{"id":2166,"date":"2016-05-04T16:29:13","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T16:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minutes.machine.market\/?p=2166"},"modified":"2016-05-04T16:29:13","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T16:29:13","slug":"alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama’s coal industry crushed by needless regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hal Quinn, <\/strong>president of the National Mining Association<\/em><\/p>\n

For decades, Alabama has proudly mined the coal that fuels American industry.\u00a0 During World War II, coal helped fire the steel foundries and factories that built America into the “Arsenal of Democracy.”\u00a0 And today, with coal still supplying roughly 37% of U.S. power generation \u2013 more than any other single power source last year \u2013 coal continues to keep millions of Americans warm in winter and cool in summer.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Alabama’s coal industry is now facing an all-out assault from Washington.\u00a0 It’s not one that’s been widely reported.\u00a0 But Alabama is one of 17 coal-producing states that have formally protested the Obama Administration’s “Stream Protection Rule” (SPR), the most recent of a fistful of regulations that some experts say will spell the end of the industry and the thousands of jobs it supports. That will also mean higher energy costs for both basic industries and low-income families, with troubling repercussions for the wider economy.<\/p>\n

\"Hal

Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association<\/p><\/div>\n

How did this battle for coal’s existence come about so suddenly?\u00a0 Because the Obama administration\u2013ignoring the welfare of coal states\u2014has moved aggressively to ensure that coal will now be kept in the ground.\u00a0 With little fanfare, the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining has unveiled a massive, 2,100-page regulation that re-writes nearly its entire program, conflicts with scores of existing laws and authorities, and threatens to render the majority of America’s coal reserves off-limits to further mining.<\/p>\n

If there was a poster child for needless, costly regulation, the SPR would certainly qualify.\u00a0 For example, despite its name, this regulatory behemoth actually has little to do with protecting streams. That’s because the agency’s own reports already show that virtually all U.S. mining operations carry no offsite environmental impacts.<\/p>\n

Instead of protecting streams, the SPR aims to protect the regulators.\u00a0 A skeptical Congress is asking why OSM needs more funding when poor market conditions have already left it with fewer coal mines to regulate. Lacking a credible answer, OSM has responded by seeking to co-opt additional authority currently shared by the states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n

In addition to being needless and duplicative, the SPR is certain to drive up the cost of mining and thus the number of unemployed miners. The SPR’s language is so broad that a full reading could be used to essentially eliminate the safest and most efficient techniques for coal mining, including the long wall mining currently used in some of the largest coal-producing states. An independent analysis of the rule projects the loss of at least 40,000 high-wage coal mining jobs nationwide.\u00a0 Total job losses throughout the U.S. coal supply chain \u2013 from railroads and power plants to ports and heavy equipment \u2013 could reach 281,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

The impact of keeping so much affordable energy in the ground would be staggering. The annual value of lost coal production could reach $29 billion, with federal and state tax revenue falling by as much as $6.4 billion annually. Coal communities won’t be the only losers, however. Without the affordable power that coal provides, the U.S. economy will face troubling ripple effects.\u00a0 Displacing affordable coal power with higher cost alternatives will mean heavier price burdens on everyone, including those who can least afford it.<\/p>\n

It’s bad enough that the SPR is unnecessary and costly. But adding insult to injury is the fact that OSM wants to impose these costs on states with whom it failed to consult during six years of protracted rule-making. That helps to explain why the agency has successfully expanded its regulatory program by duplicating responsibilities already carried out by states and other federal agencies.<\/p>\n

The SPR is a rule in search of a purpose \u2013 a regulation that is more about politics than environmental protection. Alabama is right to demand accountability from a federal agency that has clearly lost its way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association For decades, Alabama has proudly mined the coal that fuels American industry.\u00a0 During World War II, coal helped fire the steel foundries and factories that built America into the “Arsenal of Democracy.”\u00a0 And today, with coal still supplying roughly 37% of U.S. power generation \u2013 more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":""},"categories":[2,4,9,12],"tags":[288,1077],"yoast_head":"\nAlabama's coal industry crushed by needless regulation - MachineMarket Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alabama's coal industry crushed by needless regulation - MachineMarket Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association For decades, Alabama has proudly mined the coal that fuels American industry.\u00a0 During World War II, coal helped fire the steel foundries and factories that built America into the “Arsenal of Democracy.”\u00a0 And today, with coal still supplying roughly 37% of U.S. power generation \u2013 more […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MachineMarket Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-04T16:29:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/alabama-jobs-count-sm.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CraneMarket | Cranes for Sale and Rent\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/crane-market-logo.png\",\"width\":282,\"height\":81,\"caption\":\"CraneMarket | Cranes for Sale and Rent\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"MachineMarket Blog\",\"description\":\"Machine News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/alabama-jobs-count-sm.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/\",\"name\":\"Alabama's coal industry crushed by needless regulation - MachineMarket Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-04T16:29:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-04T16:29:13+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d55314291bc2800387533231d1e82150\"},\"headline\":\"Alabama’s coal industry crushed by needless regulation\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-04T16:29:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-04T16:29:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/#webpage\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/alabamas-coal-industry-crushed-by-needless-regulation\/#primaryimage\"},\"keywords\":\"coal industry,mining\",\"articleSection\":\"Constuction & Business News,Energy News,Mining News,Workforce News\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d55314291bc2800387533231d1e82150\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6761c958e8b054582d0855a0e4bc5407?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}