Politicians, coal industry professionals reflect on Trump executive order
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 28 that he said would revive the nation's coal industry and create jobs.
Politicians, environmentalists and industry professionals have since weighed in on the measure, which initiates a review of the Clean Power Plan and also lifts a 14-month-old moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands.
"I applaud this action from President Trump, and I believe that his Executive Order will help increase opportunities for Illinois coal," said State Sen. Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) in a statement shortly after the order was signed. "This small, but necessary, first step sends a message to Midwestern coal producers and miners that the federal government will stand with you, not against you."
Schimpf made the struggles of the coal industry a key part of his election campaign last year, including a stop at Knight Hawk Coal's Prairie Eagle mine in Cutler.
"Unfortunately, our Southern Illinois coal industry is under attack," he said at the time. "Progressive politicians have put a target on the coal industry - we all know how bad President (Barack) Obama has been for the coal industry - we also know that the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, a few months ago, bragged that she, if elected, was going to put coal miners and coal mines out of business."
"President Donald Trump's rescinding of the so-called Clean Power Plan halts eight years of punitive regulations and actions by the Obama Administration that targeted the coal industry," said Knight Hawk Coal CEO Steve Carter in a statement. "His actions sent a clear message that coal will continue to be an integral part of our nation's energy suite."
The decline of the coal industry has also been felt on Randolph County's bottom line, with the Board of Commissioners battling to come up with a solution to the loss of more than $1 million in coal sales tax receipts from 2012 to 2016.
"The United States, and Illinois specifically, contains abundant energy resources," said U.S. Sen. Mike Bost (IL-12) in a statement. "I believe we can make full and safe usage of these resources as we pursue an all of the above energy strategy that utilizes sources like coal, natural gas, nuclear, and renewables."
The Obama administration had imposed a three-year ban on new federal coal leases in January 2016, arguing that the $1 billion-per-year program must be modernized to be financially viable while addressing climate change.
"Encouraging domestic energy production creates millions of good paying jobs here at home," Bost said. "It also generates billions of dollars in taxes, royalties, and lease payment revenues, helping supplant energy imports from overseas and reducing our nation's trade deficit in the process."
Experts and energy industry watchers have pointed out the declining price and abundance of natural gas, as well as the rise of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar as formidable competitors for coal.
According to the Illinois Coal Association, coal employment in the state in 2016 was 3,600, the lowest since 2010 and 2.7 times less than the 10,000 employed when the federal Clean Air Act took effect in 1990.
St. Louis-based Arch Coal Co. and Peabody Energy, which both operate mines in the state, both filed for bankruptcy last year. Peabody, which is anticipated to exit bankruptcy reorganization this month, operates the Gateway Mine near Coulterville.
Trump signed the executive order at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington D.C., with a number of coal miners in attendance.
"The miners told me about the attacks on their jobs and their livelihoods," Trump said in remarks posted to the White House website. "They told me about the efforts to shut down their mines, their communities, and their very way of life.
"I made them this promise: We will put our miners back to work."
The Herald Tribune reached out to Dynegy Midwest Generation, which operates the coal-fired Baldwin power plant, for comment. In October, Dynegy mothballed Unit 3 at the plant, resulting in the loss of 60 jobs.
A second unit, Unit 1, is anticipated to go offline in October 2018. According to Dynegy, the two coal-fired units were being shut down due to the facility's inability to recover basic operating costs in a then-recent capacity auction.
"It will be some time before we know exactly what the president's executive order means for Dynegy," said David Onufer, External Communications and Media Relations manager for Dynegy. "The real challenge to coal plants has been the uneconomical nuclear plants that are kept running with zero emission credits (ZECs) and subsidies.
"The lack of a cohesive national plan has led to inefficient state-by-state policies that have turned markets from a competition to produce the lowest cost electricity to a competition for subsidies."
-The Associated Press contributed to this report.