Vast coal seams dozens of feet thick that lie beneath the rolling hills of the Northern Plains once appeared almost limitless, fueling boasts that domestic reserves were sufficient to power the U.S. for centuries.
But an exhaustive government analysis says that at current prices and mining rates the country’s largest coal reserves, located along the Montana-Wyoming border, will be tapped out in just a few decades.
The finding by the U.S. Geological Survey upends conventional wisdom on the lifespan for the nation’s top coal-producing region, the Powder River Basin. It also reflects the changing economic realities for companies seeking to profit off extracting the fuel as mining costs rise, coal prices fall and political pressure grows over coal’s contribution to climate change.
“You’re looking at a forty-year life span, maximum, for Powder River coal,” said USGS geologist Jon Haacke, one of the authors of the analysis.
Claims that the U.S. had reserves sufficient to last as long as 250 years came from “greatly inflated” estimates of how much coal could be mined, Haacke added. They were based on data put out by the U.S. Energy Department, which for decades has made little distinction between coal reserves that reasonably could be mined and those that could not.
The perception of coal’s abundance began to shift in 2008, when the USGS team released initial data that called into question the longevity of U.S. supplies.
Yet assertions that America was the “Saudi Arabia of coal” persisted, including in 2010 by President Barack Obama and continuing in recent months by industry supporters. The Department of Energy states on its website that based on current mining rates, “estimated recoverable coal reserves would last about 261 years.”
Belying that outlook is both the USGS assessment and the industry’s recent changes in fortune. Mine production has dropped after many electric utilities switched from coal to cheaper natural gas. Two of the three biggest domestic coal companies, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources, declared bankruptcy in the past 18 months.
Leslie Glustrom, an environmental activist from Boulder, Colorado, who has urged the Energy Department to change how it tallies up the nation’s untapped resources, said she believes the end for the Powder River Basin is coming even more rapidly than the USGS study suggests. And she said it has little to do with a “war on coal” that Republicans frequently accuse the Obama administration of waging.
“This is not a political problem. It’s a geologic problem,” Glustrom said.
In Wyoming, which produces about 40 percent of the nation’s coal, State Lands Director Bridget Hill said she had no reason to dispute the USGS findings, but found no cause for alarm. Flagging global demand could rebound, she said. Proposed coal ports now stalled on the West Coast could get built. And a rise in oil and gas prices could make coal competitive again.
“The economics might be different from what we know now,” Hill said.
It’s been four decades since its low-sulfur content first made Powder River Basin coal the fuel of choice among electric utilities that needed to cut their sulfur dioxide pollution. Sprawling strip mines in the region have since removed more than 11 billion tons of coal, the equivalent of 95 million loaded rail cars.
To gauge how much coal remains, USGS researchers since 2004 have analyzed the geology from minerals removed by 30,000 holes drilled deep into the earth. The data revealed almost 1.1 trillion tons of coal buried across the 20,000-square mile Powder River Basin. Of that, only 162 billion tons is within coal seams considered thick enough and close enough to the surface to make extracting them worthwhile.
The amount drops even more drastically when the coal’s quality is factored in and compared against current prices. When the USGS data was first compiled, in 2013, Powder River Basin coal was selling for $10.90 a ton, resulting in about 23 billion tons being designated as economically-recoverable.
With coal prices down to $9.55 a ton, the reserve estimate has plummeted to just 16 billion tons, Haacke said. That’s equivalent to 40 years at the current production pace of 400 million tons annually from the basin’s 16 mines in Wyoming and Montana.
Meanwhile, mining costs have trended up. That’s been driven by an increase in the “stripping ratio” — how many tons of earth must be removed to mine a ton of coal __ as the region’s thick coal seams curve gradually deeper into the earth.
Before it went bankrupt, Arch Coal saw its profit margin in the Powder River Basin slide from $1.67 per ton to 26-cents per ton, according to company filings with securities regulators. Other companies have reported a similar trend.
“It became two to one, then three to one, then three-and-a-half to one,” Haacke said of the stripping ratio. “That becomes a dirt-moving operation rather than a coal-moving operation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Here we see more of what the devil is doing everywhere in America:
Oil-Prices down + production down = more unemployment!!!
Coal- Prices down + production down = more unemployment!!!
Natural Gas- Prices down + production down = more unemployment!!!
Food- Prices up + production outside of America = more unemployment!!!
Medicines- Prices up + health down = more death!!!
Health Care- Prices up + health down = more death!!!
Education- Quality down + costs up = more destruction!!!
Families- Living together outside of marriage = more destruction!!!
Products- Prices up + production outside of America = more unemployment!!!GOD
GOD’s Warning: Matthew 24New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Signs of Christ’s Return
24 Jesus came out from the temple and was going away [a]when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”
3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the [b]end of the age?”
4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the [c]Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 At that time many will [d]fall away and will [e]betray one another and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 Because lawlessness is increased, [f]most people’s love will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole [g]world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Perilous Times
15 “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 [h]Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 18 [i]Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 Unless those days had been cut short, no [j]life would have been saved; but for the sake of the [k]elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the [l]Christ,’ or ‘[m]There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will [n]show great [o]signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the [p]elect. 25 Behold, I have told you in advance. 26 So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. 27 For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the [q]vultures will gather.
The Glorious Return
29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from [r]the sky, and the powers of [s]the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His [t]elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
Parable of the Fig Tree
32 “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; 33 so, you too, when you see all these things, [u]recognize that [v]He is near, right at the [w]door. 34 Truly I say to you, this [x]generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 37 For [y]the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not [z]understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then there will be two men in the field; one [aa]will be taken and one [ab]will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the [ac]mill; one [ad]will be taken and one [ae]will be left.
Be Ready for His Coming
42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 But [af]be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be [ag]broken into. 44 For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
45 “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his [ah]master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his [ai]master finds so doing when he comes. 47 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My [aj]master [ak]is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the [al]master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will [am]cut him in pieces and [an]assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Footnotes:
Matthew 24:1 Lit and
Matthew 24:3 Or consummation
Matthew 24:5 I.e. the Messiah
Matthew 24:10 Lit be caused to stumble
Matthew 24:10 Or hand over
Matthew 24:12 Lit the love of many
Matthew 24:14 Lit inhabited earth
Matthew 24:17 Lit He who
Matthew 24:18 Lit He who
Matthew 24:22 Lit flesh
Matthew 24:22 Or chosen ones
Matthew 24:23 I.e. Messiah
Matthew 24:23 Lit here
Matthew 24:24 Lit give
Matthew 24:24 Or attesting miracles
Matthew 24:24 Or chosen ones
Matthew 24:28 Or eagles
Matthew 24:29 Or heaven
Matthew 24:29 Or heaven
Matthew 24:31 Or chosen ones
Matthew 24:33 Or know
Matthew 24:33 Or it
Matthew 24:33 Lit doors
Matthew 24:34 Or race
Matthew 24:37 Lit just as…were the days
Matthew 24:39 Lit know
Matthew 24:40 Lit is
Matthew 24:40 Lit is
Matthew 24:41 I.e. handmill
Matthew 24:41 Lit is
Matthew 24:41 Lit is
Matthew 24:43 Lit know this
Matthew 24:43 Lit dug through
Matthew 24:45 Or lord
Matthew 24:46 Or lord
Matthew 24:48 Or lord
Matthew 24:48 Lit lingers
Matthew 24:50 Or lord
Matthew 24:51 Or severely scourge him
Matthew 24:51 Lit appoint his portion
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
GOD’s Solution- Revelation 22:17
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
Totally, right-on information, my friend! Excellent response!
Politics, Politics,Politics!!!!!
Just how stupid do you think we are. And you wonder why the people don’t trust the government.