US coal miner Murray Energy sues Obama Administration
Murray Energy says the new standards, which decrease the threshold for ground-level ozone to 70 parts per billion, set the levels so that even some of the country’s national parks will be out of compliance. (Image from archives)
US coal miner Murray Energy Corp., one of the top producers in Northern Appalachia and the Illinois Basin, is suing the Obama administration over new ozone standards it says will harm the coal industry.
The new standards, which decrease the threshold for ground-level ozone to 70 parts per billion, set the levels so that even some of the country’s national parks will be out of compliance, the Ohio-based company claims.
“For the past seven years, the Obama Administration has waged a regulatory rampage against the United States coal industry, and the thousands of high paying, well-benefitted jobs which it provides,” said Robert E. Murray, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Murray Energy, in a statement. “This Ozone Rule is yet another illegal and destructive action aimed at killing these jobs.”
The move follows a lawsuit filed last week by 24 states, which are challenging President Obama’s climate change plan in federal court.
It also comes on the heels of a new study published by the National Mining Association that claims the costs of a so called “Stream Protection Rule,” proposed in July, will take away between 40,038 and 77,520 mining jobs and between $14 billion and $29 billion in annual value of coal lost to production restriction.
Perfect storm
Coal markets have collapsed over the last few years due to a perfect storm of factors.
U.S. producers first faced increasing competition from shale gas in America’s electric power sector as fracking took off about a decade ago. Several coal plants shut down as a result of cheap gas and the fresh regulatory crack down from the federal government —including restrictions on greenhouse gases.
Thermal coal prices are currently down to six-year lows of around $42 a tonne, far from the US$150 per tonne the commodity was fetching in 2011.
Analysts estimate around a fifth of the thermal coal industry is losing money based on current prices — a position that is usually unsustainable in commodity markets.
“When you are that far into the cost curve, the downside is pretty limited,” Tom Price, commodities strategist at Morgan Stanley, said in a March note. “Price buoyancy is already indicating that this is the case.”
And while there is talk of supply cuts and rising Indian demand, China continues to be the main factor to tip the seaborne thermal coal market one side of the other.
Late last year, Beijing introduced a series of measures to help protect its domestic coal mines from competition and reduce pollution at the same time.
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2 Comments
johnrolce
Executives aiming to protect their pockets are always waving with job losses (a cheap way to instill fear in the heart of an average Joe watching news). As progress goes on, some jobs are rendered obsolete. It’s been like this since the beginning of industrial revolution. And it was always accompanied with such BS claims. If it all came true, all of us (but ececutives) would be unemployed now.
nicp
Without coal to power this nation you would be sitting in the cold and dark. With no refrigeration to keep your food from spoiling you would very likely be malnourished and sick, and probably die very young. You would have no electronics because the affordability of coal power makes their manufacturing and use possible. If you choose to purchase an electric car, that car is most likely coal powered because most of the electricity in this nation comes from coal. So when will you be giving up all your modern life conveniences and returning to a hunter/gather life style? It is not about the executives pockets. It is about clean, reliable power production and coal does this every day and has for years.