13 surface mines in a 80-mile stretch of WY produce over 400 million tons of coal each year -- about 40% of the total U.S. production, providing electricity to 20% of the U.S. homes.
Arch Coal Black Thunder mine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUbU1auBCA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahrl60Wlavw
Coal accounted for 52.8 percent of the United States' net electrical generation in 1997. But coal's grip on the country's utility market has slipped, down to 48.2 percent in 2008 and to 44.6 percent in 2009, according to the Energy Information Administration - http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelelectric.html
2/9/2011 - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-09/-massive-closures-of-u-s-coal-plants... (Excerpt) The EIA predicts plants with 7.7 gigawatts of capacity will close by 2018. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based The Brattle Group, a consulting firm, said in December that 50 to 65 gigawatts of capacity may be closed by 2020 because of environmental regulations. Analysts at Zurich-based bank Credit Suisse Group AG said in September that about 60 gigawatts of coal capacity may be retired.
American Electric Power (AEP), Ohio-based, is one of the nation's largest electric utilities (almost 5 million customers linked to its 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid). AEP is the largest electricity generator in the U.S. The utility recently announced that it will retire about 5,000 megawatts of coal-fired generation over the next five years. In 2009, AEP's fuel mix was 66 percent coal, 22 percent natural gas and the rest nuclear, hydro and various types of renewable power. AEP estimates that by 2017 its fuel mix will be 58 percent coal, 27 percent natural gas, and the rest nuclear, hydro and renewable. Also see: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Electric_Power
---
10/19/2010
American Electric Power Co. (AEP) is reviewing options to shut down more than 5,000 megawatts of coal power, but the pace will depend on regulations, a company executive said Tuesday. [Abut 13% of its total 38,000 megawatts capacity; AEP burned 76 million tons of coal in 2009]
Federal and state regulations could add significant costs to operating coal-fired plants for their emissions.
"How much of the capacity do you replace depends on the economy and depends on what the options are," such as the price of building cleaner natural-gas generation, said Nick Akins, AEP's executive vice president of generation.
The utility gets 5,000 megawatts of generation from smaller, older and less-efficient coal units and there isn't economic justification to retrofit them with environmental upgrades. AEP is evaluating whether to retire and replace another 10,000 megawatts of power generation.
"If we retire too much capacity too quickly, we will not be able to survive from a system dynamic," Akins said at the company's investor day meeting in New York City.
AEP has been actively lobbying in Washington on an energy policy and regulatory concerns, such as the pace of implementing clean air rules.
Akins said that the company will have to change how it contracts coal but did not provide further details.
AEP is considering adding natural gas generating capacity for various brownfield projects but is not planning to make any new coal or nuclear investments in the near term, Akin said.
---
More: http://groups.google.com/group/bob-mooney/web/powering-down
===
Powder River Basin coal mines, also see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dajoJMXEE0o 1:49 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdRlwKM4eIc 1:57 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWebhWWNaMU 3:16 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahrl60Wlavw 3:20 minutes
http://www.wsgs.uwyo.edu/coalweb/WyomingCoal/default.aspx
The video on here was done is from Plains Justice
http://plainsjusticeblog.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/powder-river-basin-coal-min...
===
Coal Country docuementary: http://www.coalcountrythemovie.com/
VBS.TV took a trip to West Virginia to investigate the evils of mountaintop removal mining. http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/energy/blogs/watch-toxic-west-virginia
===
In all, more than 4000 animals died in the spill that fouled nearly a mile of Captina Creek in Belmont County, Ohio, on October 1, 2010. (Con't.)
http://tinyurl.com/Coal-slurry-in-Captina-Cr
Video (1:37 minutes)
http://vp.mgnetwork.net/traveler.swf?embed_referer=&u=2e83506a2220102ea6f...
10/10/2010 - Toxic coal sludge pollutes Ky. town 10 years later
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvwI07uAn7QJ0uvbYNgmpERomHf...
10/7/3020 - Journalist receives government records after 7 years http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=11594
The editor of a mining industry newsletter received additional government records Monday regarding the investigation into one of the worst environmental accidents in SE U.S.
Loading...
3:58
The Coal Power Generationby epowergeneration2,264 views
This breaks my heart...
thesheilaone 6 months ago