Attempt to subsidize coal plants rejected.

[panamaican]

The Federal Energy Regulation Commission just rejected Trump and the Department of Energy's desire to subsidize coal and nuclear plants that keep a 90 day supply of fuel in stock.

The FERC noted that outages are pretty much never caused by a lack of supply thus it's not a good reason to subsidize those plants. There was more in the ruling but that stood out to me.

I'm glad for this. Nothing against coal country but there's no reason to subsidize that industry. There are better and cheaper alternatives. And when we just cut the corporate tax rate, why would these companies need even more money from the tax payer?

http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/08/investing/ferc-ruling-coal-nuclear/

(yes, it's a cnn link. If you don't like it, google "FERC" and "coal plan")

 

[Islam Imamate]

yes, it's a cnn link

Fake News

 

[mb23100]

Dear Donald,
You already won. Please stop the "bring back coal"charade.
Sincerely,
Everyone

 

[HomerThompson]

The Federal Energy Regulation Commission just rejected Trump and the Department of Energy's desire to subsidize coal and nuclear plants that keep a 90 day supply of fuel in stock.

The FERC noted that outages are pretty much never caused by a lack of supply thus it's not a good reason to subsidize those plants. There was more in the ruling but that stood out to me.

I'm glad for this. Nothing against coal country but there's no reason to subsidize that industry. There are better and cheaper alternatives. And when we just cut the corporate tax rate, why would these companies need even more money from the tax payer?

http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/08/investing/ferc-ruling-coal-nuclear/

(yes, it's a cnn link. If you don't like it, google "FERC" and "coal plan")

@IndustryKickBacks BTFO!!!

 

[LMP]

#makingcoalcleanagain

 

[Curmudgeon]

Garbage op.

 

[JSN]

but this is clean coal.

 

[HomerThompson]

 

[HomerThompson]

but this is clean coal.

 

[HomerThompson]

Seriously though, thank god we have some independent regulatory agencies.

 

[JosephDredd]

I wonder if this is just going to be a temporary setback.

 

[Limbo Pete]

I wonder if this is just going to be a temporary setback.

I would assume so

 

[JosephDredd]

I found these articles as I was trying to do more reading.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thebak...leaves-coal-country-in-the-cold/#19b736e740e5

Trump's Energy Budget Leaves Coal Country In The Cold

Enthusiasm for coal and skepticism toward climate change were two of the themes consistently emphasized by the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. This week the administration unveiled its first budget, ambitiously titled “America First: A Blueprint to Make America Great Again.”As expected, the budget proposes dramatic cuts to the clean energy research and development that was promoted during the Obama Administration. Somewhat more surprising was the 56% cut to the fossil energy portfolio, to include shuttering one of the flagship National Energy Technology Laboratory sites in the heart of coal country.

The Trump Administration has not made a serious effort to rally congressional support for this proposal, so it is unlikely the ideas expressed in this budget will become law. Notably, the Republican led Congress went in exactly the opposite direction in the 2017 omnibus bill by increasing DOE funding to applied energy and science. This budget is dead on arrival, but it should prompt policymakers and stakeholders to examine the appropriate role of government R&D in the area of energy security, environmental stewardship and technological innovation.

Cuts to fossil energy R&D

The 56% reduction in funding to fossil energy R&D – from the $631 million appropriated by congress in 2017 to the proposed level of $280 million – would represent an elimination of major programs and capabilities.

Most of the department’s fossil energy research supports efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil energy systems. The primary focus is on coal fired power plants, but research is also relevant to gas fired generation and industrial sources of emissions such as cement plants, chemical plants and refineries.

The carbon capture and the carbon storage programs support research to separate CO2 from plant emissions for permanent underground storage. The advanced energy systems program conducts research on advanced turbines, fuel cells, and other advanced systems to more efficiently use fossil energy resources. The oil and natural gas program focuses on quantifying the risks that drilling activity may pose to human health and the environment, from induced seismicity to the protection of drinking water.

That's from November. Anyone know of any new developments?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...meback-miners-reject-retraining-idUSKBN1D14G0

Awaiting Trump's coal comeback, miners reject retraining

When Mike Sylvester entered a career training center earlier this year in southwestern Pennsylvania, he found more than one hundred federally funded courses covering everything from computer programming to nursing.

He settled instead on something familiar: a coal mining course.

”I think there is a coal comeback,” said the 33-year-old son of a miner.

Despite broad consensus about coal’s bleak future, a years-long effort to diversify the economy of this hard-hit region away from mining is stumbling, with Obama-era jobs retraining classes undersubscribed and future programs at risk under President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget.

Trump has promised to revive coal by rolling back environmental regulations and moved to repeal Obama-era curbs on carbon emissions from power plants.

“I have a lot of faith in President Trump,” Sylvester said.

But hundreds of coal-fired plants have closed in recent years, and cheap natural gas continues to erode domestic demand. The Appalachian region has lost about 33,500 mining jobs since 2011, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Although there have been small gains in coal output and hiring this year, driven by foreign demand, production levels remain near lows hit in 1978.

A White House official did not respond to requests for comment on coal policy and retraining for coal workers.

What many experts call false hopes for a coal resurgence have mired economic development efforts here in a catch-22: Coal miners are resisting retraining without ready jobs from new industries, but new companies are unlikely to move here without a trained workforce. The stalled diversification push leaves some of the nation’s poorest areas with no clear path to prosperity.

Federal retraining programs have fared better, with some approaching full participation, in the parts of Appalachia where mining has been crushed in a way that leaves little hope for a comeback, according to county officials and recruiters. They include West Virginia and Kentucky, where coal resources have been depleted.

But in southern Pennsylvania, where the industry still has ample reserves and is showing flickers of life, federal jobs retraining programs see sign-up rates below 20 percent, the officials and recruiters said. In southern Virginia’s coal country, participation rates run about 50 percent, they said.

Neither of these are the full articles.

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

The right freaks out any time a dime goes toward renewables and then want to subsidize coal and other fossil fuels

bigly smart

 

[Cid]

but this is clean coal.

Clean coal is a product of government regulation pressuring the industry to meet emission standards.

If there's no regulatory pressure for business to initiate change from the government they're not going to make the expensive upgrades to their infrastructure.

Clean coal is only feasible if there's a tax burden greater than the cost of the change to clean coal. So the chances of clean coal happening under Trump who's going to relieve regulations is pretty unlikely.

You probably know this already but just thought I'd bust the bubble of anyone who actually thought it was happening.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

What a bunch of crap. Trump and his base have wanted to defund things like Amtrak for example, saying that if it can't run on its own money then it shouldn't exist at all. Where's this same thing for an antiquated industry like coal? Hint: there's no standard applied at all.

 

[JSN]

Clean coal is a product of government regulation pressuring the industry to meet emission standards.

If there's no regulatory pressure for business to initiate change from the government they're not going to make the expensive upgrades to their infrastructure.

Clean coal is only feasible if there's a tax burden greater than the cost of the change to clean coal. So the chances of clean coal happening under Trump who's going to relieve regulations is pretty unlikely.

You probably know this already but just thought I'd bust the bubble of anyone who actually thought it was happening.

like this guy?

 

[Trotsky]

but this is clean coal.

Him implying that clean coal was about taking coal and then cleaning it = one of the funniest moments ever

 

[second sight]

Is this like a farm subsidy where the farmers get money for not growing crops or an oil subsidy where they are allowed to write off expenditures they same year they’re incurred apposed to depreciating them over 30years?

 

[Necromantic]

The Federal Energy Regulation Commission just rejected Trump and the Department of Energy's desire to subsidize coal and nuclear plants that keep a 90 day supply of fuel in stock.

The FERC noted that outages are pretty much never caused by a lack of supply thus it's not a good reason to subsidize those plants. There was more in the ruling but that stood out to me.

I'm glad for this. Nothing against coal country but there's no reason to subsidize that industry. There are better and cheaper alternatives. And when we just cut the corporate tax rate, why would these companies need even more money from the tax payer?

http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/08/investing/ferc-ruling-coal-nuclear/

(yes, it's a cnn link. If you don't like it, google "FERC" and "coal plan")

Well, Germany got rid of their nukes and now have solar...but when solar is not good they use coal...and are worse now than before. Ha!