Is This Land Made For You and Me?
Terri Whitehouse October 30th, 2007
I don’t read DailyKos very often, but happened to look at it today and saw a great article about Appalachian coal frontpaged there.
Being a Western Kentuckian and not much of an environmentalist, I’m embarrassed to admit that I really haven’t known just how bad of a problem some mining tactics are for the communities in which they occur.
Incidentally, Sen. Mitch McConnell’s good budies over at Peabody Energy have just confirmed that they will build a coal gasification plant in the western part of the state. Good work, guhvnah.
- Energy Industry , Ernie Fletcher , Mitch McConnell , Money-Grubbing , Mountaintop Removal , Peabody Energy Corp.
- Comments(7)
Great, and while he’s at it he’ll pollute south west Indiana as well. Why doesn’t cheney take mitch “hunting” with him.
I have been watching to see what would happen to PEABODY ENERGY STOCK following the STATE INCENTIVES.
Two years ago PEABODY was around $25.00.
There was a brief jump in the price after PEABODY participated in the “ENERGY POLICY” meeting. The stock rose to $50.00 at which time the President of PEABODY unloaded close to a half million dollars worth of his stock. I am sure that was not all he held.
Today, with Government INCENTIVES, (give aways) PEABODY ENERGY STOCK IS AT $56.00. Who says it doesn’t pay to get in bed with the government.
In addition, Peabody is being pressured in a leverage buy out ( that is what the market news implies) and that kind of offer was not around, until after PEABODY received approval from Jody and Fletch and the General Assembly.
Now, it is the right of every public traded company to make sure the ROI is adequate to encourage additional investors.
But, even with this action, Peabody is still having a problem with STOCKHOLDER APPROVAL.
Jeez, even their own people question the legitimacy of the market and the science. And, to give away large amounts of money (millions) by our state government for R and D is not, IMO, the role of a public agency.
There is a lot wrong with this deal. But don’t worry we will all be dead in time, with the additional GREENHOUSE GAS this project will produce.
(Makes a pretty good Halloween thought, don’t cha tink?
Jim Anderson Stivers
Frankfort, KY.
(Trey G. must be discharging razor blades in some parts of his anatomy . . . it is just too close to call. A heavy D turnout and straight ticket vote, could very well do him in for a second term.)
I am pasting this from KOS as it was mentioned by Terry in her opening remarks:
“Sufficient high-quality, thick, bituminous resources remain in [Appalachian Basin] coal beds and coal zones to last for the next one to two decades at current production.”
- United States Geological Survey (USGS), 2000 AD
So says the Department of Energy…
“[2002-2005] is the first time the Appalachian Region has experienced four consecutive years of coal production of less than 400 million short tons since the 1960s.”
- DOE/EIA-0584 (2005) Annual Coal Report 200516
The thing that concerns me is, with increased mining in Kentucky to feed this GIANT COAL EATING MACHINE for NATURAL GAS, it would seem logical the potential supply would disappear . . at a much faster rate?
Could we be digging ourselves a GRAVE OF COAL, to be covered by MORE COAL or maybe . . . from the trees that are falling . . . as a result of air pollution?
As educated, as our society has become, the greed for money by MAJOR CORPORATIONS disregards all things in the name of PROFITS and performance bonuses for the CEO.
I just wanna say
Jim Anderson Stivers
Frankfort, KY.
Thanks for following up with the stock/buyout info, Jim!
Teri, Thank you for the acknowledgment!
It is shame, a disaster that our General Assembly is not more education oriented(for themselves) than politics. With the present technology this is a very bad deal. And what is to happen to the coal reserves?
There are so many business and ecology questions in this issue, that have not been addressed, it is just frighting to think of what the FUTURE HOLDS.
Especially, those that will as they say ; INHERIT THE WIND”
Jim, I just want to point out that your numbers are skewed and a little bit deceiving (unintentionally I hope). You quote the DOE.
“[2002-2005] is the first time the Appalachian Region has experienced four consecutive years of coal production of less than 400 million short tons since the 1960s.”
This has nothing to do with Peabody. According to their annual report and an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch there production has increased year over year. The reason for the decline would seem to come from the cessation of operation from the smaller players who cannot keep up with the regulatory requirements. Also it would seem that lawsuits from environmental groups have slowed the pace from some mines. Being that Peabody does not practice mountaintop removal mining (That would be Massey), those lawsuits have not had an impact on their operations. Apparently Peabody is like Klenex or Jello to environmentalists. Whenever a coal company does something bad they use the name Peabody.
I’m going out on a limb here and stating that it is a pretty safe bet that Conoco Phillips and Peabody Coal are not dropping $3 BILLION into a project without having taken into consideration how much coal is in the ground here (after all, this ISN’T a government project).
The tax consessions from our legislature?? That’s just good business on Conoco and Peabody’s part. Maybe that explains why the stock is up so much. Everyone who sells something knows that you make your money on the frontside of the deal (i.e. a discount negotiated when you buy something is more important than waiting to get the highest price when you sell).
The real reasons for decreased production in Appalacia are varied and have little to do with the amount of coal in the ground. They are (and this list is not all inclusive).
Regulatory issues (once again the Massey Mountaintop removal)
Railroad issues (trains are busy hauling in toxic toys from China, at a higher profit margin for the railroads).
Union Issues - Western coal is significantly cheaper to mine. The profit on Appalacian coal is tiny.
A purposeful reduction by some coal companies. The coal has been there thousands of years. It’s not going anywhere. It is like money in the bank. Why sell it when it’s value is low. It will probably be more profitable for some small mines to sell their reserves outright to a larger company than to mine the coal and take it to market.
Lastly, If the coal is going away, I would have thought that environmentalists, Gore Worshippers and the like would be rejoicing??? After all coal has been portrayed as the great Satan. Once the utilities cleaned up the visible pollution then the environmentalists tell us that the real threat is the “invisible pollution” Now that energy companies are attempting to address that issue through conversion to SNG, it’s another issue. I think they won’t be happy until you are all living in caves eating organic vegetables by the light of soy candles.
Shorter Robin: Anyone who questions the relationship between the energy industry and the government and/or who expresses concerns about nonrenewable resources is a patchouli-wearin’ America-hater.