Wind and Sun Top Coal For the first five months of 2023, according to unreleased federal data obtained by E&E News and reported by Scientific American, solar and wind generated more U.S. electricity than coal. The data from the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, which will be officially released later, showed that wind and solar generated a total of 252 terawatt-hours through the first five months of 2023, while coal produced 249 TWh.
It’s not the first time that renewables have out-performed coal. That happened in 2020 and 2022. In those years, the renewables production included hydro. Without water power, coal would have outpaced the sun and wind, although still remaining well below natural gas, the current king of the generating mountain. Through this May, hydro generated 117 TWh.
Since the start of 2022, some 14 GW of U.S. coal capacity has retired, while wind and solar added 22.5 GW of capacity in the 12 months ending in May 2023, according to EIA. With summer now officially underway, EIA says the U.S. will see more renewables and gas added and further coal decline.
Utah Challenges EPA The state of Utah has officially challenged the Biden administration’s version of the long-standing attempt to deal with cross-border ozone pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Beehive State (the state motto is “Industry”) is challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Good Neighbor” proposed rule from last month, with tiered emissions reductions beginning in 2030 and 2032.
A joint statement from the state’s governor, attorney general, congressional delegation, and legislative leaders, Republicans all, says, “As Utah’s elected state leaders, we stand united in pushing back against the administration’s egregious power grab that harms Utahns. We will each fight for a responsible energy policy that embraces efficiency and is based in reality because keeping the lights on is the only option.”
Attempts to deal with cross-border ozone pollution from fossil-fueled power plants goes back decades and both Republican and Democratic administrations in Washington. The various plans have all faced ferocious court challenges, including decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court that have often remanded the cases back to lower federal courts.
The Salt Lake Tribute reported, “Earlier this year, Utah legislators allocated $2 million to fund the legal challenge, and the Utah Attorney General’s office has hired an outside law firm for the fight. Tuesday’s filing was just two pages, and it is just a petition to have the court review the rule.”
The Denver metro area is out of compliance with ozone air standards, with the most likely culprit being Utah’s coal-fired power plants. Utah has four coal-fired plants – two owned by investor-owned Rocky Mountain Power (a PacifiCorp subsidiary) totaling 2,400-MW of capacity, the giant 1,900-MW Intermountain Power Project, operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and scheduled to close in 2025 to be replaced by gas and possibly hydrogen, and the 500-MW Bonanza plant operated by Deseret Power Electric Cooperative. Utah got 62% of its electricity from coal-fired plants in 2021, according to EIA.
Peabody Restarts Mine Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU), the nation’s largest coal producer, is moving to reopen its Shoal Creek metallurgical coal mine in Alabama after a March fire closed the operation. The mine annually produces about 800,000 tons of steelmaking coal for export, according to Mining.Com. In a news release Tuesday (June 20), Peabody said that working with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, the company “has safely completed localized sealing of two longwall panels in the J panel area of the mine impacted by a fire in March involving void fill material. Peabody has begun the process of resuming development coal production in the new L panel area where better mining conditions are anticipated.”
The company said it will be in a “ramp up” throughout this year and expects “delivery of a new longwall kit at the end of the year. As a result, Peabody does not expect the current incident to have a material impact on the company’s 2023 financial results.” The longwall operation 35 miles west of Birmingham mines coal from the Mary Lee and Blue Creek seams at depths of 1,000 to 1,300 feet. It employs 419 workers.
Shoal Creek is Peabody’s largest U.S. met coal mine dedicated to exports. The international company, according to Mining.Com, “is pushing to expand its seaborne metallurgical operations, including by starting redevelopment efforts at the North Goonyella mine in Australia, which has been closed since a 2018 fire.”
In 2021, according to EIA, Peabody produced just over 105 million tons of coal, or 18% of the U.S. total, followed by Arch Resources at close to 72 million tons (about 12%), and Navajo Transitional Energy Co. with almost 52 million tons (9%). The U.S. total for the year was 577 million tons.
Wyo. Wants Leasing The Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) wants to end an Obama era coal leasing moratorium, claiming it could kill production from the state that mines the most coal in the U.S., mostly from the giant Powder River Basin in the northeastern part of the state.
The Obama Interior Department put a halt to federal coal leasing by the Bureau of Land Management during a review of the federal coal leasing program. The moratorium applied only to steam coal. The Trump administration, under Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, attempted to lift the moratorium.
Four states, including California, sued, asking the court to require an environmental assessment under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act before lifting the moratorium. The court ruled against the Trump policy.
The Biden administration came to power and rescinded Zinke’s policy, although Interior Secretary Deb Haaland did not formally reimpose the moratorium. Instead, BLM did an environmental assessment and found “no significant Impact” from leasing.
The states and environmental groups renewed the legal challenge. Last August, Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for Montana, who originally rule in favor of the states, said Haaland did not go far enough and reinstated the moratorium.
In a June 15 letter to Interior, WEA Executive Director Rob Creager wrote, “Federal coal in Wyoming is an integral part of the Nation’s energy and supply chain, now and into the future. It is absolutely imperative to avoid a federal leasing moratorium for coal. This fuel can and must be a part of the Nation’s future energy portfolio.”
–Kennedy Maize