America’s Flagship ‘Clean Coal’ Experiment Abandoned After 11 Years And $7.5 Billion

[Crabtownboy]

Face it folks, coal is never going to make the comeback Trump promised. All-in-all it was simply just a campaign ploy and as with so many other topics he did not have any idea what he was talking about.


The coal industry suffered a major blow on Wednesday when the utility giant Southern Company abandoned work on its troubled Mississippi “clean coal” facility amid skyrocketing costs.

The Kemper County Energy Facility, conceived under President George W. Bush, promised to turn coal into cleaner-burning gas and provide a model for the future of coal. But after 11 years and $7.5 billion, the plant failed to produce commercially viable technology.

Last week, Mississippi utility regulators offered Southern Company an ultimatum. The firm could continue experimenting with gasification, and risk losing $3.4 billion as the power board rejects a hike to the rate paid by the 187,000 customers who get power from Kemper. Or it could convert the plant to natural gas. The Atlanta-based utility, which began burning gas in 2014 to generate power amid delays on its coal conversion technology, chose the latter.

“We believe this decision is in the best interests of our employees, customers, investors and all other stakeholders,” Southern Company CEO Thomas Fanning said in a statement.

The move is an ominous bellwether for a heavily polluting industry that collapsed over the last decade as natural gas, made cheap by new drilling techniques, devoured coal’s share of the electricity market. President Donald Trump has promised to bring coal roaring back, vowing it will be “beautiful, clean coal” ― a feat already attempted by Bush and President Barack Obama.

America’s Flagship ‘Clean Coal’ Experiment Abandoned After 11 Years And $7.5 Billion

 

[Deacon]

So we just opened up our first new coal mine in Pennsylvania "bringing with it at least 80 underground mining jobs that will pay an average of $80,000 to $100,000 annually, according to the local chamber of commerce".

Pennsylvania's bituminous coal is among the most highly polluting types of coal

but it is essential for the production of quality steel.​

Close down coal production - close down steel production

Rob

 

[Crabtownboy]

So we just opened up our first new coal mine in Pennsylvania "bringing with it at least 80 underground mining jobs that will pay an average of $80,000 to $100,000 annually, according to the local chamber of commerce".

Pennsylvania's bituminous coal is among the most highly polluting types of coal

but it is essential for the production of quality steel.​

Close down coal production - close down steel production

Rob

Sure there will be some ups. Eighty miners back to work is not what Trump trumpeted during his campaign. He was going to bring coal back to what it was in its hay-day. That is no going to happen. Sure there will be a minor up here and there, but in the long run it is a log downward spiral. Yep, need some coal for steel. But we do not and are never going to produce steel as we once did.

I take you point, but as looking at the coal industry as a whole eighty jobs is rather meaningless.

Even if more coal is demanded the change in technology means fewer overall jobs for coal.

 

[Reynolds]

Face it folks, coal is never going to make the comeback Trump promised. All-in-all it was simply just a campaign ploy and as with so many other topics he did not have any idea what he was talking about.


The coal industry suffered a major blow on Wednesday when the utility giant Southern Company abandoned work on its troubled Mississippi “clean coal” facility amid skyrocketing costs.

The Kemper County Energy Facility, conceived under President George W. Bush, promised to turn coal into cleaner-burning gas and provide a model for the future of coal. But after 11 years and $7.5 billion, the plant failed to produce commercially viable technology.

Last week, Mississippi utility regulators offered Southern Company an ultimatum. The firm could continue experimenting with gasification, and risk losing $3.4 billion as the power board rejects a hike to the rate paid by the 187,000 customers who get power from Kemper. Or it could convert the plant to natural gas. The Atlanta-based utility, which began burning gas in 2014 to generate power amid delays on its coal conversion technology, chose the latter.

“We believe this decision is in the best interests of our employees, customers, investors and all other stakeholders,” Southern Company CEO Thomas Fanning said in a statement.

The move is an ominous bellwether for a heavily polluting industry that collapsed over the last decade as natural gas, made cheap by new drilling techniques, devoured coal’s share of the electricity market. President Donald Trump has promised to bring coal roaring back, vowing it will be “beautiful, clean coal” ― a feat already attempted by Bush and President Barack Obama.

America’s Flagship ‘Clean Coal’ Experiment Abandoned After 11 Years And $7.5 Billion

Its all about supply and demand. Wait till natural gas prices go back up.

 

[Crabtownboy]

Its all about supply and demand. Wait till natural gas prices go back up.

Not just supply and demand of the coal. Demand of miners also. Technology means we can produce more coal with fewer miners.

Lots of industries are going to see this happening ... more work done with fewer employees. For instance do you know of any Linotype operators still working a a Linotype machine?

 

[HankD]

He made a promise , he kept it.

For some it hurts when he does that, but lets just wait and see, maybe some crow pie on the menu?

Coal to Gasoline - a new market.

https://www.wired.com/2009/03/coaltoliquids/

The Adams Fork Energy project will convert regional coal into premium-grade gasoline, producing 18,000 barrels per day (756,000 gallons US, 2.86 million liters). When fully developed, the Adams Fork project will be the largest coal-to-gasoline project in the world, according to Adam Victor, President and CEO of TransGas Development Systems.

US Coal to Gasoline Plant Will be the Largest in the World | OilPrice.com

But IMO He kept his ultima promise - Neil Gorsuch. AOBTW anonymous sources say a couple more will come to the SCOTUS under his administration.

Oh, the humanity of it.

HankD

 

[Crabtownboy]

He made a promise , he kept it.

For some it hurts when he does that, but lets just wait and see, maybe some crow pie on the menu?

Coal to Gasoline - a new market.

https://www.wired.com/2009/03/coaltoliquids/



US Coal to Gasoline Plant Will be the Largest in the World | OilPrice.com

But IMO He kept his ultima promise - Neil Gorsuch. AOBTW anonymous sources say a couple more will come to the SCOTUS under his administration.

Oh, the humanity of it.

HankD

Are you saying the Trump kept his promise? You article is from 2010. I do not believe Trump had anything to do with it and certainly you cannot claim it shows him keeping his promise. There seems to be no current news on this project moving forward. I have not found any information saying the project is moving forward nor being abandoned. It seems to be a black hole information wise.

1. On March 28, 2011, the West Virginia Air Quality Board remanded the air permit for the proposed TransGas coal-to-liquids facility to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The Board sided with the environmental groups and ordered DEP to modify the air permit with respect to three environmental permit issues. The Board’s decision will push TransGas to obtain an updated permit. The Sierra Club said that while TransGas’s spokesperson has stated that the company intends to break ground in June 2011, there is still no indication that the plant has financing to begin construction.[6] Google
2. ALTERNATIVE FUELS
   Coal-to-liquids' prospects dim, but boosters won't say die
   
   Manuel Quinones, E&E reporter
   
   Greenwire: Friday, May 17, 2013
   WHARNCLIFFE, W.Va. -- It's been two years since Sen. Joe Manchin (D) and other West Virginia politicians gathered near here to break ground for and sing the praises of what they said would be the first U.S. plant to turn coal into gasoline -- and create hundreds of jobs on a former strip mine near the Kentucky line.
   
   Engineering and site preparation followed the pep rally, but there's not much to show for the effort here in Mingo County. Developers haven't yet locked up financing for a $3 billion plant they say won't be up and running until at least 2016.
   
   Grim predictions
   Even with federal, state and private efforts, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said late last year that it projected the startup of the first CTL plants in the United States to be in 2023, "with penetration of the technology far more modest" when compared with previous estimates.
   
   A peer-reviewed study by Sweden's Uppsala University senior lecturer Mikael Hook questioned the prospects of CTL around the world, and particularly in the United States.
   
   "The economic analysis shows that many CTL studies assume conditions that are optimistic at best. In addition, the strong risk for a CTL plant to become a financial black hole is highlighted," he wrote in a paper presented last fall at the Pittsburgh Coal Conference.
   
   "It is unrealistic to claim that CTL provides a feasible solution to liquid fuels shortages created by peak oil," Hook added. "At best, it can be only a minor contributor and must be combined with other strategies to ensure future liquid fuel supply." ALTERNATIVE FUELS: Coal-to-liquids' prospects dim, but boosters won't say die

 

[HankD]

1. "It is unrealistic to claim that CTL provides a feasible solution to liquid fuels shortages created by peak oil," Hook added. "At best, it can be only a minor contributor and must be combined with other strategies to ensure future liquid fuel supply." ALTERNATIVE FUELS: Coal-to-liquids' prospects dim, but boosters won't say die

Always the nay-sayers - been proven wrong over and over again with President Trump.

Russian collusion - fake news... OH, maybe "obstruction of justice"... oh guess not..Maybe he's mental! Lets try that!

Yeah that's how he became a billionaire and then POTUS.

He came through with his promise to the coal industry. Some folks just can't accept it.

Clean Coal to Gasoline Process (CCTG) | TransGas Development Systems

Guess we'll just have to wait and see about the advances in the coal industry.

HankD

 

[carpro]

Cheap compared to what Obama threw away on political cronies with failing green companies.