PEAK COAL REPORT: U.S. COAL “RESERVES” ARE INCORRECTLY CALCULATED, SUPPOSED 200-YEAR SUPPLY COULD RUN OUT IN 20 YEARS OR LESS
Federal Estimates Overstate Reserves by Including Coal That Cannot Be Mined Profitably; Production Already Down in All Major Coal Mining States… And Utility Consumers Are Facing Rising Energy Bill Prices.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – “America does not have 200 years in coal ‘reserves’ since much of the coal that is now left in the ground cannot be mined profitably, according to a major new report from the Boulder, CO-based nonprofit Clean Energy Action (CEA). The CEA analysis shows that the U.S. appears to have reached its ‘peak coal’ point in 2008 and now faces a rocky future over the next 10-20 years of rising coal production costs, potentially more bankruptcies among coal mining companies, and higher fuel bills for utility consumers….
Key points in the CEA report include the following:
- EIA’s claimed 200 billion tons of coal “reserves” are not likely to be extracted economically…
- Consumers are already paying the price for rising US coal costs – and likely soon will be paying even more…
- The United States already appears to be past “peak coal” with coal production falling off significantly since the apparent peak in US production in 2008…
Tom Sanzillo, director of finance, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said, ‘The rising cost of production is THE sleeper issue for those who follow coal and energy markets in the United States. It is a geological certainty and an economic fact that as mining activity matures in a region, production typically becomes more difficult and more expensive … The country is going through a transition in its energy mix for electricity. What will emerge is a more diversified set of suppliers for the nation’s electricity consumers. Coal’s relative monopoly at fifty percent of market share is likely to be replaced by growth in renewable resources, efficiency, natural gas and in some regions of the country by hydro … The coal industry will be smaller with less producers, fewer mines and higher prices.'”
Full CEA report – Warning: Faulty Reporting of U.S. Coal Reserves
