Then, adding to the reminders of how much we rely on coal’s rock solid consistency, the bone-numbing cold and heavy snow experienced throughout the United States in January and February brought the potential of natural gas limitations into sharp focus for many utility customers across the nation. The past few years have almost seen a shale gas-induced euphoria hit energy markets. Industry reports have opined that “the sky is the limit,” with seemingly endless supplies of shale gas being found, dropping costs, and changing utility profiles are reported as the norm now. However, the blast of icy February weather heavily impacted gas production, even if only for a few short weeks, in early 2011. Large regions of New Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and California were left high and dry; gas simply wasn’t available for them at any cost. Those areas and others entered February with natural gas “emergencies” looming, and gas suppliers cautioning customers to restrict use as they were forced to drain their storage resources to meet even heavily rationed demand. Many southwestern customers were literally cut off as limited supplies dried up.
Southwest Gas in Tucson, AZ was forced to open community shelters to accommodate customers whose gas service had been turned off during the unusual cold spell. El Paso gas providers also reported gas shortages, citing high customer demand and high utility demand mixing with restrictions in production.
Of course, none of this should be construed to mean that markets are necessarily going back to the “good ol’ days.” Shale gas is still widely available and the push for renewables is still very strong. The coal industry is still facing demand destruction from competing energy sources, tax laws aimed at promoting other energy resources over coal, a stiffening environmental regulatory regime, (at best) a confusing mix of give and take from the current administration, and an increasingly partisan Congress – that may be (for the current session) more coal friendly, but that is also far less amenable to continued fossil research funding.
We continue to face complex decisions that involve always increasing demands for clean, affordable and abundant energy. We continue to face decisions that involve millions (or billions) in investments, decades of commitments, and potentially centuries of liability. However, amidst all the negatives that we have encountered over the past few years, the coal industry has proved once again this winter why coal has been a solid energy decision for centuries, and why it will remain a solid energy choice well into the future.
It’s not just the cost, because coal easily wins that game, even on our currently unlevel legislative and regulatory playing field. It’s not just the domestic abundance, because with over two centuries of reserves sitting under our feet in the U.S., coal easily wins that game as well. It’s not just the rapidly improving technologies that deal with emissions and greenhouse gases, because the improved efficiencies and dropping emissions profiles of coal installations around the world prove that coal can be used cleanly and efficiently today.
Coal is and will remain a valuable energy generation resource because of a mix of all those realities, plus the reality that every time policy and special interest pressure attempt to push coal out of the mix, we must face the fact that affordable, abundant, and reliable energy is the lifeblood of our economy.
Try as some might, they can’t escape the brute fact that coal provides abundant and affordable, domestically-sourced, and increasingly clean energy, along with hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs even when the others can’t.
Follow Us: