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State Journal (West Virginia): According to multiple sources, including West Virginians For Energy Freedom Coalition and the Institute for Energy Economic and Financial Analysis, Ohio-based FirstEnergy, owner of Potomac Edison and Mon Power, has applied to purchase a plant based upon a model purchase in 2013 that has cost consumers over $160 million. FirstEnergy has […]
SNL: The coal industry is “too fragmented” to command pricing power and is in need of consolidation, according to a new note from Seaport Global Securities LLC analysts. Analyst Mark Levin wrote in a June 20 note that the industry has “too many suppliers chasing too few tons.” The report cites a recent claim that […]
ThinkProgress.org: West Virginian historian Chuck Keeney, who has written extensively on the state’s coal industry and its miners, said he has not seen a noticeable change in the mood of the state’s residents since Trump became president. “A lot of West Virginians understood that they were rolling the dice with Trump,” explained Keeney, a professor […]
Charleston Gazette: Renewable energy strikes most of us as a pretty good thing. Sun, wind, resources that can’t be exhausted and cause no harm — how can they be bad? Renewable energy’s only bad for coal and gas and oil owners — because they don’t own it. And so they urge you to gun that […]
U.S. News & World Report: Though many have counted on President Donald Trump’s promises to revive the coal industry– which residents hope would replenish jobs and therefore the population– the prospect that he will fulfill them continues to grow more grim. West Virginia’s coal production has decreased nearly 50 percent from 2008 to 2016, according […]
Exponent-Telegram (Clarksburg, W.V): Back in 2013, when FirstEnergy wanted to have subsidiary Allegheny Energy sell the Harrison Power Station to another subsidiary, Mon Power, we questioned the effect it would have on consumers. That thought is once again on our minds as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the state Public Service Commission (PSC) […]
Karl Cates
The $120 Million Coal Executive Who Got 1 Year for His Part in the Deaths of 29 West Virginia Coal Miners Is as Unrepentant as Ever
After being released last week after doing a year of minimum-security time in sunny Southern Arizona and California, Don Blankenship has been agitating nonstop for sympathy. He wants the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction, he wants Donald Trump to do him a solid, he wants everybody to believe that he had nothing to do […]
Charleston Gazette: Groups opposing the purchase of the FirstEnergy-owned Pleasants Power Station by subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison have made their case known to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, arguing the transfer would stifle competition and put customers at risk of higher utility bills. Merchant generators and advocacy groups have said the purchase would […]
Charleston (W.V.) Gazette: Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship will be asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of his conviction for conspiring to violate federal mine safety and health standards, his lawyers confirmed Thursday. Blankenship’s defense team filed a short form with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noting that it […]
AFP: Despite a recent uptick, few believe in a lasting revival for a sector that is ever more mechanized, requiring fewer workers, and pummeled by competition with cheap, clean natural gas. So how does a small state with few other industries, where the biggest single employer is Wal-Mart, find a path to replace high-paying albeit […]
IEEFA Research Brief: Coal in Decline, Blow by Blow
Plant Closings and the Likely Effects on Specific Companies and MinesWe’ve published a research brief today that presents an expansive snapshot of a moving target: the decline in U.S. coal-fired generation nationally. As global energy markets continue to undergo rapid transformation, change has swept the U.S. as well. Our brief—“U.S. Coal Phase-out, Blow by Blow: Plant Closings and the Likely Corresponding Effect on Specific Companies […]