Coal and the other fossil fuels are still very important

June 25, 2025

Anyone who has lived in, or spent much time in this region knows and understands the importance of the coal industry to its development. Without coal, so much that occurred and that we enjoyed would not have happened.

Tens of thousands of jobs and who knows how much money passed through the region due to the mining, sale and transportation of coal mined here to other places.

Over the next several years, Bluefield became the center of activity resulting from the coal boom that occurred several decades ago. It was the finance and shopping center for the southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia coal fields. People came here from towns miles away because of Bluefield’s role in the coal industry, and the things it offered to them.

How many of us remember driving along Bluefield/Princeton Avenue and seeing dozens or hundreds of coal cars on the railroad tracks loaded with coal moving out of the railyard, and dozens more empty cars on their way back to be refilled?

This lasted for many years, and the area prospered during that time.

However, as life evolves, things change. New and better ways of doing things come to be, and the old ways gradually fade away. 

This process is slow, gradual and not very painful. The other side of that story occurs when some factions start pushing for change before its time, and with things other than the natural replacements.

Unfortunately, the latter process has been the catalyst for what has occurred in the southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia region’s coal industry.

The idea that burning fossil fuels like coal and oil was damaging to the environment took hold and resulted in what some have called “a war on coal,” which produced the closing of coal burning power plants, and the large decline in the need for coal. At least in the United States.

But science does not agree with the idea that we have too much CO2 in the atmosphere, and that it is harmful. In fact, quite a few scientists say that we need more, as much as two times the amount of CO2. They say that would be a great benefit to plant life. Plants and trees consume CO2 and emit oxygen. Having more plants and trees is a good thing.

During President Donald Trump’s first term the U.S. became energy independent and provided energy sources to other countries. This highly robust level of production was so strong that it lasted well into the Biden administration, despite Biden’s efforts to stifle it. The U.S. produced a record amount of energy in 2023, and out-performed that the following year. 

Eventually, the Biden administration’s efforts did cripple the energy industry. Other countries were still burning coal, and needing coal, oil and gasoline, but they were getting it from other countries, resulting in an economic punch in the gut to U.S. businesses.

The problem with the green energy solution that so many prefer is that while using green energy does not burn fossil fuels or add CO2 to the atmosphere, producing the elements that gather wind and solar power do. All of the materials that must be mined, then transported, and put into production use great amounts of gas and oil.

Now that Trump has been re-elected to the presidency, his administration is working to reinstate the previous philosophy on fossil fuels.

A West Virginia organization — Friends of Coal — based in Charleston, is excited about this change. “The recent decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to roll back burdensome greenhouse gas and toxic emissions regulations marks a pivotal moment for America’s energy future — and a long-overdue reprieve for the coal, natural gas and oil industries that power our nation,” it said.

In its June 20 email, Friends of Coal included a couple of other bright spots:

“The Trump administration on Wednesday formally reinstated the National Coal Council, an advisory group focused on fossil fuels that existed for more than three decades before lapsing under the Biden administration. The Department of Energy in a Federal Register notice restored the group.”

“President Trump took two major steps this week to end the 14-year old ...Democrat war against the coal industry and cheap electricity. Although greens have promised to sue, they are unlikely to succeed as the moves have pretty much been pre-approved by the Supreme Court.”

Some other states, even some that are not coal producers, understand how important it is.

In South Carolina, the state legislature is considering the new S.C. Energy Bill. The bill provides for “all of the above forms of energy for electricity 

generation.” One of the bill’s supporters noted that “the lowest cost, most reliable power that the Low Country has had delivered for over 80 years is from Santee-Cooper with over 60% of that low-cost electricity coming from the primary energy of coal.”

While it is very unlikely that these changes will spur a recovery in the coal industry that puts it back where it once was, things should improve locally, at least some.

And, like other changes the Trump administration supports, these changes will take some time to emerge as is the case with gasoline prices. 

Coal’s future is better than the climate change faction hoped

February 25, 2025

Those of us who have been around for a good while remember the days when dozens of train cars loaded with coal filled the Bluefield railyard and were seen moving coal on the tracks throughout the area. The immense effect coal had on the economics of the southern West Virginia and southwest Virginia regions was a greatly appreciated fact. That is what actually built much of the area.

Over the years, coal’s use has declined substantially, due to various factors, a major one of which is the climate change mania that took aim at coal, oil and natural gas as fuels. This action cost the region a heavy price.

The climate change faction has been sounding the alarm that there is a dangerous level of CO2 in the atmosphere, and it needs to be immediately lowered. However, many scientists argue against that opinion. They say the CO2 level should be doubled to increase the growth of plants that in return produce the oxygen that feeds humanity and animals.

Even if the climate mania narrative is correct, the US effort to reduce CO2 by mandating cutting back on coal, oil and natural gas use made little to no difference in the CO2 level. The “improvements” we made were rendered moot by the greatly increased use by other nations. So, while thousands were put out of work, and other negative economic results were achieved in the US, China and India made that all seem pointless.

Friends of Coal is a non-profit organization based in Charleston, WV supporting the continued use of coal. “The supposed energy transition from fossil fuels to a suite of government-supported alternatives like wind and solar has always seemed more of a marketing campaign than reality,” a Friends of Coal newsletter stated. “It’s a transition that we are asked to believe has been ongoing since at least 2015 and the signing of the Paris Climate Accords, yet the percentage of primary energy supplied by oil, natural gas, and coal continues to hover right at the 80 percent level despite all the trillions of dollars in government subsidies thrown at the problem.”

Citing new leadership in West Virginia and the nation, Friends of Coal says that West Virginia’s coal industry has strong support for its part in “powering homes, businesses and national infrastructure.”

Coal also plays an important role in West Virginia’s economy by providing 15 percent of the state’s annual revenue and more than 50,000 jobs.

While coal’s part in producing electricity for the nation has been diminished over recent years, it is still active in that role, and is prepared to step up to help meet the predicted need for more electric power in the near future.

And the new US Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, told interviewers at Bloomberg that the time has come to halt the closing of coal-fired power plants that resulted from the war on coal under the direction of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. "Coal has been essential to the United States' energy system for over 100 years,” he said. “It's been the largest source of global electricity for nearly 100 years, and it will be for decades to come, so we need to be realistic about that.”

And there is more good news for the industry. Increases in coal’s existing uses, and new uses for it are on the horizon.

Forbes reports that “India and the U.S. are plugging a hole in the market for steel-making coal caused by declining Chinese demand,” and the “dominance by China for steel-making, or coking coal, is fading as the Chinese Government encourages a slowdown in steel production.”

A report on the World Economic Forum website suggests that the uses of coal have not been fully realized. Coal is a highly varied material and its molecular complexity has not been explored for new uses.

Where coal has been being refined into basic elements and then used as a feedstock for the chemical industry’s production of plastics, dyes and solvents, it now is thought to be a basis for producing solar panels, batteries and electronic devices. 

It may also be used in manufacturing carbon products. Whereas petrochemical or biomass feedstocks are now used for products like carbon fiber and carbon additives for cements and the like, coal is now seen as a likely substitute for these processes. And, it has the further advantage of being a fairly cheap base material, which is a very positive factor.

Other new developments are also helping make coal more useful and less polluting. Through gasification and liquefaction processes, coal can be converted into synthetic gases or liquids, and these products can be processed into valued chemicals like methanol and hydrogen, which are used in industrial processes.

And processes like high efficiency low emission technologies work to reduce the emissions of coal-fired power plants. Carbon capture and storage processes are being developed to prevent CO2 emission from entering the atmosphere.

These new developments in the use of coal hold promise for the industry. And while it might not grow the industry to its former size and influence, it could again become a strong economic factor in places like southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia.

Coal is still a valuable asset with many beneficial uses

November 19, 2024

Over recent years the amount of coal used in the US for producing electricity has dropped dramatically. This same decline can be seen across the globe, with 100 countries that have either gone coal-free or have set 2040 as a phase-out date.

The environmental movement is responsible for most of this, prompted by the Paris Agreement in 2015, where 75 nations focused on doing away with coal use by 2050. The environmental faction tells the story that burning coal is a major factor in what they say is the dangerous over-abundance of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth’s atmosphere.

To correct this problem, we must stop using fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas to produce electricity, power vehicles or other uses. Even if it is true that we have too much CO2 in the atmosphere — and more than a few scientists argue that position isn’t true — this perspective ignores that fossil fuels contribute to our lives in other ways that are quite useful in addition to producing the power on which we rely so heavily.

And let’s not ignore the idea of many scientists that the level of CO2 in our atmosphere not only should not be reduced, but should be doubled to promote the growth of plant life. Plants and trees consume CO2 and release oxygen, which is critical to human life, into the atmosphere.

On this topic, Mining Digital tells us that “The demise of steam coal — also known as thermal coal — has been well documented, as investors shy away from the fossil fuel that fired the Industrial Revolution and has been an energy mainstay pretty much ever since, save for the past decade or so. Yet one corner of the coal market is thriving: metallurgical coal, otherwise known as coking coal, and vital for making steel.”

Coal is a critical part of steel, and steel is a huge factor in so many things, such as in buildings, as reinforcing rods in concrete, in bridges, tools, ships, trains, cars, bicycles, machines, electrical appliances, furniture, and weapons.

Oil is also used in many things, like plastics, fertilizers, petrochemicals crayons, dishwashing liquids, deodorant, eyeglasses, tires, ammonia, lubricants, coolants and paints.

So, you see, these fossil fuels have other uses as well as their contribution to electricity production and propelling vehicles and other devices of various descriptions. But the Biden/Harris administration, with its myopic view of reality and the manic anti-fossil fuel attitude of the left, wants to destroy fossil fuels, and especially coal, which has been, and can still be, so valuable to our region.

While coal use is still declining, and coal-fired power plants are fewer and fewer, the rate of that decline has slowed recently, as power demand is rising for datacenters and manufacturing entities.

And a forecast from S&P Global Commodity Insights points to this as a lifeline for coal power. “But tech companies are building power-hungry datacenters to support new artificial intelligence applications. Additional demand from new datacenters will double in just a year, to 47,448 GWh (Gigawatt hours) between 2024 and 2025, and rise more than eightfold by 2030 to 199,982 GWh.”

President-elect Donald Trump named former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is thought that the EPA will ease regulations affecting fossil fuel-fired power plants.

Trump said of Zeldin, who served in the House from 2015 to 2023, that he will ensure “fair and swift” deregulatory decisions. The result of this will be a boon to American businesses and still maintain the highest environmental standards.

Zeldin said in a recent statement that, “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”

E&E News offered this idea of what will happen. “Some of the most stringent rules enacted by the Biden administration will likely end up in the dust bin, such as the agency’s regulations to reduce climate pollution from power plants, according to analysts. Other standards may survive in a weakened form, like the administration’s rules to lower methane emissions.”

“I think the power plant rule is pretty easy for them to revoke,” said Jeff Holmstead, who served as EPA’s air chief under President George W. Bush. “There’s really no one in industry who supports that rule. People just think that EPA was entirely unrealistic.”

Fortunately for those businesses and individuals who support the continued use of coal, not only for power production, but also for the other uses it has, the onset of the Trump/Vance administration is a breath of fresh air. 

Reversing the Biden administration’s mindless restrictions on coal, oil and other fossil fuels will allow the US to regain its position as energy independent, bring back to our country the sale of coal and gas that was sent to other countries by Biden’s orders, and bring down the needlessly high prices for gasoline and diesel fuel.

These changes will not restore the thriving coal industry of a few decades ago, but will allow its use for energy production as well as other positive purposes that have recently come to light.