The debate over coal continues to rage

Oct 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - David McGee Bristol Herald Courier, Va.

From the presidential campaign to communities across Southwest Virginia, the debate over coal is raging.

Coal -- and the larger question of where the U.S. will get its electricity -- has been among the hottest issues discussed during this presidential election season.

But it has come into sharpest focus in the mountains of Virginia's 9th District, where coal mining and its economic impact remains significant.

U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, and Democratic challenger Anthony Flaccavento of Abingdon share little commonality in their stances about an industry and a resource that has historically provided feast or famine job prospects.

Coal-fired power plants currently provide about a third of all U.S. electricity -- down from about 50 percent a few years ago. But the long-term prospects for U.S. coal consumption appear on the decline, fueled by competition from lower-priced natural gas and concerns about stringent new greenhouse gas emission regulations from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Power providers have shuttered some coal-fired power plants and converted others to burn gas.

With that as a backdrop, major coal producers Alpha Natural Resources and CONSOL recently announced the layoffs of more than 1,000 miners and -- in the case of Alpha -- the closings of eight mines, including three in Wise and Buchanan counties in Southwest Virginia.

In "fighting for coal," Griffith has continually called for repealing the new EPA regulations while Flaccavento says they should be "studied" and perhaps phased in.

The United Mine Workers of America isn't endorsing either presidential candidate but Flaccavento picked up an endorsement in this race due to Griffith votes against miner benefits.

Griffith frames the debate within the national picture, where he says Republicans must win both the White House and at least draw even with Democrats in the U.S. Senate to effect changes.

"If we [Republicans] win on Nov. 6, then we start to dismantle some of the crazy regulations the EPA has brought forth. If we [Republicans] lose on Nov. 6 then it's tougher. Then it's a rear-guard action," Griffith said, using a military term. "If the Democrats are serious about bipartisanship they won't be trying to kill an entire industry that would truly cripple this area economically for decades."

Any decline hurts more than just miners and their families, Griffith said. Subtracting those wages from local economies creates ripples felt by the region's retailers, restaurants and banks. On a larger scale, it impacts companies directly serving the mining industry, railroads hauling the commodity to market and local governments, some which rely on coal severance taxes for a significant portion of revenues.

Flaccavento contends that coal's course is all but run and the region should turn now to diversifying its economy.

"I think coal is absolutely part of the short- to medium-term picture. The big reserves of coal out west are perhaps a little different," Flaccavento said. "As we move into the next generation of energy -- geo-thermal, solar, wind and high levels of energy efficiency -- we may and hopefully will be able to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels because there is no escaping the fact that fossil fuels are going to be powering climate change."

"There are not many jobs left in the coal industry, compared to 30 or 40 years ago," the challenger said. "I would fight to keep as many jobs as possible -- particularly by pushing the industry to use the new technologies using coal as cleanly as possible. I think you can increase jobs by using the cleanest technology.

"In 20 to 30 years, there just won't be many coal mining jobs. We don't have that much coal left in Southwest Virginia.," Flaccavento said.

Griffith strongly disagrees, noting that mining and its related services employ thousands.

"I think he's wrong but let's assume there are only 20 or 30 years remaining. Why would we want to make it [coal] illegal now? That doesn't make any sense, but it seems that's what the Obama administration and the EPA want to do. That doesn't mean we should kill coal today because we think 30 years from now there wouldn't be any coal," Griffith said.

He likens the potential exodus of coal jobs from this region to when the textile industry abandoned Martinsville and Henry County, darkening factories and idling thousands of workers.

"They said they would adapt. Adapt to what? We're just now starting to get some jobs back in that area. The empty buildings in downtown Martinsville are so depressing. That's why you don't throw away what you have now," Griffith said.

What officials should make, the challenger said, is "a serious investment" in creating and attracting new opportunities to the coalfields.

"If we could bring about some new, homegrown manufacturing along with what's happening in Coeburn and Norton and Haysi -- which is the downtown revitalization of local business from retail to tourist to nature tourism -- the combination of those two should put us in a much better position," Flaccavento said. "If we don't do that and we spend all our energy arguing against the EPA saying coal is our future what will absolutely happen -- 20 years from now -- is we'll be in far worse shape economically."

That is easier said than done, Griffith said, given the economic climate both in the U.S. and around the world.

"While the [Obama] administration was putting money in to try to get businesses to invest in the United States, they were also putting new regulations on that make the cost of doing business in the United States much more expensive," Griffith said. "They killed it by making it more expensive. They discourage farmers from passing their farm on to the next generation because the cost of doing business and all the regulations. They obviously have hurt the coal industry but it's every business out there."

Flaccavento discounts claims by the coal companies that the regulations are driving them out of business.

"The coal industry shouted the demise of the industry when we were dealing with acid rain," Flaccavento contends. "It's safe to say that's always their reaction to new safety, black lung, health and safety regulations. That's always their reaction. The question is finding the truth in that and making sure miners and their families aren't the victims of new regulations."

Griffith declares that the EPA's regulations clearly constitute a "war" on coal, referencing President Obama's 2008 comments about forcing those wanting to build coal-fired plants to go "bankrupt."

"He [Obama] also said in that interview that he didn't like natural gas," Griffith said. "How soon before he starts going after natural gas? He likes the alternatives, but he doesn't like natural gas and he doesn't like coal. How long -- if he gets re-elected -- before he goes after natural gas?"

Beyond power plants, manufacturing facilities and other institutions like colleges or towns that plan coal-fired boilers would also have to comply with those same stringent regulations, Griffith said.

"In 2004, Notre Dame University built a coal-fired boiler that used the cleanest technology available at that time. That plant would not meet the [pending] EPA regulations," Griffith said. "Notre Dame isn't going to leave the United States but a large manufacturer in that situation would."

Another example is the recently opened power plant in Virginia City in Wise County. Labeled the cleanest coal-fired facility in the world, it wouldn't comply with all of the EPA standards and would never have been built, Griffith said.

Since the EPA regulations would apply to new facilities, Flaccavento said the Virginia City facility is operating and should be the model for further technological improvements.

"The EPA regulations are real, need to be studied and perhaps phased in," Flaccavento said. "We [should] invest in new economic opportunities and make sure the regulations necessary to preserve public health and safety are phased in, in such a way that there is not a devastating impact on miners. When you combine those two things with incentives for the coal industry to really adopt the cleanest burning technologies -- the Virginia City type thing -- you would, at a minimum, cushion the impact of those regulations."

As for alternative sources, Griffith said algae, wind and solar likely deserve spots at the table.

"I think we certainly should look at those. A lot of folks thought it was funny when the president came out and said he thought algae was the wave of the future. I think there might be potential there, but it might be 30 or 40 years away," Griffith said. "You want to look at what makes sense. If a new technology comes along that makes wind a very affordable energy, we don't want to be left behind. It doesn't mean you make the other sources of energy -- that are available today at affordable prices -- that you make them more expensive because you think people ought to use solar exclusively or that only the alternatives ought to apply."

Flaccavento said the nation shouldn't rely so heavily on natural gas but press forward with examining all of the alternative fuels now

"The problem with natural gas -- if we embrace it without any conditions -- is it will likely further delay a serious commitment to the next generation of energy," Flaccavento said. "If we wait another 50 or 75 years to get serious about solar and wind we lose unbelievable economic opportunities in manufacturing and installation and maintenance. We put ourselves further against the cliff for environmental problems and climate change. Why can't we -- why is it so hard -- to work with and embrace the fossil fuels we're using now and heavily invest in these alternatives?"

The problems with wind and solar, Flaccavento said, is they aren't mobile or dense.

"We will have to shift the way we structure our transportation systems, our homes, our workplaces to accommodate those energy sources because they're so very different. We should be investing in that infrastructure and that efficiency now," Flaccavento said.

Election Day is Nov. 6.

dmcgee@bristolnews.com

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