some have switched to being fired by natural gas.
A lot of costs for the change is likely passed to the ever-poorer customer.

I know solar isnt cheap. It is quite cheaper than it used to be. And we are quickly coming to the time where solar power costs are in with parity to grid power costs. From there it is a matter of waiting for the industrial creation of power to become too expensive to maintain, and too expensive to the environment. Actually it is too expensive on the envirement, with exception to the federal government protecting the industrial power regime.

China is becoming a big player in the solar manufacturing playing field.

I do understand what you are saying DTOM. But the truth and fact of the matter is there is no turning back from reality.

And as hard as it may be for some to believe, it isnt Obama's fault. It is our fault for the condition we have put this planet in. And it isnt reversable in our lifetime. But you have to start somewhere. We HAVE TO bite the bullet of electrical costs in order to progress ourselves as an advanced civilization. At least if we want to have a livable planet for those that live after us.

I could just say I dont give a crap, give me cheap power. I dont care what happens after I die.

But I do care. Its my job to care.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Our energy needs will be met with pixie dust..

We have enough geothermal reserves in the US that if we got serious about building the plants, we could completely replace our coal usage. It's known proven technology that's clean, cheap (cheaper than coal even), and will last for millions of years.

Why we don't use it, I simply don't understand.

originally posted by: twitchy
I don't think that is a fair association at all, poverty in that region is more likely to do with being isolated in the middle of the Appalachian mountains than blaming the only viable industry available to the working class people who live there. Shutting down the coal industry will only exacerbate that poverty, aside from mining and lumber there just isn't much else there.

I live right in the middle of that region. There's not much coal mining where I live, but around here the problem is that there's no jobs. Steel used to be big, but the pollution from it turned the river toxic and they got shut down. When that happened the rest of the jobs moved elsewhere.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how to fix it. The region has what I would call a low skill work force, and demand for skilled jobs is extremely low. Being able to pass a drug test is worth more around these parts than a college degree (not to say that being clean isn't important). It's difficult to bring jobs to an area where the workers don't have skills.

Every now and then a corporation will be given enough tax breaks to set up in the area, but there are no local workers to hire. Instead they import a bunch of people and it doesn't actually help the residents.