With news leaking that as many as four of EPA’s rules targeting the coal fleet will be finalized next week, including the so-called Clean Power Plan 2.0, EPA is delivering a cumulative and decisive blow to the nation’s grid reliability it has refused to acknowledge or analyze in its rulemakings. While EPA has downplayed the impact of each of its rules, asking for each to be viewed in isolation, its strategy has always been to deliver a cumulative knockout punch to force accelerated plant retirements. And it’s poised to deliver that punch precisely as concern over the perilous state of the nati ..read more

The National Mining Association (NMA) has released a new paper on the collision of soaring power demand with rapidly eroding grid reliability driven by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulatory agenda. This is a familiar story to readers of this blog, but this new white paper connects some important dots on the interconnected challenges bearing down on our supply of power while also providing recommendations for how to responsibly navigate the road ahead. “This paper clearly shows America’s electricity reality: our ability to keep the lights on now and in the future is in the ..read more

The tragic collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26 and its impact on the Port of Baltimore has brought a fresh eye to the importance of U.S. coal exports to domestic miners but also to global markets. It has also highlighted that global coal demand continues to grow, hitting a new record last year and surpassing 8.5 billion tons for the first time. U.S. coal exports are a critical piece of that global equation, reaching more than 70 nations. The Port of Baltimore is the nation’s second largest hub for coal exports behind Norfolk, Virginia and accounts for 28% of U.S. coal ..read more

It is becoming inarguably clear the U.S. is in for a surge in electricity demand. The Biden EPA just finalized its tailpipe rule and by 2032, 70% of new cars will run primarily on electricity. New semiconductor and battery manufacturing plants are connecting to the grid with power demands that rival small cities. Add in AI and the explosive growth of data centers and we’re jumping from an era of flat power demand to one with breakneck growth overnight. The world is now adding a new data center every three days. The International Energy Agency estimates that data centers’ electricity consumptio ..read more

Over the past few weeks, both The Washington Post and The New York Times have discovered the sudden reemergence of soaring electricity demand and its collision with the nation’s teetering supply of power. The Post feature, which ran on the front page the morning of the State of the Union, was dramatically titled, “Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power.” Both articles dug into the outsized role of data centers and AI, alongside electrification and ballooning investment in domestic manufacturing, in driving new demand. And both pieces warned that the nation’s supply of electri ..read more

The fourth quarter of 2023 brought a surge in U.S. coal exports and there are promising signs the robust market for U.S. coal will continue. Total 2023 Q4 exports surged 25% year-over-year compared with 2022, according to S&P Global. The surge in exports was led by cargoes to India where the volume of imported U.S. coal doubled, grabbing nearly a third of U.S. export volumes. While exports to Europe retreated from their highs in 2022 during the scramble to replace Russian energy, exports to China, Morocco and Turkey also increased to close out 2023. For the year, coal exports rose 17.7% fr ..read more

When the polar vortex slammed much of the country in January, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) member Mark Christie spoke up about the irreplaceable role dispatchable capacity, namely coal and gas, played in keeping the lights and heat on when power demand peaked. Now, a new report from Energy Ventures Analysis (EVA) goes deeper into the numbers, underscoring just how irreplaceable that dispatchable capacity was across the country as demand soared.   What EVA found is telling: Coal and gas rose to the occasion while wind faced huge fluctuations in availability and solar “was en ..read more

Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals put an end to the unlawful federal coal leasing moratorium, concluding a saga that stretches back to the Obama administration. Rich Nolan, President and CEO of the National Mining Association, said, “This is a victory for American-mined energy.” He added, “With this ruling, important projects can once again advance and support the production of affordable, reliable power to the grid, while creating jobs and economic development across the country, helping federal, state and localities with necessary funding by contributing hundreds of millions each ..read more

Concern about its ability to keep the lights on has led FirstEnergy, one of the nation’s largest regulated utilities, to walk back the proposed closure of two of its coal power plants. The decision to continue the operation of the utility’s two West Virginia coal plants past 2030 – the Fort Martin and Harrison power stations – is the latest sign that regulatory pressure to push the nation’s coal fleet aside is now colliding with on-the-ground reality. FirstEnergy cited concerns from grid operator PJM Interconnection – the operator of the nation’s largest grid – about a lack of adequate ge ..read more

As the world begins to use more and more variable renewable energy, we’re learning in real-time just how much more complex and challenging navigating the energy transition will be. A new paper from the International Energy Agency’s International Centre for Sustainable Carbon finds that a potential over-reliance on variable power in trying to maintain a stable, reliable and affordable electricity system is a growing and unnecessary risk as dispatchable generation is pushed aside at an alarming rate. The paper compellingly highlights that moving to a variable-heavy electricity system requires co ..read more