The Four Places that President Obama Should Never Frequent
Let's see, I'm probably going to go with a) West Virginia, b) Eastern Kentucky, c) Eastern Ohio, and d) Western Pennsylvania. Coal country, me-buckos, and those "working folks" do not like him there.
Yes, I remember that Western Pennsylvania speech with his famous gaffe/attack on both the First and Second Amendments... which protect our basic human rights to cling to god(s) and guns.
Obama doesn't seem popular in any state. Regarding the eastern coal fields, a number of factors affect production: The veins are thinning and harder to get to and mine. Studies show efficiency is half what it was in the thirties. Appalachian coal is much more 'dirty' than the competing Wyoming coal (which is cheaply surface-mined),so that the hundreds of daily coal trains penetrating the south and east come from Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Fracking and looser regulations have resulted in much cheaper and cleaner natural gas which modern electric power plants prefer. We note a recent WVA study: "It takes more workers to reach the same coal."
"In 2000, Boettner said, a miner produced five tons of coal per hour. In 2011, a miner would take nearly two hours to produce five tons."
"Recent forecasts from the Energy Information Administration predict a further decline in power generation share from coal. The EIA reports the future of coal will depend on future prices of natural gas." Like any other business, even underground mining has become much more efficient: in 1947, production was 1490 ton/yr/miner, now it is 11,000 ton/yr/miner. This data is all taken from WVA sources, and the only bright spot seems export metallurgical coal, which goes out of Norfolk to Germany, sort of following the steel business. IMO, there are enough factors to absolve Obama of much blame, but such is his misfortune, that even the places that are super-booming, like Bakken, don't care for him.
4 comments:
Yes, I remember that Western Pennsylvania speech with his famous gaffe/attack on both the First and Second Amendments... which protect our basic human rights to cling to god(s) and guns.
Obama doesn't seem popular in any state. Regarding the eastern coal fields, a number of factors affect
production:
The veins are thinning and harder to get to and mine. Studies show
efficiency is half what it was in the thirties.
Appalachian coal is much more 'dirty' than the competing
Wyoming coal (which is cheaply surface-mined),so that the hundreds of daily coal trains penetrating the south and east
come from Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
Fracking and looser regulations
have resulted in much cheaper and cleaner natural gas which modern
electric power plants prefer. We note a recent WVA study:
"It takes more workers to reach the same coal."
"In 2000, Boettner said, a miner produced five tons of coal per hour. In 2011, a miner would take nearly two hours to produce five tons."
"Recent forecasts from the Energy Information Administration predict a further decline in power generation share from coal. The EIA reports the future of coal will depend on future prices of natural gas."
Like any other business, even underground mining has become much more efficient: in 1947, production was 1490 ton/yr/miner,
now it is 11,000 ton/yr/miner.
This data is all taken from WVA
sources, and the only bright spot
seems export metallurgical coal,
which goes out of Norfolk to Germany, sort of following the steel business. IMO, there are enough factors to absolve Obama
of much blame, but such is his misfortune, that even the places that are super-booming, like Bakken, don't care for him.
It's always about the economy. First local, then state, and last federal.
And, people don't always think long term.
If people thought long term, there wouldn't be so many boomers and millenials with no retirement savings.
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