Loading ...America Exports Coal… For 250 More Years?
by BWK ~ March 13, 2008
Yes, we are exporting coal to the world (see article below). But I sure hope we don’t get too caught up in our own press releases about having “250 years of reserves at current rates of consumption.” One of these days, we might wish that we had exported less coal and imported fewer plasma screen TVs.
First, “current rates of consumption” are increasing in the US. So much for 250 years, if that ever was the right number to begin with.
Second, 40% of the US coal “reserves” are in Alaska, which is halfway to China. And there is only one large dragline in the entire state of Alaska (at the Usibelli Mine). And there is but one single-track railroad that does not go to where much of the coal is located. And it’s dark and cold up there for much of the year. And there is not enough electric power to run a large mine in most regions of the state. Etc.
Third, most of the “easy” coal in the Lower 48 has been mined. Now it’s the thinner seams, the lower BTU stuff, or deeper veins. So the capital investment is higher and the energy-return on investment is lower.
Fourth, coal is still dirty.
Still, I’m glad that we have a bunch of coal miners in the OSTI portfolio.
Dig we must? Until we can’t.
We’ll leave a light on for you, if we can afford it.
BWK
See…
March 18th, 2008 at 2:22 am
[...] Thomas Renard Escribio un articulo buenisimo hoyAqui hay un pedazo del articuloYes, we are exporting coal to the world (see article below). But I sure hope we don’t get too caught up in our own press releases about having “250 years of reserves at current rates of consumption.” One of these days, we might wish … Lea el resto de este fabuloso articulo here Posted in Uncategorized Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. [...]