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Coal country legislators want help for industry

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Illinois

* Hmm…

Downstate legislators are banding together in an effort to revive the market for Illinois coal. It comes as the renewable and nuclear industries are asking for legislative intervention.

Representative Jerry Costello, a Democrat from St. Clair County, stood alongside Republicans in calling for a comprehensive approach on energy. […]

Costello and the other pro-coal lawmakers appear open to where those talks go. An early concept seeks to have Illinois coal plants outfitted with air pollution control devices.

It doesn’t require it, or include a way to pay for the “scrubbers.” Rather, it calls for state regulators to find a funding mechanism. The proposal also requires Illinois utilities to make it a goal to buy more coal in-state.

* The rationale…

Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, introduced a bill on Tuesday to create incentives to cleanly burn coal. The proposal is an effort to keep the coal industry as an energy-policy player in Illinois.

“We know the desperate situation of the Dynegy fossil fuel plants currently within the state of Illinois, we know the dire situation with the Exelon and ComEd nuclear plants in northern Illinois, and we believe that Illinois coal is part of the overall energy discussion,” Bradley said at a press event at the Capitol.

Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said preserving the coal industry has bipartisan support.

“In the district that (Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Raymond) and I represent, a question all the time is that we have a power plant down the road, but we can’t burn coal that comes from the mine the other direction that’s a stone’s throw away, and that’s something that’s plagued our state for years,” Manar said. “This legislation is going to help solve that problem, and it will raise employment and help out communities that have been struggling for years.” […]

Phil Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association, said that while he supports a comprehensive plan for Illinois that includes renewable energy resources such as solar and wind power, they are intermittent. Therefore, he said, there should be an increase in the amount of energy derived from reliable coal.

* Dot points…

The proposal requires utilities to have purchasing agreements with clean-coal burning facilities.

The goal is for those agreements to represent at least 40% of their retail customer load by 2020.

The bill also allows the Illinois Commerce Commission to devise a way to pay for scrubbers that allow the plants to burn coal more cleanly.

It also allows the state to purchase and sell coal to generating facilities if it chooses.

* They couldn’t have written a better press release themselves, which was probably most of the point…

Southern Illinois lawmakers say they stand united in putting Illinois coal back into action.

Representative John Bradley introduced a bill on Tuesday that would allow the Illinois coal industry to be relevant again. Other area lawmakers support the bill, including Rep. Terri Bryant, Rep. Jerry Costello Jr., and Sen. Gary Forby.

They say our region depends on Illinois coal for good paying jobs and to drive our economy.

“The main thing it does is get us in the discussion. The second thing it does is creative an incentive program with the ICC to put scrubbers on the existing coal fire facilities that we have and of which are in jeopardy of closing,” says Bradley.

Your thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 9:51 am

Comments

What’s the funding mechanism? That’s the question.

If taxpayers in general will be expected to bail out the industry, then I’m not in favor. It’s just another inefficient form of welfare.

If coal can’t be competitive without taxpayer subsidy, then other energy alternatives with less environmental downside make more sense.

I feel for the coal miners but this is like using prisons for economic development. Sounds good but not efficient.

Comment by Sir Reel Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 10:03 am
The equivalent of trying to save the whale-oil industry. China’s getting off coal, for crying out loud.

Fracking opened up a mother-lode of cheaper, cleaner-burning natural gas. Coal-to-gas plant conversion is the future.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 10:05 am
Although there was a snippet on NPR about India ramping up coal.

Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 10:11 am
Poor old SO IL.

They’ve gotta try.

Comment by Ray del Camino Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 10:12 am
give a tax credit for the entire cost of the scrubbers that can roll over or be sold.

subsidize the cost of coal for clean burning plants like we do with ethanol. the coal industry pays well. these are good jobs to support

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 10:12 am
But wouldn’t these scrubbing technologies make our energy even more expensive than natural gas. Coal is going the way of the dinosaur. Better to focus on retraining the displaced employees.

Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 10:17 am
Sounds like they want to force IPA to procure 40% of electricity from plants that burn Illinois coal. Given the two recent Supreme Court cases and federal regulator decisions in on similar topics, that would be illegal.

Also, while this wouldn’t finance scrubbers, this would directly pay Illinois coal plants a higher-than-market rate, uncapped, that could cost all Illinois customers close to $300 million a year. That’s a lot of money to send to Houston and other places for not a lot in return.

Comment by okgo Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 10:22 am
My ancestors couldn’t get out of the coal mines fast enough, we should be trying to bring southern Illinois better, cleaner jobs. As for little Jerry Costello, he’s nothing but a DINO.

Comment by Collinsville Kevin Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 10:49 am
The real problem is that all of the scrubbers in the world won’t do a thing to change the fact that burning coal and “fracked” natural gas contributes to disastrous global climate change. While we shouldn’t punish people who live in areas where the economy depended on the continued viability of coal mines, it is long since time to seek models of economic development that at least pretend we want to leave a livable planet for future generations.

Comment by Tibicen Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 10:50 am
Decades ago when clean air standards started, some basic decisions were made by the power companies in Illinois. The way the regulations were written, smokestack scrubbers would have to be paid for as an equipment investment of stockholders money. Fuel costs (including shipping) were a direct pass through added to the electric bill. So it was way more expensive to buy cleaner coal a thousand miles away, and ship it here, but the customers paid 100% of the extra cost. The power companies did not care about the lost jobs, extra consumer cost, and bad effects on the Illinois economy. Now 40 years later, the coal plants still need the scrubbers, and the companies still don’t want to pay for them.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 11:07 am
The coal companies have already offered to pay for the scrubbers out of their own pockets. It doesn’t matter, natural gas is the future.

Comment by Daniel Plainview Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 11:11 am
No.

And the worst part is, these folks are smart enough to know that coal is one of the worst hydrocarbon culprits behind global climate change. Their argument boils down to, “Make the future worse for today.”

No.

Comment by Northsider Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 11:24 am
Coal needs to go the way of the horse and buggy. We need to help coal workers transition to solar and wind. Burning Coal is the reason that if you go fishing in this state you should not eat much of what you catch as its full of toxic mercury from burning coal. Coal is an environmental disaster that is helping ruin our world. If Germany can provide 90% of its electricity from Solar and wind as they did on one day in December we can definitely move away from coal, lose coal, help the workers transition instead.

Comment by independent Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 11:46 am
===We know the desperate situation of the Dynegy fossil fuel plants currently within the state of Illinois, we know the dire situation with the Exelon and ComEd nuclear plants in northern Illinois===

As I see it, coal usage for power generation is on the way out. The best thing for Illinois is probably to close down the coal fired power stations. The Dynegy customers can then buy power from the Exelon nuclear plants. This will allow Illinois to save at least some of the high paying jobs in the energy area.

Comment by Hit or Miss Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 12:03 pm
This initiative would be focused on the older power plants in the state that were switched to western coal many years ago. Most of these plants already have updated air pollution controls, including scrubbers. Given their age, not to mention that some are being phased out due to cheaper shale gas and demand for renewables, it doesn’t make sense to convert them back to Illinois coal. The downstate legislators should be thinking long-term and lobbying for more federal dollars for the development of lower-cost carbon capture and utilization/storage technologies that can be applied to a wide range of industrial applications in the future.

Comment by Going nuclear Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 12:10 pm
We don’t need coal mines. We need better, cleaner energy and better, cleaner jobs for these guys.

Comment by Cheryl44 Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 1:05 pm
I actually support greater use of coal for our energy needs. Understanding we can stilL support the renewables with subsidies. We are decades from being even close to having enough wind/solar capacity, so let’s not decimate the poor and middle class with penalties on coal produced energy.by the way, I eat fish from Illinois lakes four times a week.

Comment by blue dog dem Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 1:50 pm
Sounds as if the coal county Democrats are nervous about Trump.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:18 pm
I wish they would have spent this much effort on the telegraph industry

Comment by Power House Prowler Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 9:17 pm
I suspect it would be more worthwhile for those legislators to find a different source of economic activity for Southern Illinois.

Comment by Anon Thursday, May 12, 16 @ 12:42 pm