- 1 dead, 1 still missing after 11-story coal plant collapses in eastern Kentucky WLKY Louisville
- Kentucky declares state of emergency after coal plant collapse; 1 worker confirmed dead Fox News
- Governor: At least one worker dead after 11-story coal plant collapse in Eastern Kentucky WLWT
- ‘We haven’t given up hope’ | Officials provide details following deadly building collapse WSAZ
- Louisville Fire captain gives update on team sent to help with rescue efforts at collapsed Kentuc… WLKY News Louisville
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Tag Archives: coal
FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Clean Energy Projects to Revitalize Energy Communities, Support Coal Workers, and Reduce Reliance on Competitors Like China – The White House
- FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Clean Energy Projects to Revitalize Energy Communities, Support Coal Workers, and Reduce Reliance on Competitors Like China The White House
- Biden administration pushes to revitalize coal communities with clean energy projects CNBC
- Biden offers $450M for clean energy projects at coal mines The Associated Press
- US details plan to draw clean energy into oil, coal communities Reuters
- Biden administration unveils $450 million to develop renewables on mine sites The Hill
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Coal in the U.S. Is Pointlessly Expensive
Nearly all of the coal plants operating in the U.S. are now more expensive to keep online than it would be to build entirely new renewable energy facilities in their stead, according to a new analysis by Energy Innovation, an energy and policy firm. The analysis found that 99% of U.S. coal plants supply energy that would be cheaper if those plants were shut down and replaced with wind farms or solar fields.
“Coal is unequivocally more expensive than wind and solar resources, it’s just no longer cost competitive with renewables,” Michelle Solomon, a policy analyst at Energy Innovation, told the Guardian. “This report certainly challenges the narrative that coal is here to stay.”
In 2020, the country reached a point that the report refers to as the “cost crossover,” when renewables overtook coal on the U.S. grid. Energy Innovation has been running analyses since that year, looking at the cost of these coal plants compared to new renewable energy. The 2020 analysis found that 62% of the coal fleet was pricier to run than it would be to replace it with renewables; in 2021, that number had risen to 71%.
There’s a big new factor at play in this year’s analysis: the Inflation Reduction Act, which both provides significant tax credits for building new renewables as well as loan guarantees to replace fossil fuel infrastructure. Thanks in part to these incentives, the Energy Innovation analysis found that, out of the 210 coal plants still operating in the country, only one—a plant in Wyoming—produces energy at a cost that is competitive compared to the price of either local wind, solar, or both. And a lot of these potential renewable plants would be a lot cheaper; new wind or solar facilities would be around 30% cheaper than some three-quarters of the existing coal plants.
Coal use in the U.S., the leading source of carbon emissions worldwide, peaked in 2007; since then, its use has been on a downward trajectory, falling some 55% in output as of 2021. While right-wing narratives have blamed climate concerns, especially the Obama administration’s policies, for dragging down coal, the explanation is actually much easier: free market competition from other energy sources. During the fracking boom of the 2010s, natural gas suddenly became a lot less expensive than coal, while simultaneously, the cost of renewables like wind and solar were plummeting. Even President Donald Trump, who entered office vowing to put miners back to work producing “beautiful clean coal”—and who gave the industry a lot of freebies and second chances while in office—wasn’t able to reverse the hand of the market.
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“We can’t just snap our fingers and retire all coal plants but we need to accelerate the buildout of wind and solar so that when the time comes we can wean ourselves off coal,” Solomon told the Guardian.
Germany plans to destroy this village for a coal mine. Thousands are gathering to stop it
CNN
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It’s a stark image in 2023: Police in riot gear flooding a village, pulling people out of houses and tearing down structures to make way for the arrival of excavating machines to access the rich seam of coal beneath the ground.
Since Wednesday, as rain and winds lashed the tiny west German village of Lützerath, police have removed hundreds of activists. Some have been in Lützerath for more than two years, occupying the homes abandoned by former residents after they were evicted, most by 2017, to make way for the mine.
More than 1,000 police officers are involved in the eviction operation. Most of the buildings have now been cleared, but some activists remained in treehouses or huddled in a hole dug into the ground as of Friday, according to Aachen city police.
Protest organizers expect thousands more people to pour into the area on Saturday to demonstrate against its destruction, though they ultimately may not be able to access the village. After the eviction is complete, RWE plans to complete a 1.5-kilometer perimeter fence to snake around Lützerath, sealing off the village’s buildings, streets and sewers before they are demolished.
Still, activists vow to continue to fight for the village.
“We are taking action against this destruction by putting our bodies in the way of the excavator,” said Ronni Zeppelin, from campaign group Lützerath Lebt (Lützerath Lives).
Lützerath, about 20 miles west of Dusseldorf, has long been a climate flashpoint in Germany because of its position on the edge of the open-cast lignite coal mine, Garzweiler II.
The mine sprawls across around 14 square miles (35 square kilometers) in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) – a huge, jagged gouge in the landscape.
Its slow creep outwards over the years has already swallowed villages where families have lived for generations. It has prompted the destruction of centuries-old buildings and even a wind farm.
RWE has long planned to expand the mine further, in the face of criticism from climate groups. Lignite is the most polluting form of coal, which itself is the most polluting fossil fuel.
As far back as 2013, the German courts ruled the company was able to expand, even at the expense of nearby villages.
Following the Greens’ successes in the 2021 federal elections, some hoped the expansion would be canceled, said David Dresen, part of the climate group Aller Dörfer bleiben (All Villages Stay), who lives in Kuckum, a village that had been slated for destruction.
But in October 2022, the government struck a deal with RWE that saved several villages – including Kuckum – but allowed Lützerath to be demolished to give RWE access to the coal beneath it.
In return, RWE agreed to bring forward its coal phase-out from 2038 to 2030.
The Greens pitch it as a win.
“We were able to save five villages and three farms from being destroyed, spare 500 people a forced resettlement and bring forward the coal phase-out by eight years,” Martin Lechtape, a spokesperson for the North Rhine Westphalia Green Party, said in an email to CNN.
The Greens and RWE also say the expansion will help relieve the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, which has curtailed gas supplies.
It “is not a renaissance of lignite or coal, but only a side-step – helping Germany to cope with the energy crisis,” RWE spokesperson Guido Steffen, told CNN in an email.
Climate groups fiercely oppose the deal. Continuing to burn coal for energy will belch out planet-warming emissions and violate the Paris Climate Agreement’s ambition to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
RWE and the Greens both reject the claim the mine expansion will increase overall emissions, saying European caps mean extra carbon emissions can be offset.
Many feel betrayed by the Green Party, including people who voted for them.
“It’s such an absurd and catastrophic scenario that Germany, the country where everyone else thinks we have green [policies], is destroying a village to burn coal in the middle of the climate crisis,” said Dresen, who has voted Green in recent elections.
Fabian Huebner, campaigner on energy and coal at Europe Beyond Coal, said: “I think the Greens, faced by very difficult decisions, took the wrong turn and de-prioritized climate policy.”
Germany should accelerate the clean-energy transition instead, he added, including a faster roll out of renewables and energy efficiency measures: “You can’t solve the crisis with the energy source that basically created this crisis.”
Some studies suggest Germany may not even need the extra coal. An August report by international research platform Coal Transitions found that even if coal plants operate at very high capacity until the end of this decade, they already have more coal available than needed from existing supplies.
It’s a deeply uncomfortable moment for the Greens and an unfathomable catastrophe for those who want to save the village.
“The pictures from Lützerath are of course painful, as we have always fought against the continued burning of coal,” said Lechtape, on behalf of the NRW Greens. “We know the importance of Lützerath as a symbol in the climate movement. However, this should not obscure what has been achieved,” he added.
The party’s discomfort may deepen on Saturday when a protest, organized by a coalition of climate groups, is expected to draw thousands of people to Lützerath – including Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg.
“It is now up to us to stop the wrecking balls and coal excavators. We will not make this eviction easy,” said Pauline Brünger from the climate group Fridays for Future.
Even if the village is completely evicted before Saturday and access is blocked off, climate groups say the protest will still go ahead.
Dina Hamid, a recently evicted activist with Lützerath Lebt, told CNN, “in the end, it’s not about the village, it’s about the coal staying in the ground and we’re going to fight for that as long as it takes.”
Police move on coal mine protesters barricaded in abandoned German village
LUETZERATH, Germany, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Hundreds of police began clearing climate protesters out of an abandoned village on Wednesday in a showdown over the expansion of an opencast lignite mine that has highlighted tensions around Germany’s climate policy during an energy crisis.
The protesters formed human chains, made a makeshift barricade out of old containers and chanted “we are here, we are loud, because you are stealing our future” as police in helmets moved in. Some threw rocks, bottles and pyrotechnics. Police also reported protesters were lobbing petrol bombs.
The demonstrators, wearing masks, balaclavas or biosuits, have been protesting against the Garzweiler mine, run by energy firm RWE (RWEG.DE) in the village of Luetzerath in the brown-coal district of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg plans to join the demonstration on Saturday, a spokesperson for Luetzerathlebt environmentalist group told Reuters.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens called for no further violence after police and protesters scuffled.
“Leave it at that – from both sides,” he told reporters.
Police say the standoff could take weeks to resolve.
As the officers moved in, some activists perched on the roofs or the windows of the abandoned buildings, chanting and shouting slogans.
Others hung suspended from wires and wooden frames, or were holed up in treehouses to make it harder for police to dislodge them after a court ruling allowed for the demolition of the village now otherwise empty of residents and owned by RWE.
Julia Riedel, who said she has been camping in the village for two-and-a-half years, said the demonstrators had taken up their positions “because the issue here is whether the climate will cross the tipping point or not.”
Police, who had water cannon trucks on standby, led away and carried some protesters from the site.
The project has underscored Germany’s dilemma over climate policy, which environmentalists say has taken a back seat during the energy crisis that has hit Europe after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, forcing a return to dirtier fuels.
It is particularly sensitive for the Greens party, now back in power as part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government after 16 years in opposition. Many Greens oppose the mine’s expansion, but Habeck has been the face of the government’s decision.
[1/14] Police officers keep guard as activists stage a sit-in protest against the expansion of the Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine of Germany’s utility RWE, in Luetzerath, Germany, January 11, 2023 that has highlighted tensions over Germany’s climate policy during an energy crisis. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen
“The empty settlement of Luetzerath, where no one lives any more, is the wrong symbol in my view,” Habeck said with reference to the demonstration.
HEAVY MACHINERY
Birte, a 51-year-old midwife who joined the protest on Sunday, was in tears as police led her away.
She said it was important for politically moderate citizens to attend the protest, to show “that these are not just young, crazy, violent people, but that there are people who care”.
Police have urged the protesters to leave the area and remain peaceful.
“It’s a big challenge for the police and we need a lot of special forces here to deal with the situation. We have aerial rescue specialists,” said police spokesperson Andreas Mueller.
“These are all factors that make it difficult to tell how long this will last. We expect it to continue for a least several weeks.”
A Reuters eyewitness saw police using heavy machinery to start dismantling high barricades.
RWE said earlier on Wednesday it would start to dismantle Luetzerath, and had begun building a fence around the area.
“RWE is appealing to the squatters to observe the rule of law and to end the illegal occupation of buildings, plants and sites belonging to RWE peacefully,” RWE said.
The fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Scholz’s government to change course on previous policies.
Those include firing up mothballed coal power plants and extending the lifespan of nuclear power stations after Russia cut gas deliveries to Europe in an energy standoff that sent prices soaring.
The government has, however, brought forward the date when all brown coal power plants will be shut down in North Rhine-Westphalia, to 2030 from 2038, acceding to a campaign promise from the Greens.
Writing by Paul Carrel and Matthias Williams; Editing by Tom Hogue, Christopher Cushing, Conor Humphries and Alison Williams
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
UK approves first coal mine in decades, sparking anger among environmentalists as energy costs soar
GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan forecasts the national average for regular gas to drop 32 cents per gallon in December and the price of diesel to retreat even more on ‘Varney & Co.’
The United Kingdom this week approved its first new coal mine in 30 years, provoking anger among environmentalists who said the move is a step back for the country’s ambitions toward clean renewable energy.
The decision on the mine in the Cumbria area of northwest England came hours after the Conservative-led government reversed a ban on building new onshore wind farms in Britain. That was viewed by some opponents as a cynical attempt to offset criticism of the mine decision.
FILE: An offshore wind farm is visible from the beach in Hartlepool, England, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein / AP Newsroom)
Supporters, meanwhile, say the mine will bring much-needed jobs to an area hard hit by the closures of its mines and factories in recent decades.
The mine decision comes as many homes and businesses have seen energy bills double or, in some cases, triple this past year. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has also sent gas prices soaring in Britain, prompting the government to bolster its domestic energy supply.
CHINA CALLS FOR OIL TO BE TRADED WITH YUAN AT GULF SUMMIT IN SAUDI ARABIA
Wind produced more than a quarter of the U.K.’s electricity in 2021. But the Conservative government has since 2015 opposed new wind turbines on land because of local opposition. A majority of Britain’s wind farms are at sea.
While running for the Conservative Party’s leadership in the summer, now-Prime Minister Sunak pledged to keep the ban. But amid growing calls for change from Conservative lawmakers, the government said Tuesday it could allow wind farms in areas where communities support them, pending a “technical consultation.”
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – OCTOBER 24: Rishi Sunak is greeted by supporters as he arrives at the Conservative Party Campaign Headquarters after being announced the winner of Conservative Party leadership contest in London, United Kingdom on October 24, (Photo by Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“Decisions on onshore wind sites will continue to be made at a local level as these are best made by local representatives who know their areas best and are democratically accountable to the local community,” the government said in a statement.
Caroline Lucas, Britain’s only Green Party lawmaker, said ending the ban on onshore wind was welcome, though “the devil is in the detail.”
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“But if this is meant to ‘buy off’ giving the green light to the Cumbria coal mine later this week, it would be totally & utterly shameless,” she wrote on Twitter before approval for the mine was announced.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
White House responds to Joe Manchin criticism of President Biden’s comments on future of coal
While speaking at an event Friday in Carlsbad, Calif., to highlight the Democratic Party’s achievements heading into the midterms, Biden celebrated the passage of the Chips and Science Act by championing new energy technologies and suggested coal plants should be a thing of the past.
“No one is building new coal plants, because they can’t rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of their existence of the plant. So it’s going to become a wind generation,” Biden said.
Later, he added: “We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar.”
That prompted a rebuke from Manchin, who on Saturday called the comments “outrageous and divorced from reality.”
Manchin, who represents a coal-producing state, said “comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden.”
“It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day,” Manchin added. “Politicizing our nation’s energy policies would only bring higher prices and more pain for the American people.”
In an evenly divided Senate, key parts of Biden’s agenda have often succeeded or failed on Manchin’s leaning. The senator almost single-handedly put the brakes on Biden’s Build Back Better plan, a $2 trillion social spending package.
Manchin said Biden owes an apology to coal workers.
“Being cavalier about the loss of coal jobs for men and women in West Virginia and across the country who literally put their lives on the line to help build and power this country is offensive and disgusting,” the senator said.
Soon after, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a conciliatory statement.
“President Biden knows that the men and women of coal country built this nation: they powered its steel mills and factories, kept its homes and schools and offices warm,” Jean-Pierre said. “They made this the most productive and powerful nation on Earth.”
Jean-Pierre said Saturday that Biden’s words were manipulated to cause harm, noting that the president has no desire to put more Americans out of work. The unemployment rate has dropped below 4 percent since Biden took office, she mentioned, while pointing out that it was 6.2 percent in the last month before the president entered the White House.
“The President’s remarks yesterday have been twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended; he regrets it if anyone hearing these remarks took offense,” Jean-Pierre said. “The President was commenting on a fact of economics and technology: as it has been from its earliest days as an energy superpower, America is once again in the midst of an energy transition.”
Joe Manchin erupts at Biden over coal comments
Washington
CNN
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Sen. Joe Manchin on Saturday slammed President Joe Biden after he called for coal plants across the US to be shuttered, saying Biden’s remarks are “outrageous and divorced from reality” and suggesting it’s “time he learn a lesson.”
Biden, while speaking at a stop in Carlsbad, California, on Friday about the CHIPS and Science Act, said, “We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar also providing tax credit to help families buy energy-efficient appliances.”
Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who has longtime ties to the coal industry, seized on the comments in a statement on Saturday, calling them “not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs.”
“Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure. It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day. Politicizing our nation’s energy policies would only bring higher prices and more pain for the American people,” Manchin continued.
It’s not unusual for Manchin, a moderate Democrat who has refused to say whether he thinks Biden deserves a second term in office, to criticize Biden’s agenda, and his reluctance at times to support Democratic initiatives has prevented the President from achieving some legislative goals. But Saturday’s statement is an extraordinary rebuke by a sitting US senator of his party’s leader, and serves to illustrate the ongoing tension between the centrist and more progressive wings of the Democratic Party.
Manchin, a senator from a deep-red state who is up for reelection in 2024, further sought to distance himself from Biden in his statement when he said, “Let me be clear, this is something the President has never said to me.”
“Being cavalier about the loss of coal jobs for men and women in West Virginia and across the country who literally put their lives on the line to help build and power this country is offensive and disgusting. The President owes these incredible workers an immediate and public apology and it is time he learn a lesson that his words matter and have consequences,” Manchin concluded.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded in a statement Saturday saying Biden’s words have been “twisted.”
“The President’s remarks yesterday have been twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended; he regrets it if anyone hearing these remarks took offense. The President was commenting on a fact of economics and technology: as it has been from its earliest days as an energy superpower, America is once again in the midst of an energy transition,” Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre’s statement only mentioned Manchin directly once, saying he is a “tireless advocate for his state and the hard-working men and women who live there.”
This story has been updated with additional reaction.
Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari shares photo of coal miner who rushed from work for son’s first game — and invites the family to Lexington for a game
CNN
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A Kentucky coal miner who rushed straight from work to take his family to a University of Kentucky Wildcats practice game is on the shortlist for father of the year and earned praise from legendary coach John Calipari, who shared a picture of him and expressed admiration for his hard work and dedication to his son.
The photo, which has now gone viral, shows Michael McGuire and his son sitting in the stands at Saturday’s Blue-White Game scrimmage that was played in Pikeville, in Eastern Kentucky.
McGuire is still wearing his work uniform and heavy boots and his face and arms are covered in black coal dust.
Kentucky fan Sue Kinneer took the photo and posted it on several Wildcats fan pages on Facebook in hopes that someone from the coach’s staff would see it and send the little boy an autograph.
The plan worked better than she hoped and Calipari shared the photo on social media.
“My family’s American dream started in a Clarksburg, WV coal mine, so this picture hits home. From what I’ve been told, after his shift, he raced to be with his son & watch our team. Don’t know who this is, but I have tickets for him & his family at Rupp to be treated as VIPs!!,” Calipari tweeted. (The Rupp Arena is the home of the University of Kentucky basketball team.)
McGuire had not yet been identified at that point, but Kentucky fans quickly found him and connected the coach with the family.
McGuire told CNN affiliate WKYT that he was at work underground while all this was happening and had no idea any of it was going on.
“When I got out and got service on my way home, it went crazy … I couldn’t believe that it was real,” he told WKYT.
McGuire told the station that he only had about 45 minutes to get to the game when he got off work on Saturday and he didn’t want to miss his son Easton’s first basketball experience.
“It was either go straight there, or miss half the game to go home and take a shower and everything,” he told the affiliate.
He said Easton had a great time and they are now looking forward to going to a home game at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
“He had a blast. He was dancing and every time they would slam dunk it, he would go crazy,” McGuire told WKYT.
And McGuire, a lifetime Kentucky fan, got to talk with Calipari on Monday night.
“It was awesome, he was really down to earth,” McGuire told WKYT.
Calipari told reporters on Tuesday that he talked to McGuire’s wife, Mollie, first because her husband was still at work.
“And Mollie’s comment to me is, ‘My husband is humble. He’s hard-working. This is hard work, but he makes enough being there that I don’t have to work. And he’s a great father. He’s done this many times,” Calipari said.
The coach said he hopes McGuire will be a lesson for his players.
“I talked to my guys about it. It’s just a great lesson, and I showed ‘em the picture yesterday of Michael and his son, and I talked about hard, backbreaking work that’s honorable work, but that he makes time for his son, even when he knew he couldn’t shower. It didn’t matter what he looked like, he just wanted to be with his son,” Calipari said.
The McGuires haven’t decided which game they will go to, but Calipari said that hotels, restaurants and other local businesses are tripping over themselves to do something nice for them when they come to town.
“Isn’t it neat for someone like that, who is a quiet, humble guy to know people appreciate you, and we appreciate what you stand for,” Calipari told reporters. “And I appreciate it because it’s how my family got their start in this country.”
Kentucky held the Blue-White Game in Pikeville to raise money for Eastern Kentucky flood relief.
Turkey coal mine explosion kills 40, traps dozens
CNN
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An explosion inside a coal mine in northern Turkey has killed at least 40 people and left 11 others hospitalized, state news media reported on Saturday.
The explosion took place in the Black Sea town of Amasra in Bartin province on Friday, trapping dozens beneath the rubble of the blast.
Eleven wounded workers were treated in hospitals, state news agency Anadolu said citing a statement from the country’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.
Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez said that a fire that broke out after the blast is largely under control, Anadolu reported.
Rescuers are working through the night as the death toll rises, with video footage from the scene showing miners emerging blackened and bleary-eyed.
There were 110 people in the mine at the time of the explosion, said Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who traveled to Amasra to coordinate the search and rescue operation.
Officials have not yet determined the cause of the explosion.
“We are doing our best to ensure that the injured recover as soon as possible,” Koca told reporters.
“I wish God’s mercy on each of them.”
Turkey witnessed its deadliest ever coal mining disaster in 2014, when 301 people died after a blast in the western town of Soma.
The disaster fueled public anger and discontent towards the government’s response to the tragedy.