Part II: Coal

In Part II we shall explore coal, and all of the things that it can do for this country as a resource toward the ultimate goal of energy independence. As with the post on oil I will give some attention to the negative aspects of coal on the environment and the people who live with its' use, but the primary exercise of this post is to explain one more valuable tool for this nation to use, until better, cleaner energy sources can be exploited.

So we shall start with the damaging aspects of coal on us and our neighbors to the north, with special thanks to the IEN for this information:

IEN (Indigenous Environmental Network)INFORMATION SHEET:
ENERGY: FOSSIL FUELS
And Impacts to Indigenous Peoples
Statement of Fact on Energy Policy and its Impact to Indigenous Communities of North America
Indigenous peoples in Canada, the United States and throughout the Americas hold valuable land and water resources that have long been exploited by the provincial, state and federal governments and by corporations trying to meet the energy needs of an industrialized world. Indigenous peoples have disproportionately suffered impacts due to the production and use of energy resources - coal mining, uranium mining, oil and gas extraction, coal bed methane, nuclear power and hydropower development - yet are among those who benefit least from these energy developments. Indigenous peoples face inequity over the control of, and access to, sustainable energy and energy services. Territories where Indigenous peoples live are resource rich and serve as the base from which governments and corporations extract wealth yet are areas where the most severe form of poverty exists.
FACTS ON THE IMPACTS OF FOSSIL FUELS
Fossil fuels supply over 80% of the world’s energy needs. All fossil fuels, whether solid, liquid, or gas, are the result of organic plant materials being covered by successive layers of sediment over the course of millions of years.
Human consumption of oil, gas, coal bed methane and coal (fossil fuels) increases the production of greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide (CO2) that is a major cause of climate change, global warming and changes in weather patterns.
Oil drilling and related activities fragment the landscape, leading to increased symptoms of neo-colonization, development, and deforestation. It also pollutes the land and water causing irreparable damage to fragile ecosystems.
The mining and drilling of coal, oil, gas, and other minerals result in substantial local environmental consequences. This includes severe degradation of air, forests, watersheds, rivers, oceans, fisheries, agricultural lands and biodiversity. Cultural impacts of fossil fuel development include the loss of access to traditional foods, the forced removal of people, land appropriation, the destruction of sacred and historical significant areas, the breakdown of Indigenous social systems, and violence against women and children. Fossil fuel development in these areas results in the accelerated loss of biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and ultimately in ethnocide and genocide.
Coal burnt to generate electricity produces toxic material and acid rain that severely pollutes the air, soil and water. It also releases mercury into our lakes where it contaminates our fish, traditional crops, wild rice, other aquatic life and traditional food systems. The burning of fossil fuels for energy is a major source of air pollution, contributing in particular to acid rain and the greenhouse effect contributing to climate change and extreme weather events.
Coal is the single largest source of electricity in the United States. Coal-fired power plants provide fifty-three percent of the electricity used in the United States. The United States contains some of the largest coal deposits in the world. Coal is the United States most abundant fossil fuel. Coal deposits are found in 38 of the 50 states of the United States as well as on several Indigenous territories, for example, the Navajo (Dine’) and Crow territories.
Coal mining on Indigenous lands in the United States causes environmental and human rights violations. Coal mining in the Hopi and the Navajo territories has forced Navajo and some Hopi Indigenous peoples to be relocated, to leave homelands that have sustained them for generations. Coal mining operations cause the displacement of communities, destruction of natural habitat, disruption of sacred sites,water depletion from surface, subsurface and aquifers, as well as the diversion of water away from our communities. Several Indigenous Peoples are also being approached to develop projects for the production of coal bed methane gas, which is associated with additional, long-term groundwater depletion and contamination problems.
Oil companies continue to seek development within Indigenous peoples’ territories and within biological regions that sustain Indigenous peoples. In the United States arctic region, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home to the Gwich'in peoples and the porcupine caribou herd, is threatened with oil development. Oil drilling and development of a petroleum industrial infrastructure within the pristine and fragile arctic ecosystem would devastate the calving grounds of the caribou and the lives of the Gwich'in. Gwich’in peoples’ relationship with the caribou is beyond food subsistence. The relationship is both cultural and spiritual as well.

UNITED STATES
The United States is home to 4% of the world's population, yet consumes 26% of the world's energy. The United States is currently the largest energy market in the world and is right behind Canada when it comes to per capita consumption.The United States uses about 17 million barrels of oil every day, fossil fuels account for nearly 80% of United States energy, with natural gas, a third form of fossil fuel, accounting for roughly 23% of the United States energy usage. I t takes the equivalent of 7 gallons of gasoline per day for every man woman and child to keep this country running at its current pace.
The United States consumes one quarter of the world’s total oil production, but controls a mere 3 percent of known oil reserves. Oil comprises about 40 percent of the energy Americans consume and 97 percent of U.S. transportation fuels.
The United States Energy Plan proposes 1,300-1,900 new power plants, 38,000 miles of new gas pipelines, consider new nuclear-power plants, build new refineries and open new areas to oil exploration. Almost all of these power plants generate electricity by using fossil or nuclear fuels to heat water to produce the steam that spins the generators. While the exploration for new sources of fossil fuel, particularly natural gas, is currently underway, the availability of both water and water rights may actually be the key and limiting factor in the operation of new energy generation plants.

CANADA
Canadians consume more energy per capita than any other country. Canadians use more total energy than the 700 million people of Africa. Canadians are the third-largest per capita producers of greenhouse gases in the world. Each year the Alberta (Canada) Energy and Utilities Board processes more than 20,000 applications for new wells, pipelines and gas plants.
Canada's greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. Energy consumption grew about 13 per cent between 1990 and 1998, while emissions rose at a rate of 1.5 per cent annually, 17 per cent since 1990.
Canada’s energy plan proposes to expand oil and gas production, particularly in the Alberta oil sands. The primary source of climate changing emissions is the burning of fossil fuels- oil, gas, and coal. Canada’s emissions have risen 15 percent due to increased oil and gas production and increased coal-fired electricity production. The Alberta Tar Sands refinery (which produces 150,000 barrels of oil a day) releases the same amount of CO 2 per year as 1.35 million new cars.
Alberta Canada currently supplies more than 12 percent of American natural gas use. New pipelines designed to carry Canadian power south to United States markets are in all stages of development across the western boreal region - from Alaska, the Yukon and Northwest Territories to British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Very few, if any, of these projects will be assessed for their social and cultural costs or their cumulative environmental and health impacts, which would cause critical fragmentation of the boreal forest, disruption to Indigenous cultural life-ways and the production of greenhouse gases.
The social, ecological and cultural risks involved in a Canadian-United States northern oil and gas pipeline are huge. Alaska's North Slope holds an estimated 35 trillion cubic feet of known reserves. The Mackenzie Delta holds about nine trillion cubic feet. The exploration potential is even larger, with an estimated 65 trillion cubic feet waiting to be discovered in Alaska and a similar volume in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Athabascan tribal members are concerned about mega-p ipeline developments linking Arctic gas along the Mackenzie Valley from the Beaufort Sea to Alberta, Canada. This development is planned by some of the largest energy companies in the world.
The Lubicon Lake Cree are an Indigenous peoples living deep in the boreal forest zone of Canada's Alberta province that have been living for decades with the impacts of oil and gas drilling on their traditional lands. Like other Indigenous peoples across the Americas, the Lubicon Cree have been battling for years to receive recognition of their land rights and compensation for stolen wealth and environmental damage. They have struggled to halt and reduce the rapid pace of exploration and excessive destruction by roads and pipelines. The traditional homelands of the Lubicon Cree, near Peace River, Canada are now surrounded by 1,000 oil and gas wells.
Historically, energy development activities in Indigenous communities have been based upon western values of monetary profit to raise gross domestic product at the expense of the rights of Indigenous peoples and the recognition of our basic human rights. Indigenous values teach us that money cannot fully compensate for cultural losses, losses of traditional lands, debilitating illnesses, death, impure water, threats to long-term food security, or diminished economic autonomy.
FOSSIL CONNECTION TO CLIMATE JUSTICE its Impact on Indigenous Peoples
The burning of oil, gas, and coal, known collectively as fossil fuels is the primary source of human-induced climate change. By burning these fuels, humans are releasing carbon that has been sequestered in the ground for hundreds of million of years and are emitting carbon dioxide into the planet’s thin and chemically volatile atmosphere at an unprecedented rate.
For over 150 years, industrial societies have been releasing carbon from underground coal and oil reserves, adding about 175 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Another 6 billion tons are being added each year, resulting in a 31% increase of CO2 in the atmosphere since 1750.
Within the next 20 years, temperatures over land areas of North America, Europe and Northern Asia will increase as much as 5 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit over today's normal temperatures, well in excess of the global average (IPCC Report 1998).
Climate change, if not halted, will result in increased frequency and severity of storms, floods, drought and water shortage, the spread of disease, increased hunger, displacement and mass migration of people and ensuing social conflict.
The grave damages caused by a changing climatethe pollution and the loss of our Indigenous territories, deterioration and destruction of our forests, our food security and our rich and diverse ecosystems. Climate change crisis is very evident in arctic regions where ice is thinning, thus affecting the land-based subsistence cultures of the Indigenous peoples. The climate change crisis is also most evident in low-lying coastal regions and in small Pacific Islands that are being flooded.
The United States energy plan not only promotes the increased burning of CO2-producing fuels, it also plans to open pristine forests for drilling stations, pipelines, transmission lines and roads - a process that would increase global warming by releasing the carbon currently locked securely in the living trees and soil. The increasing demand and use of fossil fuels continues to impact vital areas through deforestation and pollution from drilling operations and ultimately forest degradation from the global climate imbalance.
What We Need to Do
The people of the Earth have too much of an reliance on fossil fuels, natural gas, coal, coal bed methane and oil. In order to halt the damages resulting from their use, we must find more ecologically sound and sustainable sources that do not threaten the Indigenous way of life or the entire Circle of Life. Sustainable energy can be defined as energy with minimal impact on the healthy functioning of the local and global ecosystem. Sustainable energy is energy with very few negative social, cultural, health and environmental impacts, and which can be supplied continuously to future generations on earth.
We must respect our traditions and responsibility to protect the sacredness of our Mother Earth.
We must get involved in federal energy legislation and oppose any legislation that supports the continued dependence on fossil fuels to supply the countries energy needs.
Governments, utility and environmental regulators, energy producers, and energy resource tribes must shift energy supply away from fossil fuels, mega-hydro dams and nuclear power and toward clean renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and fuel cells. This must be done in ways that create living-wage jobs and build community wealth.
Tell your Tribal government/First Nations to carefully consider the environmental and cultural consequences when looking at, or continuing any fossil fuel energy development (oil, gas, coal mining, coal-fired power plants, coal bed methane) on, or near Indigenous lands. We also know that local fossil fuel energy activities impact far and wide, even in other countries.
Industrial countries of United States and Canada must immediately start phasing out its national dependence on a fossil fuel economy, support policies to immediately reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and seek legislative action for a just transition of workers, Tribes/First Nations, and communities that are impacted from a phase-out and reduction of CO2 emissions.
Support tree cover and improved management of forests, energy efficiency and conservation initiatives, and increased fuel economy standards. Innovative, affordable and prudent solutions are available to help reduce the severity of climate change.
Support and invest in our Tribes/First Nations to pursue clean renewable energy projects where the abundant wind and solar resources can meet the growing demand for clean, renewable energy.
Governments, industry and multi-lateral institutions should adopt and abide by a precautionary principle in all energy development decisions and policies, recognizing that each decision will have impacts on the future generations of all Peoples.
We must tell the fossil fuel and coal mining industries to take corporate responsibility for their polluting ways.
overnments must impose a legally binding obligation to restore all areas already affected by oil, gas, dams, coal exploration and exploitation by the corporations or public entities that are responsible. This restoration must be done such that Indigenous peoples can continue traditional uses of their lands.
Governments must integrate external costs, such as human illness, environmental illness, cultural and spiritual degradation, and long-term cumulative effects into energy policy and pricing decisions and regulations. The governments must compile and compare the true costs of national energy policy and data for energy policy and planning purposes.
Governments and utility regulators must adopt electricity-restructuring policies that offer affordable and stable electricity rates to Indigenous communities and local communities and eliminate subsidies to nuclear and fossil fuels, and expand cleaner energy solutions.


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And now to the OUTLOOK for coal in 2008 and beyond, with thanks to the NMA for their assessment:
NATIONAL MINING ASSOCIATION FORECAST
THE OUTLOOK FOR COAL IN 2008
Production of coal will return to near record levels in 2008 reaching 1.160
billion tons, just 2 million tons shy of the record set in 2006 and 1.1 percent
higher than the 1.147 million tons produced in 2007. Coal production is
driven by the demand for affordable and reliable coal that electric generators
will use to produce half the electricity expected to be used in the United
States this year. There continues to be a strong interest in coal as a base
load fuel, and the National Mining Association expects that over the long
term coal production and use will frequently set annual records as coal is
used not only for electricity but also finds new markets in the industrial,
commercial and transportation sectors through gasification and liquefaction.
In 2008, U.S. coal production is expected to total 1.160 billion tons, 1.0
percent more than the 1.148 billion tons mined in 2007. Production in the
East, including Appalachia, Illinois, Indiana and West Kentucky, will
approximate 480 million tons, essentially unchanged from the 482 million
tons produced last year. Production in the West, including the Powder River
Basin, will total 680 million tons, up 2.1 percent from the 666 million tons
mined in 2007. The increases in production will meet new demand for coal
by utilities and for export. Production and transportation capacity to handle
these levels of production are fully adequate.
Demand for U.S. coal for use within the United States and for export to
Canada and overseas destinations, will reach 1.209 billion tons, 15 million
tons, or 1.3 percent, more than the record demand of 1.194 billion tons set
in 2007. Because inventories on a national basis are at adequate levels,
there will be little demand in 2008 for coal for inventory build , putting coal
supply (that includes production and imports) and demand in balance for the
first time in several years.
Imports of coal, which have increased significantly this decade, remained
level at 36.5 million tons in 2007and are not expected to change in 2008.
Approximately 70 percent of the coal imported into the U.S. is from
Columbia. Venezuela, Indonesia and Canada account for another 25 percent.
There shares are expected to be approximately the same in 2008.
Almost 95 percent of the coal used in the United States is consumed for the
purpose of generating electricity (this equates to approximately 93 percent of
domestic production). In 2007, electric generators used 1.050 billion tons of
coal to produce 50.1 percent of the electricity sold through the grid.
Commercial and industrial consumers used another 27 million tons to
generate electricity for their own use. Coal use for electricity generation was
2.9 percent higher than in 2006 due to higher overall demand for electricity
caused in part by stronger than expected economic activity and in part by
the warmer than normal fall. Overall, the demand for electricity increased by
2.9 percent in 2007 versus the 0.2 percent increase experienced in 2006.
In 2008, given more normal weather patterns and taking slower economic
growth into account, electricity production is expected to increase in the 1.3
– 1.7 percent range. Should economic growth be lower than forecast (NMA
is assuming a growth rate of just less than 2 percent), electricity demand
could be lower than forecast.
Consumption of coal will increase at a lower rate in 2008, or by 0.7 percent
to 1.157 billion tons, and coal’s share of the market will decline slightly to an
even 50 percent. Coal generation, especially in the Western grid, is nearing
a peak, and there is little potential for increase without new capacity. Two
coal plants will come on line in 2008—the 90 MW Black Hills unit in Wyoming
and the 203 MW unit begin built by Newmont Mining in Nevada. This follows
the addition of three units in 2007: the Hardin Generator Project Unit 1 in
Montana, the Springerville Unit 2 in Arizona and the Cross Unit 3 in Iowa.
Nuclear generation performed at top levels in 2007 and is expected to do the
same in 2008. Nuclear generation should remain at 2006 – 2007 levels this
year. There are no uprates expected, and 2008 is a year of refueling for
many units. However, the return of Brown’s Ferry #1 to full operation will
more than offset any reduction in production due to refueling. Generation
with natural gas is expected to increase in 2008 as new generating capacity
comes on line.
Demand for metallurgical coal for use at steel mills showed a small decline in
2007 as steel production declined slightly. Although steel production is
expected to decline again in 2008, demand for metallurgical coal should
increase by one-half million tons and is forecast to be 23.5 million tons. A
new coke oven is coming on line in Ohio, and any decline in demand for
coke, should there be a decline, will be met with a decline in imports.
Industrial coal use, led by an increase in coal use at cement plants and at
new ethanol plants, will total 36.5 million tons, 4.3 percent above the 35
million tons used by industry in 2007.
Exports—the story for 2007—will remain strong into 2008. Last year, despite
a decline in shipments of both metallurgical and steam coal to Canada,
exports increased by 17 percent. Exports to overseas destinations totaled 40
million tons in 2007, 34.7 percent, or 10.3 million tons, more than in 2006.
The U.S. coal export industry clearly benefited from increased demand, a
weak dollar and production issues in other supplier countries. Strong world
demand for coal persists. China has rapidly moved from a net exporter of
both steam and metallurgical coal to a net importer. Production and
logistical problems continue in many supplier countries, and the U.S.
continues to benefit from a weak dollar. As a result, export of U.S. coal to
overseas destinations is expected to increase again in 2008 – although at a
slower rate. Metallurgical coal shipments to overseas destinations are
expected to increase to 34 million tons (30 million in 2007), and steam coal
shipments are expected to increase to 11 million tons (10 million in 2007).
Thus total shipments of U.S. coal to overseas destinations is expected to be
45 million tons in 2008, 12.5 percent higher than shipments in 2007. There is
an upside potential to this forecast, especially for high grade U.S.
metallurgical coal, and exports could be more. Shipments of coal to Canada
will return to more normal levels—15 million tons steam coal and 4 million
tons of met coal.
Coal inventories, which increased sharply in 2006 after several years of
decline, increased again in 2007, but at a lower rate. Inventory build totaled
8.2 million tons in 2007. Because electric utility inventories—on a national
basis—are at or near desired levels, NMA does not expect demand for coal
for inventory build this year. As a result coal demand for actual use and
export will approximately equate with coal supply—or with coal production
and imports.
The outlook for coal remains positive for 2008, despite our expectations for
slower economic growth. In 2007, most analysts believe U.S. economic
growth, as measured by real GDP, will approximate 2.2-2.3 percent.
Economic growth was, however, stronger in the first three quarters than in
the fourth quarter. At the time this forecast was prepared (late November
2007), most analysts were forecasting that year-on-year economic growth in
2008 would be in the range of 1.9 – 2.4 percent. These forecasts were
completed before the release of 4th quarter 2007 data, which will certainly be
affected by slower than expected spending over the holiday period as well as
the continued financial pressures caused in part by the sub-prime mortgage
crisis.
Economic growth in 2008 will continue to be affected by the same factors
that caused a reduction in economic activity in the 4th quarter of last year,
and the costs of energy, and now higher costs of food, will certainly put a
damper on consumer spending. It remains to be seen whether the
administration and the Congress can agree on a short-term stimulus package
to push consumer spending to higher levels.
Globally, economic growth is expected to be lower in 2008 than in 2007. The
Economics Intelligence Unit has forecast that globally economies will grow by
4.5 percent in 2008 as compared with an estimated economic growth of 5.1
percent in 2007. This growth is led by China, expected to grow its economy
by 9.9 percent, and India, which has a projected growth rate of 7.7 percent.
Forecasts for inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) are in the
2.5-3.5 percent range, and forecasts for unemployment have increased to
approximately 5 percent, although worker shortages will still exist in some
industries, including mining.
And Finally We Shall Take A Look At Clean Coal Technology in Part 2 of Part II: Coal: