Late in the afternoon of Nov. 12, Robert Murray got the news he had been waiting for — a judge said his company’s lawsuit to stop the Obama administration’s central climate change policy would move forward, and ordered Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy to sit for a deposition in the case.

Mr. Murray, CEO of Murray Energy Corp., America’s largest coal-mining company and possibly Ms. McCarthy’s harshest critic, said he would be there personally for the deposition. He said he expects her to have to personally defend the policies that have devastated coal regions.

I want coal for Christmas, and not because I’ve been a naughty girl. I want coal so I can affordably power up the high-tech toys Santa is bringing me, including an electronic butler who cleans and cooks and a modern, coal-fired steam locomotive that will allow me to bypass the TSA Snooper Troopers when I travel cross-country.

OK, so Santa probably won’t be sending a full-size coal-fired train down my chimney. But, like many of you, I may receive small electronics as gifts. As millions of us ring in the New Year by adding new gadgets to the power grid, we’ll need ample electricity to fire-up our cutting edge smartphones, sound systems and gaming consoles.

I’m contemplating a lump of coal. Not the one that may be in my stocking Christmas morning (really, Santa, I’ve been good), but one that is nonetheless jam-packed with energy and deserves a bit more respect than it has been getting of late.

It’s packed with carbon too, and that’s why coal’s reputation is taking a beating these days, with all the signs of climate change. It seems like carbon is a dirty word, but it’s really what life as we known it is made of, along with oxygen.

US fossil fuels producer Consol Energy on Friday reported that it had closed several term coal deals totaling 10.8-million tons over a three-year period. These agreements, along with 650 000 t of further commitments for 2016, increased Consol’s Pennsylvania operations’ 2016, 2017 and 2018 sold positions to 93%, 61%, and 49%, respectively, assuming the midpoint of the guidance range of 26-million tons, the company advised.

A new analysis from the Institute for Energy (IER) research shows, despite what California’s politicians say in public, coal-fired power plants still provide significant, critical supplies of electricity to much of the state.

The Conference of the Parties meetings have concluded with a new accord. The 2015 version coming out of Paris may be hailed by some as a historic turning point for the planet, but the inability to obtain binding commitments on greenhouse gases underscores deep concerns about the severe economic impacts of changing how people around the world would get and use energy.

EPA Clean Power Plan will add $214 Billion to Wholesale Electricity Prices
A new study by Energy Ventures Analysis has found that the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) will add $214 Billion to wholesale electricity prices by 2030. This is the second study this month that has predicted significant new costs for American energy users as a result of the CPP.

Far from being cost neutral or even cost-free, as the Obama administration has tried to claim, the CPP will have massive, nationwide impacts on electricity prices and system reliability.

On November 25, 2014, EPA proposed to strengthen the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for primary and secondary ground-level ozone standards to 65 to 70 ppb from the current standard of 75 ppb set in 2008. The 2008 standard is just now at the beginning stages of implementation planning and far from compliance. Many liken EPA’s proposed actions to "moving the goalposts" before the compliance mechanisms for meeting the 2008 standard are implemented and its health benefits and economic costs are fully understood. Numerous scientists and economists consider the latest proposal to be too much, too fast, or, in other words, it is simply premature.

In February 2011, I spoke at the Fifth Annual Energy Forum and Expo in Grand Junction, CO. As I ran through my presentation, I listed some of the pressures being applied to the U.S. coal industry. I also made sure to caution the many members of the natural gas industry that were present to restrain their schadenfreude over the coal industry’s current challenges. In the best of scenarios, I warned, they would have only a few short years before they began to experience the same destructive attacks.

A new study, published by NERA and available on the AmericasPower.org website is detailing the heavy economic impacts of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.