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Fourth-Largest Coal Producer in the US Files for Bankruptcy

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday May 16 2019, @02:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-a-coalition dept.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Fourth-largest coal producer in the US files for bankruptcy

Cloud Peak Energy, the US' fourth-largest coal mining company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last week as the company missed an extension deadline to make a $1.8 million loan payment.

In a statement, Cloud Peak said it will continue to operate its three massive coal mines in Wyoming and Montana while it goes through the restructuring process. Colin Marshall, the president and CEO of the company, said that he believed a sale of the company's assets "will provide the best opportunity to maximize value for Cloud Peak Energy."

Cloud Peak was one of the few major coal producers who escaped the significant coal industry downturn between 2015 and 2016. That bought it a reputation for prudence and business acumen.

But thinning margins have strained the mining company as customers for thermal coal continue to dry up. Coal-fired electricity is expected to fall this summer, even though summer months are usually boom times for coal plants as air conditioning bolsters electricity demand. That's because cheap natural gas and a boost in renewable capacity have displaced dirtier, more expensive coal.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by ikanreed on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:56PM (5 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:56PM (#844375) Journal

    Not true. Its burning releases less CO2 but its mining(and pipeline leaks, and truck leaks) releases a substantial amount of CH4 which is a very powerful greenhouse gas. The lifetime heat forcing effect of each molecule of methane is about 30x that of carbon dioxide, about the same as substratospheric ozone. The net effect is that while at the point of burning it looks less harmful, whole energy lifecycle greenhouse emission is about the same as coal.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:18PM (3 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:18PM (#844387) Journal

    I literally just addressed the methane (CH4) problem... Yes, it's C02 equivalence is 25 (not 30), but those emissions are almost all preventable.

    You need to compare the cost of extracting natural gas to extracting coal. Extracting coal is way more dirty and energy intensive than nat gas. And, it has the benefit of generating massive quantities of hazardous waste.

    And on top of all that, remember that coal ash waste is MORE radioactive than nuclear waste! [curiosity.com]

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:30PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:30PM (#844392) Journal

      Hundreds of Workers Who Cleaned Up the Country’s Worst Coal Ash Spill Are Now Sick and Dying [nrdc.org]

      three days before Christmas 2008, more than 1.5 million tons of coal ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, broke out of a Tennessee power plant, pouring into the Emory and Clinch rivers and covering 300 acres, including the small community of Swan Pond, with a thick gray sludge. The muck, which contained toxic substances such as arsenic, lead, mercury, and radium, flooded about two dozen houses. McCarthy’s home was not one of them, but he was part of the crew handling the cleanup, an effort that lasted years.

      ..A decade later, the McCarthys are sick. According to a civil lawsuit against McCarthy’s former employer, Jacobs Engineering, LLC, they are suffering ailments linked to coal ash exposure. McCarthy has undergone three heart surgeries since 2012 and is plagued by breathing problems and chest pains. He also reports low testosterone levels, a condition that saps his energy and lowers his sex drive.

      .. A 2018 study found children and pregnant women are more vulnerable to the effects of coal ash, which include birth defects, developmental delays, various types of cancer, and damage to the heart, lungs, and nervous system. According to a report from Physicians for Social Responsibility, “coal ash toxins have the potential to injure all of the major organ systems.”

      ..The United States produces more than 130 million tons of the stuff each year, kept in more than 1,100 sites across the country. Utilities often wet the ash and contain it within unlined ponds, a practice that a 2016 Duke University study found to contaminate surface water and groundwater with high levels of arsenic and selenium at 21 power plants in five southeastern states.

    • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:43PM (1 child)

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:43PM (#844399) Journal

      I'm definitely not coming at this from a "coal is good actually" perspective. That seems to be the intuition you've developed.

      Just that the change the markets have brought us have left some of the biggest and nastiest externalities sitting on the table exactly where they were when we started.

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:52PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:52PM (#844407) Journal

        Neither am I re: natural gas!

        But, if we want to tackle this problem it seems wisest to focus on the biggest polluters, first.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @09:44AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @09:44AM (#844651)

    Not true.

    Please. Go back to school or semething because your brain is broken. Can't even be bothered to lookup with google. Even without google it's irrational.

    Its burning releases less CO2

    Natural gas releases significantly less CO2 per unit energy than coal. Like almost 50% less.

    https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=73&t=11 [eia.gov]