Trump Administration Proposes Rollbacks for Two Obama-Era Coal Pollution Rules – The Allegheny Front
Coal
In Pro-Trump West Virginia Coal Country, the Jobs Keep Leaving
Inefficient coal plant scheduling cost ratepayers $3.5B from 2015 to 2017, report says | Utility Dive
Regulated utilities cost ratepayers over $3.5 billion from 2015 to 2017 through uneconomic coal practices, according to a report released Tuesday from the Sierra Club.
Vertically-integrated utilities consistently operated coal units based on their own scheduling rather than relying on market signals to determine when running that plant would be most economic, the report found. The practice, known as self-scheduling, became common when there were fewer cost-effective alternative resources, but now hinders the ability of other resources, wind and solar, to compete in power markets, research has previously found.
Without self-scheduling, coal-powered generation would have dropped 10% and the median market price would have risen 30% or $7.7/kWh in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) from 2015 to 2017, according to modeling scenarios run for the report by Synapse Energy Economics.
Coal Strip Mines In Penna
This map shows the location of surface mining of coal by removing material which lies above the coal seam. Includes, but is not limited to, strip, auger, quarry, dredging, and leaching mines. You might get a better view of the mines by zooming in and switching to the satellite view.
Data Source: PASDA, 2018 Coal Mining Operations Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. http://www.pasda.psu.edu/uci/DataSummary.aspx?dataset=271
Acid rain consensus cloudy | News, Sports, Jobs – Adirondack Daily Enterprise
Last week the Adirondack Council issued a statement on acid rain in the Adirondacks, linking increasing pollution from Midwest power plants to a rise in the acidity of clouds here and saying, “It is troubling to see acid rain re-emerge as a threat to the Adirondack Park.”
The researchers who collected that cloud data, while agreeing with the Council on the need to keep acid rain at bay, disagreed that the cloud pH levels have “reversed their previous trends.” They said a drop between 2016 and 2017 was “minor” and “a natural variation.” They also said that the latest data shows the acidity of Adirondack clouds continues to improve.
I think it's a mistake to say that running flue gas desulfurizaiton is free or universally good. Just because a few plants are operating without using the FGD stacks running due to equipment failure, doesn't mean that the acid rain cap and trade program is not working. Sulfur credits are cheap, because it's working so well. Capturing sulfur dioxide is both very energy intensive (more carbon emissions) and uses a lot of space to landfill the often contaminated gypsum.