Coal Industry News

Finance businesses moving to phase out coal

Japanese financial companies are moving to stop investing in or financing coal-fired power stations, in an effort to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A major non-life insurance company, Sompo Japan Insurance, plans to end investment and…

Montana coal production down 21% from last year

Montana mines are producing less coal during the pandemic as declining energy consumption, both in the U.S. and abroad, wears on an already shrinking market. Through the first seven months of the year, Montana mines produced 15.1 million tons of…

This billionaire GOP governor's coal company is poised to get a big break from his own regulators

West Virginia environmental regulators are proposing to reduce the fines that a coal company owned by the state's governor could pay for water pollution violations that are the focus of a federal court case. The move comes after the company stopped…

Wyoming wants to keep coal burning. But is carbon capture the answer?

Over the past decade, Wyoming's coal industry has taken a beating, but this year has proven particularly brutal. Layoffs have whipped through the state at a searing pace, outstripping previous busts and catapulting thousands of families into…

Oregon's coal-free future: Where will power come from?

Every day, electricity crackles across power lines hanging over the sparsely populated counties of Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam and Sherman that border the Columbia River. With the ongoing global climate crisis, the debate about how this electricity…

Poland's coal dependency hampers climate change efforts

Thermal, coking coal imports dip 28% to 46 mn tonnes in Apr-Aug: IPA

Hit by coronavirus-related disruptions, both thermal and coking coal imports at India's 12 major ports dipped 27.93 per cent to 45.77 million tonnes (MT) in April-August 2020 over the same period a year ago, according to the apex ports' body IPA.

100 years ago: Citizen meeting addresses coal shortage

Sept. 20, 1920: A large group of citizens met in the BHS auditorium to tackle the coal shortage. They decided to wire President Woodrow Wilson and ask him to take action against speculators. Keeping the Mclean County Coal Co. mine open is at the…

Morrison thinks gas is the new coal, and it's just as big a climate threat (RenewEconomy Sep 18, 2020) - Pearls and Irritations

Australia's government thinks that gas is the new coal, and intends to delay decarbonisation for another decade or more by investing taxpayer funding deeply into another fossil fuel. It has been an unusually dense week of climate and energy policy…

EU climate plan sets stage for an explosive rise in carbon prices

Commodity traders are betting that Europe's carbon futures will soon catapult higher as Brussels drains the glut of carbon allowances on the market. Prices are likely to smash the all-time record of €30 a tonne within months, profoundly…

The climate crisis will sweep away my country if the world doesn't keep its promises

My country joined the United Nations nearly 30 years ago, in September, 1991. But unless my fellow member states take action, we may also be forced from it: the first country to see our land swept away by climate change. As the UN General Assembly…

Net-zero emissions by 2050 'absolutely achievable': Morrison

Mr Morrison said 1000 megawatts lost from the national energy grid when Liddell closed would probably be made up of a range of different energy sources, including traditional coal generation, renewables and battery storage. But gas is 'the bit that…

Hydrogen to follow gas expansion in Morrison bid for net zero emissions

The technology road map will be aimed at creating a clean energy industry that can ship hydrogen to customers such as Japan and South Korea and building a new export industry to replace gas. But it will focus heavily on using carbon capture and…

Third-party US candidate Don Blankenship says the government is afraid of him and hopes he'll help break the two-party dominance

Donald Trump and Joe Biden aren't the only two men in their 70s battling to be President of the United States. The third is Don Blankenship. He is the Constitution Party's nominee, but is under no illusion he has a chance of winning. So, why bother…

The dirty tricks climate scientists face

Thirty years ago, in a small Swedish city called Sundsvall, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its first major report. Even then, the major dilemmas facing those who sought rapid action were clear. An account by Jeremy…