Negotiating the decline of West Virginia coal

The writing's on the wall. As coal gets phased out, West Virginia will need more progressive leadership to survive. (4.00 / 2)

Everyone knows "clean coal" is a myth and that Even China has started trying to clean up its act. China is even planning a stimulus package worth 440 billion dollars to expand its renewable energy use.

And here in the U.S., major cities have begun phasing out coal.

Coal-fired power - mostly imported from outside of California - currently accounts for 40% of the energy consumed in Los Angeles. Villaraigosa says that all this power will be replaced by renewable projects to be delivered by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), with the rest coming from natural gas, nuclear, and large hydroelectric units. LADPW says that renewables will already account for 20% of the power it supplies by 2010.

The project will form the core of LADWP's mission to cut its carbon emissions by up to 60% from 1990 levels. The company will make additional emission cuts through efficiency gains, which it ways will reduce electricity consumption by 1% annually for the next ten years. source

Meanwhile just across the border from our own state...

Richmond - A new report shows that investing in energy efficiency instead of building the Wise County coal plant to meet the same electricity demand would yield hundreds of millions of dollars more annually for the state and create at least 2,600 more jobs than the controversial
585-megawatt coal-fired power plant. The benefits would be even greater if, as anticipated, the federal government enacts controls on global warming emissions.

The report compares the economic effects of building Dominion Power's Wise County coal plant with investing in energy efficiency measures that would meet the same electricity demand. The study finds that avoiding construction of the coal plant by investing in efficiency would save the average household in Dominion's service territory between $52 and $91 per year in 2012.  source

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by: One Citizen @ Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 16:11:34 PM CDT

California is a great example of what (4.00 / 2)

efficiency standards can do and have done. As the population has grown total energy use has stayed constant, meaning the person energy consumption has declined. I used to live in the same county as the Tehachapi Wind Farm. Newer wind turbines dwarf the older ones.

Los Angeles is also unique as they retained their municipal power generation. This made them immune to the Enron energy derivatives scandal the drove Gov. Davis out of office and gave them Aunurld.

But not me personally were those cheers for (1-6-7-5-2-8-3-4)--Sarah Palin

You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it's almost embarrassing to listen to you--Zbigniew Brzezinski

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by: CA Berkeley WV @ Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 22:36:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Excellent diary (4.00 / 1)

Well written and highly informative. I hope people heed the call.

When a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it. Sherlock Holmes.

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by: Carnacki @ Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 16:20:40 PM CDT

Hear Hear! (4.00 / 2)

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by: One Citizen @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 09:26:05 AM CDT

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Great job! (4.00 / 2)

I wish every policy maker in WV would take the time to read and consider it carefully.

In a good conversation everyone speaks.  In a great conversation some even listen.

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by: Wabi-Sabi @ Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 22:51:14 PM CDT

Clarifiying the UMWA's position (4.00 / 2)

Clem, you've got the UMWA's position on this legislation wrong. We have never said that the bill "provides the coal industry everything it needs to succeed." Far from it. We have said that the money in the bill dedicated to coal and CCS is remarkable (although some of that was lost on the House floor) and that, if passed, the future of coal will be intact. But we have not endorsed or supported the bill and still do not. There is much more to do, from our perspective, to make the legislation acceptable to our members, their families and their communities.

And although I appreciate your concern for what happens to miners and their communities if West Virginia and the U.S. transition away from carbon-based energy generation, merely offering the prospect of a "green-job" nirvana is not nearly enough. You're asking people to give up jobs that pay over $22 per hour, plus benefits, and take something that maybe, just maybe could be available but if it is, it will pay less than half of what they previously made, with few, if any benefits.

There has never been a successful job "transition" or "replacement" scheme that has ever worked when basic U.S. industries have been reduced or even wiped out. You can still see the results of those wrong-headed and ineffective attempts in Youngstown Oh., Flint Mich., Clairton, Pa. and any number of former industrial towns that are now largely boarded up and without much hope.  

All of us who care about the long-term continuation of coal jobs and relatively inexpensive energy in America are pinning a lot of hopes into the development of CCS technology. We believe, like President Obama, that it is workable and, indeed, that it must become available for there to be a stable energy and economic future for the U.S. That is why we are working so hard to get the funding needed to make it happen.

It's not just about coal jobs, though for us that is the primary concern. It's also about keeping energy costs down and making us less reliant on foreign sources of energy. Yes, let's develop alternative and renewable sources of energy. But if America is to remain a world economic leader in the long term coal must remain a strong part of our nation's energy mix.

And I would also point out that it is curious, to say the least, to see a vigorously nonunion employer like Toyota (in the U.S., at least) touted on a Democratic blog as an example of the jobs we should be creating in West Virginia. Supporting companies that work hard to remain nonunion only helps drive wages, benefits and standards of living down, not up. Yes, let's get more manufacturing jobs in West Virginia. Let's also see more progressive Democrats take a lead in doing all they can to organize those workplaces.  

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by: Phil @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 06:36:59 AM CDT

Thank you for responding, Phil (4.00 / 2)

Phil -- Thank you for clarifying the UMWA position. I'll update the diary accordingly.

As to your final point, that's the easiest to dispatch with. I was merely pointing out that Sens. Rockefeller and Byrd already have vast experience to draw on in non-coal-related job creation. (I can't hit every policy plank in every diary.) We've been loud, strong, consistent advocates for the EFCA (as one example) on this blog. I dare say we here cover labor as closely and sympathetically as anyone in this state. (We're not so good at tagging stories consistently, so that link is not even close to everything labor-related that's been posted here.)

To the major thrust of your comments, I'm afraid I may not have made my key points clearly enough:

No amount of money can guarantee that CCS will work. I don't think it ever will on the scale that is required. The very best case scenario puts CCS at least a decade out before it is deployed at scale and even longer before it makes a major contribution to carbon reductions. Meanwhile, there is no guarantee that the money spent developing CCS technology helps West Virginia residents or UMWA members.

Another point we probably disagree on is coal is only "relatively inexpensive energy in America" when you ignore its major negative externalities. The writing is one the wall: when you put a price on the major negative effects of burning coal, it no longer looks so cheap.

I fear those few well-paying mining jobs left in West Virginia are going to be fewer and fewer in number no matter what Congress does this year. The question I'm asking is, who is looking out for the interests of the citizens of West Virginia not just the interests of coal company owners?

Even if past job "transition" or "replacement" schemes sucked (and, yes, they did), we still owe it to ourselves to try something new and innovative to diversity the Appalachian economy. Putting all of our eggs in one high-risk high-expense CCS basket is a recipe for a stinky mess.

Thank you again for the clarification and for entering in a dialogue on this important topic.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 07:23:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Phil (4.00 / 2)

Aren't most MTR jobs nonunion?

When a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it. Sherlock Holmes.

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by: Carnacki @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 07:44:23 AM CDT

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The answer is yes. There are reportedly only around 300 UMWA jobs dependent upon on MTR. (4.00 / 1)

Practically the entire coal industry is owned by absentee trans national elitists who have historically dismissed coal-mining-related deaths as "no more than might be expected", and who regard bulldozing homes and family cemeteries in Appalachia as "consistent with our philosophy" source.

Since the runaway use of surface mining they've repeatedly demonstrated that their core problem was that there were still too many hillbillies camped in "their" coal-rich hills and hollows. A perfect example was when Massey thugs tried bullying the peaceful group gathered at Larry Gibson's annual picnic on Kayford Mountain just this last 4th of July.

Phil, if coal mining going to survive at all, you should probably start trying to convince UMWA leadership that mountain top removal is directly causing everyone to shun coal altogether. Because your union's lack of foresight can be directly attributed to the loss of thousands of deep mining jobs for the want of several hundred ecoterrorist union members!

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by: One Citizen @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 09:17:17 AM CDT

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Yes, Carnaki, most MTR jobs are nonunion. (4.00 / 2)

But, in fact, about 1,000 UMWA members work in jobs in West Virginia that are related to MTR. That includes workers at the mines themselves, preparations plants, load out facilities, and mine construction workers.

We believe those workers deserve as much representation as we can give them, and that includes working to preserve their jobs as best we can. As a union, we cannot pick and choose which members we will represent and which we won't. Once we start doing that we stop being a union.

I would also point out to One Citizen that the UMWA does not make decisions about where and how coal is mined -- the companies do. We do not control the actions of those companies. Whether we support or oppose any form of mining really doesn't make a difference in terms of the decisions companies make with respect to how they mine coal. They are going to try to do it in the most profitable way allowed by law, which should surprise no one.

So to say, as some do, that the UMWA somehow allowed MTR to happen or that we have a "lack of foresight" is just wrong. It was not our decision to make nor to influence.

But we do believe that all workers, regardless of where they work, deserve the benefit of union membership and a union contract. That includes workers at surface mines.

I would also remind One Citizen that the drunken thugs who showed up on July 4 were not union members. So I'm trying to figure out just who and what he means by "terrorist union members."  

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by: Phil @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 12:41:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]