** Coal’s new low
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2020
Comanche Generating Station is adjacent to Vestas Wind Systems along I-25 near Pueblo, Colorado.
Photo: Mike Lewinski ([link removed]) , CC BY 2.0 ([link removed])
Three years of promises by President Trump to save coal haven't been able to overcome the reality of a declining market. Newly released federal data show U.S. coal production hit its lowest level in four decades in 2019 ([link removed]) , as power companies and consumers switch to cheaper and cleaner energy sources. Last year's seven percent drop brought total production to its lowest point since 1978 ([link removed]) , when a strike by coal miners halted production for three months.
2020 is on track to be even worse for American coal, as the economic collapse caused by coronavirus leads utilities to retire coal plants even sooner, and energy analysts recommend new coal-to-solar financing ([link removed]) methods that let utilities skip natural gas as a "bridge" fuel. A new report from the Western Organization of Resource Councils found that cleaning up land disturbed by coal mining could create thousands of jobs for former miners ([link removed]) , so long as regulators hold mining companies accountable for remediation as mines close.
In Colorado, the future of the state's newest coal plant, Comanche 3, is in doubt. The plant, which just opened in 2010, is now the subject of an investigatory docket by the state's Public Utility Commission ([link removed]) . Comanche 3 has been plagued by problems since the beginning and is currently down due to an "operating issue." The investigation, along with plummeting prices for renewables, now means that the plant, which was supposed to operate until 2070, could close as early as 2030.
Quick hits
** How the global oil collapse ripped a hole in state budgets
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Quartz ([link removed])
** Poll: rural Westerners support environmental protections just as much as elsewhere
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Wyoming Public Media ([link removed])
** Trump slashed the social cost of carbon. A judge noticed
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E&E News ([link removed])
** U.S. coal production falls to 40-year low
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Washington Post ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed])
** Coal mine cleanup could create thousands of jobs across the West
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Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
** Will Colorado's newest coal plant make it past the end of the decade?
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Steamboat Pilot ([link removed])
** Yellowstone concession workers, visitors test positive for coronavirus
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Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
** Opinion: Conservation fund is an investment in America's future
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The Columbian ([link removed]) | Arizona Daily Sun ([link removed])
Quote of the day
It’s got to be about holding coal companies accountable and making sure that the reclamation bonds in place are adequate and not underfunded. Each step of that you have to have your regulators’ eyes on making sure the liabilities are not being brushed aside.”
—Kate French, Western Organization of Resource Councils
Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
Picture this
** @usfws ([link removed])
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Tuesdays can be a badger, uh, bother! American badgers eat a variety of prey in prairie habitats across the American West: mammals, insects, fish, amphibians, birds, & lizards. They burrow underground to hunt prey & sleep. Some wildlife use their burrows as shelter. Photo: USFWS
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