Will green energy kill coal mining? Why these industry leaders say it won't

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Utah's coal country is in the midst of redefining itself.

Carbon County — aptly named for its rich coal resources — saw the closure of its sole coal-fired power plant in 2015. Its mines, which historically numbered 16, are all shuttered.

"We thought we had locked in at $123 a megawatt," but that changed, he said. "Now it's $400 a megawatt. Those are the real facts of what's happening with the grid and, you know, the cost of energy."The mayor personally feels the pain as coal is being weaned out of the energy market.

"In my book, it is to save coal because the United States is on a trajectory of energy poverty," said the council's chief executive officer Emily Athurn. "We are a country that has enjoyed economic growth because of our fossil fuels and particularly because of coal and what it brings us — not only energy, but you're talking about the steel that has gone into what made America great. Now, we're on a timeline that is unachievable for green energy.

Athurn stressed that the problem overall rests on supply, timing and the country's lack of appetite for new mining. Earlier this month, Biden designated a new national monument in Arizona of nearly a million acres, shutting the door on any new mining for uranium. Justin Slaughter, a designer at Merit3D in Price, poses for a photo on Thursday. Slaughter spent 24 years in the mining industry, including working underground in a coal mine, before working at Merit3D.

"It's been a great change from what I used to do," he said, adding that it was a big adjustment to go from a career where half the time he was underground.The business model Loveless uses is to manufacture a product better, more cheaply and made in the United States. His goal, too, is to help transform Carbon County and the rest of Utah's coal country as it goes through these economic shifts.

"As we look at the evolution, what we're putting forward as part of the evolution of coal is to take coal and convert it and refine it into its individual components, which includes hundreds of chemicals. Some of those chemicals are extremely valuable, much more valuable than coal as a source itself," said Craig Eatough, with Combustion Resources, a Provo-based consulting company specializing in the arena of fuels and combustion.

Lyle Pearson, a managing director with Rainstar Capital, said the possibilities for repurposing coal are endless. He's an investor in Blue Sky.

 

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