tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post25843083204338026..comments2024-03-24T11:01:27.668-04:00Comments on Resource Insights: Oregon says yes to coal-free electricityKurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-305841336961989812016-03-21T18:49:34.197-04:002016-03-21T18:49:34.197-04:00Oregon is taking credit for the decline, which is ...Oregon is taking credit for the decline, which is really the geological depletion of coal. <br /><br />The LNG terminal for Coos Bay has been rejected by FERC. Lots of excuses for that (mostly valid) but the bottom line is they cannot export gas that does not exist. Conventional nat. gas has dropped about a third in the past decade and fracked shale gas is peaking due to depletion (not only financial problems).<br /><br />The main thing I learned a quarter century ago when first being taught about solar panels was to drastically reduce one's use. This applies on the societal level, too.<br /><br />Powder River in Wyoming is going further into its decline. Peak coal in the USA was 1999. In Pennsylvania the peak was 1920. In Britain, coal peaked in 1913. Globally, we're at Peak Coal in addition to the other Peaks. (Denial, on the other hand, is a renewable resource.)<br /><br />If they really want to go off coal, sever the connections to the rest of the western power grid ... since the power grid doesn't correlate with a political border and there's lots of coal burned in the Rockies and Southwest. The "WECC" grid stretches from B.C. to Tijuana to Denver, we all vibrate together 60 times a second.<br /><br />Uranium extraction in the US peaked in 1980. Nuclear power generation peaked around 2008 (in terms of gigawatt hours).<br /><br />Peak electricity was 2007.<br /><br />Oregon is also boosting accelerated deforestation, including burning forests for electricity. Even Bernie is a supporter of turning trees into gigawatts - feel the burn. (The largest forest incinerator in the US is in Burlington, Vt.)<br /><br />Oregon is building several new freeway bypasses, which require a lot of steel and concrete. About a tenth of the coal goes to make steel. <br /><br />The regional hydropower system is recharged for 2016, thanks to El Nino.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the Alaska Pipeline, which powers the motors of Cascadia, continues to drop toward "low flow" shutdown and there is zero public discussion about the impacts that will have for all of us. The pipeline is being throttled back in the summer to make it easier to keep it pumping during the Arctic winter. Heating stations have been installed along its route. If the contents get below 0 C (32 F) it will congeal and that will be the end of it. Long distance food delivery trucks don't run on PV or wind turbines. <br /><br />I am concerned that when the fracking bubble declines further due to debt and depletion (especially the latter), the Alaska pipeline comes to its end, and conventional fuels continue to decline the economic consequences will bring us lots of Donald Trump type demagogues who will have creative explanations about who to blame. Practical logistics are going to be needed as a partial antidote.<br /><br />Depletion bats last. <br /><br />Mark Robinowitz<br />Peak Choice: cooperation or collapse<br /><br /><br />www.peakchoice.org/peak-alaska-pipeline.html<br /><br />www.peakchoice.org/peak-blame.html<br /><br />www.peakchoice.org/peak-climate.html<br /><br />www.peakchoice.org/peak-coal.html<br /><br />www.peakchoice.org/peak-electricity.html<br /><br />www.peakchoice.org/peak-frack.html<br /><br /><br />Mark Robinowitzhttp://www.peakchoice.org/peak-coal.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-49185354972495868622016-03-21T13:32:47.323-04:002016-03-21T13:32:47.323-04:00Oregon is not the only state that is pushing back ...Oregon is not the only state that is pushing back against the coal industry, but part of a larger historical trend. According to the EIA in 2015 coal constituted more than 80% of retired American electricity generating capacity. <br /><br />I look at proposed coal export terminals for the Pacific Northwest as a regional issue, involving British Columbia, Washington State and Oregon as a whole. In September, 2010 Peabody Energy, America's largest coal company, said, "Coal's best days are ahead..."<br /><br />But Peabody stock has dropped 99.5% since 2011, they failed to make bond interest payments due March 15th, and Fitch has downgraded its Issuer Default Rating [IDR] to 'C' from 'CC' and views bankrupcy filing as a 'highly likely risk'. This is clearly not just a bust phase of a boom and bust commodity business, but rather an irreversible secular trend.<br /><br />Only several years ago there were seven coal export terminals actively proposed for our region. Four of those have been taken off the table: Grays harbor in Washington and Boardman, St. Helens and Coos Bay in Oregon. Delta, BC is still at risk, but the two largest proposed terminals are a 44 mmta facility in Longview, Washington called the Millenium Bulk Coal Handling Facility and the 48 mmta site at Cherry Point near Bellingham, Washington named the Gateway Pacific Terminal or GPT.<br /><br />As a local activist on the ground in Bellingham, I can say that there is significant confidence that we will be able to block the GPT proposal. The Lummi Nation here that would be impacted is resolutely against the terminal, the Army Corps of Engineers may announce their decision next month, the Final Environmental Impact Statement is pending, and the current progressive makeup of the Whatcom County Council suggests that they are likely to vote down the proposal.<br /><br />The majority resistance of the local communities, the dismal macroeconomic picture and the overarching issue of rapidly progressing climate change all militate against these terminals and foreshadow the necessary demise of the coal industry.S. W. Lawrencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01654864579983316386noreply@blogger.com