=============
=====================
WHY would ANY coal miner/coal plant worker BELIEVE Obama is on their side? That Obama would “improve their lives” if he was elected POTUS?
===================
Consol idling W.Va. mine, laying off 318 workers
June 29, 2012
By Thomas Olson
Consol Energy Inc. will idle its Fola coal mining operation near Bickmore in central West Virginia on Aug. 30 because of poor market demand and regulatory pressures.
The shutdown will affect 318 employees, the Cecil-based company said on Friday. The workers, who are nonunion, include surface and underground miners, and reclamation and office staffers.
Consol expects 2012 production to be reduced by 800,000 tons. So far this year, the Fola complex has produced more than 1 million tons of coal.
“The domestic market for coal remains soft, due to weak economic growth and activity,” said President Nicolas DeIuliss in a statement. He also cited the “escalating costs and uncertainty” generated by pending regulations from the Environment Protection Agency as a reason for idling the mine operation.
“Consol over the years has been disciplined in adjusting its production to the market,” said Thomas Hoffman, energy communications consultant in Upper St. Clair.
“It’s a very, very challenging market right now for coal producers. Consol is not unique to idling production,” said Hoffman. “Patriot Coal, Peabody, Alpha Natural Resources and others all have either closed or idled mines within the last few months.”
Earlier this year, Consol idled two mines for several months — in West Virginia and in southwest Virginia — because of weak demand for steam coal for power generation and for metallurgical coal for steel making.
DeIuliss said there is “significant uncertainty” about whether power companies will continue to use central Appalachian coal in their plants.
For more than a decade, coal accounted for 48 percent of the feedstock for American power generation, Hoffman said. The percentage this year has declined to about 38 percent, partly because of utilities’ switch to cheaper natural gas.
Further, the price of coal used for power generation has dropped by more than 30 percent from a year ago, Hoffman said.
SOURCE
==============================
RELATED LINKS:
Obama Bankrupting Coal Industry through EPA Regulations. What about the Coal Industry Workers, Their Families, Their Financial Liabilities?
**************************
RELATING TO the COAL INDUSTRY:
Pennsylvania:
Obama “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” Agenda? Five Pennsylvania Coal-Fueled Power Plants to Close due to Obama Administration Regulations. GM Laying Off 1,300 Workers, Suspending Production of Chevy Volt
*************************
West Virginia:
EPA stunner: Pulls Permit for Major, Already-in-Use Coal Mine in WVA
************************
Ohio:
Ohio gets 86% of Energy from Coal. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Oh) Joins with Obama’s “War on Coal” to Bankrupt Coal Industry.
*************************
Kentucky:
Arch Coal laying off 750 workers in Appalachia
=============================
OCCUPY PROTESTERS DUMP 500LBS OF COAL IN FRONT OF BANK OF AMERICA HQ
From WCNC: CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Occupy Charlotte protesters converged on uptown Charlotte Thursday afternoon.
Protesters dumped 500 pounds of coal in front of Bank of America headquarters in protest of what they called the bank’s commitment to fund coal.
The protest was peaceful, and when it was all over the group cleaned up the coal.
==============================
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
Obama to Bankrupt Coal Plants, No Keystone Pipeline, No Drilling for US Deposits: Cuba to Start Drilling for Oil Just 62 Miles off FLORIDA Coast
***********************
**************************************************
Obama using cheap labor (prisoners) to build solar panels to send profits to Obama donor and Chicago friends. Remember this name……EXELON:
Green Energy GULAG. Prisoners Producing Solar Panels Sold for Installation by Major OBAMA Donors on Federal Buildings. The Ayers and David Axelrod Connections to Exelon.
**************************
***********************************************
Secrecy and Concealment? Stealth Aggregate Collusion? EPA + Exelon +PEG
*****************************
EPA Head Lisa Jackson’s Radical Environmental Justice Agenda
********************
============================
=================
==========================
# I AM JUST A BLOGGER DOING THE JOB THE LAME-STREAM LIBERAL BIASED OBAMA PROTECTIONIST MSM’S WON’T/REFUSE TO DO!
[...] Obama’s New War on Coal Casualties: West Virginia Consol Mine [...]