Pendulum swinging against coal

Many plans for new coal-fired power plants are being shelved “as states conclude that conventional coal plants are too dirty to build and the cost of cleaner plants is too high,” The Wall Street Journal reported in a Page One story.

“As recently as May, U.S. power companies had announced intentions to build as many as 150 new generating plants fueled by coal,” the Journal reported. “But the fleet of coal-powered plants that was supposed to be coming over the horizon is vanishing, a little more every week, as one developer after another cancels projects or quietly slows development activity.”
The Journal reported that coal-fired plants had looked attractive because there was concern over the higher price of natural gas. However, “coal has come under fire because it is a big source of carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global warming, in a time when climate change has become a hot-button political issue,” the Journal said.

“Roadblocks for coal put greater attention on other sources,” the Journal said. “The U.S. power industry is exploring building more nuclear power plants. But those plans are several years away…” Wind and solar don’t produce energy around the clock. So the focus is shifting to natural gas, the Journal said.

“The rapid shift away from coal shows how quickly and powerfully environmental concerns, and the costs associated with eradicating them, have changed matters for the power industry,” the Journal said.

So how will West Virginia be affected?

Charleston Daily Mail