“Coal Is Far from Dead: It's Just Going Elsewhere and Has A Future” By THOMAS J SHEPSTONE

“ Coal is everyone’s whipping boy in the West, where political correctness and green energy virtue signaling rule the day in most energy discussions. But, coal has a future because it’s inexpensive…”

Coal Is Far from Dead: It's Just Going Elsewhere and Has A Future

THOMAS J SHEPSTONE

OCT 17

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Coal is everyone’s whipping boy in the West, where political correctness and green energy virtue signaling rule the day in most energy discussions. But, coal has a future because it’s inexpensive, it’s easy to store, and it can reliably generate massive amounts of electricity exactly when needed, which means everything if you are developing an AI facility or anything else requiring dependable large sources of uninterrupted electricity.

Coal’s advantages are immediately clear to rational thinkers who don’t want to rely solely on natural gas or nuclear and recognize solar and wind are fools’ errands. China gets it. India gets it. And, these two nations alone account for over one-third of the world's population. So, coal isn’t going anywhere except for export and it won’t be long before we see more old coal plants re-opened here in the United States.

This point is made with a Today In Energy story from yesterday about the restoration of coal exports through Baltimore following the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which I repost below (emphasis added):

Note that 2023 exports were, with the exception of January, the highest levels for the five-year range, and 2024 exports are on track to match or exceed 2023 going forward despite the bridge interruption.

U.S. coal exports from the Port of Baltimore rebounded at the end of May 2024, according to recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Shipments from the port’s two coal-loading terminals had stopped for almost two months following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26. The main shipping channel into the Port of Baltimore reopened on May 21.

In April, only 63,658 short tons of coal could be loaded for export, compared with 2.3 million short tons in April 2023. This small amount could be exported, even though the main channel into the Port of Baltimore was closed, because one of the loading terminals used barges to transport smaller loads to a vessel anchored in the Chesapeake Bay.

Coal loadings in May recovered to slightly less than one million short tons, with that activity mostly occurring after the reopening. In June, coal loadings for export soared to 2.9 million short tons, the most in the U.S. Census Bureau data series—which starts in 2000—as terminals worked through their backlog of vessels. Loadings in July declined slightly to around 2.0 million tons, although that amount was still more than the five-year (2019–23) average.

Coal exports in July typically are lower, as mining companies, railroads, and port terminals usually conduct maintenance during that month. This year, the coal industry made up for the suspension of shipments in April and May by increasing shipments in July.

In our Short-Term Energy Outlook, we expect exports from the Port of Baltimore for the 2024 calendar year will be consistent with previous years because we expect exports to remain high in the second half of 2024. In 2023, the Port of Baltimore set a five-year high, with coal exports totaling 28 million short tons.We expect total exports in 2024 should be equal to or greater than the 20 million tons loaded in both 2021 and 2022.

While the article is ostensibly about how things have recovered since the bridge collapse, the real story is that coal is very much alive and setting new records with regard to exports. Moreover, the circumstances of growing energy demand are inevitably going to lead to some green virtual signalers asking whether we shouldn’t be developing and keeping of the black stuff for our own use.

#Coal #ClimateChange #Exports #Baltimore #KeyBridge #GreenVirtueSignaling #China #India #CoalExports

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