Will Wyoming’s
vast coal mines be forced to cut back or close down during our
lifetimes?
When the current energy boom started in the
fall of 2002-2003, just five short years ago, several commentators
predicted that the state’s energy-based prosperity would
stretch out for decades. I was certain of this, too.
The
prediction was based on two facts: First was Wyoming’s
250-year supply of low-sulphur coal, making it North
America’s Saudi Arabia of coal. Second was the vast reserves
of natural gas that continue to be discovered in the state, plus
projections of more than 100,000 coalbed methane natural gas wells
that will be developed in the next decade.
In the
meantime, a bogeyman named Global Warming has entered the
nation’s consciousness, and this is putting a crimp into some
of these developments — especially coal. Ten years ago, who could
have imagined that nuclear energy would be viewed as
“clean” and coal as “dirty?”
These days, there are many examples of companies turning away from
coal. Rocky Mountain Power, the main electricity supplier to
Wyoming and many western states, recently snuffed plans for a huge
new coal-fired expansion at its Rock Springs, Wyo., Jim Bridger
plant. It also curtailed plans for a clean coal-to-gas project that
was on the drawing board.
Another example of this change
in public attitude was the cancellation of a major array of
coal-fired plants in Texas that would have used 7 percent of
Wyoming’s coal. The developers are switching to nuclear.
Then there were the news reports about a coal-fired plant
scheduled for Mesquite, Nev. It has fired up next-door Utah
residents who are marshalling forces to kill it. Other coal-fired
plants on the drawing boards in Wyoming are now becoming more of a
long shot, as financing and long-term power contracts are being
renegotiated.
You can also watch as Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger leads California lawmakers into a program where they
refuse to buy energy that is produced in a way that causes global
warming — i.e. coal-fired plants.
Meanwhile, however,
the Union Pacific Railroad sets new records for the amount of coal
it transports out of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin and into
the Midwest, the south and the east. That coal is fueling huge
coal-fired plants that provide over half of the electricity to this
country.
The size of these trains leaves an indelible
impression. I recently drove home through the Lusk, Wyo., area, and
it was amazing to see how long these heavily loaded trainloads of
coal can snake. They stretch out for more than mile and almost
disappear on the horizon. It seems to me that the coal train
symbolizes a global battle over energy production. The battle
involves environmental concerns, security and public relations, and
it involves the folks concerned about global warming and the folks
who support domestically produced energy at any cost. At the same
time our thirst for more electricity might easily outstrip the
supply.
Perhaps the biggest victims in this are the big
utility companies. I know it is hard to feel sorry for them, but
perhaps in this case they deserve a tear or two. They operate
monopolies, but as part of that advantage they cannot allow the
power to go off — ever. Yet as energy demand grows, so does the
threat of brownouts or blackouts.
Utilities have invested
heavily in coal-fired plants, which produce energy pretty darn
cheaply, and at least in their opinion, pretty darn cleanly, too.
Whatever utilities choose to do to increase their supply of energy,
it will take decades to alter the mix so that greater contributions
come from wind, nuclear, natural gas and less polluting coal. In
the meantime, If the power goes out, they risk big fines and even
the loss of their franchises.
Nonetheless, I believe that
Wyoming’s energy future remains bright. The development of
new, clean-coal technologies could provide more opportunity than
what the coalfields are now providing. And it might be that the
trend away from coal could falter once blackouts and brownouts
disrupt our lives. But until that happens, the public relations
advantage is definitely in the hands of the global warming folks.
Bill Sniffin is a contributor to Writers on the
Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He is a long-time
Wyoming journalist in Lander,Wyoming.
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