The Legacy of Believing Coal Mining Can Come Back

 

The only constituency that cherishes coal production, and it is still a powerful group, is in coal producing states. The above chart reflects not just the numbers from the United States but an international trend as well. What the numbers above do not show is the earlier, decades-long decline in US coal extraction and its concomitant impact on coal-industry employment. Despite campaign promises to the contrary, Donald Trump’s presidency, as the above graph illustrates, generated the largest number coal mine closures in history. The world has slowly come to the realization that “King Coal” has been dethroned. We know that “clean coal” is nothing more than pumping effluents from coal extraction and usage underground, and while coal-fired electrical plants can be “scrubbed,” that process is at best a partial solution.

Even as the Ukraine war has put pressure on keeping coal-fired production alive a bit longer, in truth, except for the coal-favored constituency noted above, coal usage will continue to decline. It is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. As a result of these macroeconomic and environmental concerns, investments in coal production and usage are falling, maintenance and upgrades to existing facilities are not financially justified and serial, large scale bankruptcy of coal-related businesses is leaving massive vestigial pollution with no responsible funding for the needed clean-up of toxic remains.

The EPA Super Fund is overwhelmed with serious pollution challenges. Taxpayers foot the bill of misleading and futile efforts to keep coal mines and electrical plants going, without maintenance, until that misplaced belief leaves crumbling facilities and their toxic remains “relieved” by a filings in federal bankruptcy court. Congress anticipated this issue, but not on the scale that would ultimately be required to contain the expected damage.

“When Congress passed surface mining regulations in 1977, federal and state rules included bonding requirements to ensure that mines would no longer be abandoned without sufficient cleanup funds. Ever since, mine operators have been required to post bond money upon opening a new mine to ensure that regulatory authorities can reclaim the land if the operator is unable to, typically due to bankruptcy. The 1977 law requires companies to reclaim the land in order to get their bonds back, which happens in phases as reclamation proceeds and inspectors sign off on the results.

“Now that the coal industry is in its twilight years, a few companies have been unable to fulfill their reclamation obligations. If this continues, Kentucky and Virginia are among those that could face massive cleanup costs that outweigh the millions of dollars set aside for reclamation.” Kevin Ridder writing for The Appalachian Voice (2/24/20). There was an active trade in permits and reclamation rights, once a viable way for cash-strapped coal operations to survive, even in bankruptcy reorganization (Chapter 11). But with the entire notion of coal production fading fast, bankruptcy these days is more likely to be full liquidation (Chapter 7)… and that trading practice is no longer viable. We could have suffered less if realism had played a bigger role in our policies.

The damage from uncontained effluents extends well beyond surface mining damage. Lakes, streams and aquifers in coal regions are often so polluted and toxic that without severe governmental intervention, that damage can linger for decades. Toxins leach into the surrounding land, settle at the bottom of these waterways, and often spread that risk to drinking water and water used for irrigation. Aside from what most people assume about coal effluents, coal waste also contains high levels of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic, which are highly toxic both to plant and animal life.

There are small silver linings to all this, hardly enough to offset the damage, but a nascent level of hidden value. Writing for the May 19th Washington Post, Austyn Gaffney and Dane Rhys explain: “On the site of a shuttered and bankrupt coal mine near the headwaters of the Potomac River, the state of West Virginia is building a demonstration plant that researchers say could help spur efforts to clean up thousands of miles of waterways contaminated by coal-mining waste.

“After decades when coal states struggled to pay for the costs of cleaning up contaminated rivers and lakes, recent scientific advances and new technology make it far more feasible to recycle the highly acidic and mineral-rich liquid coal waste known as acid mine drainage (AMD), these researchers say.

“And on the site of what was once the Buffalo Coal Company’s A34 surface mine, there is an additional financial and strategic incentive. When it’s fully operational — in late summer or early fall, according to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection — the Buffalo Coal A34 plant will recover critical metals including cobalt and nickel and the rare earth elements used in cellphones, electric cars and other technology from those toxic waters…

“The recovery of those elements could help reduce the ongoing cost of mine cleanup and lessen America’s reliance on China for materials critical to the shift to a clean energy economy. While these initiatives don’t currently pay for themselves, they are gaining traction for their role in tackling the legacy of dirty energy while trying to minimize the environmental impact of the new energy that’s replacing it. ‘If your sludge has value, why throw it in the garbage can?’ said Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of West Virginia University’s Water Research Institute, which has pioneered research into recycling acid mine drainage.” Reclaimed surface mines can also be used as sites for solar and wind farms, adding jobs to coal-producing regions where unemployment is reaching record levels despite a national shortage of qualified workers.

What false prophets and mendacious candidates have wreaked by pledging to restore coal mining and electrical power generation, a promise global market forces are rendering impossible to achieve, is coal workers’ expecting to get their jobs back… refusing to enter alternative employment opportunities. You can see, firsthand, where such false promises have led in the voting record of Joe Manchin (D, WVa), a man whose family is heavily financially invested in the coal industry. See my February 13th Manchin-ian Heresy, Part 2 blog for specifics of his horrific conflicts of interest. The clock of climate change is ticking. Greed and games notwithstanding.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the impossible notion of keeping a dying industry alive combined with a “Let’s not spend money containing climate change” just might kill us… or our children.