In what could be described as nothing less than a "Hail Mary" attempt to block the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, the coal states have scored. In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to delay the carbon reduction plan’s implementation until it can be heard in court.

The U.S. Supreme Court has put a hold on the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, which would significantly regulate coal, after 27 states sued over the proposal. Among them was Wyoming, which produces more coal than any other state. NPR reports on how the court's stay is being received in coal producing states.

Risk management is more important than ever in today’s coal market. Cheap natural gas (NYMEX Henry Hub Natural Gas futures prices remain below $3.00) is competing fiercely with coal in the electricity bid stack. The fight to be the low-cost generator has become even more competitive in recent years, as the efficiency of gas-fired generation has steadily improved, while coal-fueled generation has remained relatively unchanged.

President Barack Obama’s Department of Interior recently announced a (temporary) moratorium on federal coal leases, and few states will be hit harder than Montana. Not only is our state home to over one-third of all coal reserves in the United States, but about half of the coal production in our state happens on federal land. Halting all future leases means that much of this coal is untouchable.

It has been a domino effect for the coal industry and the economy here in southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.

The "war on coal" that the Obama administration has waged on Appalachia has devastated this region. A recent Wall Street Journal article by Paul Tice titled it "Obama’s Appalachian Tragedy."

Just a quick "FYI" – Cornerstone Magazine has published the Mandarin version of my recent article, "Returning Mined Land to Productivity Through Reclamation" to their website.

The heat is on! Not the unusual winter warmth in much of the United States – but the unrelenting heat generated by propaganda and pressure campaigns that the White House, EPA, Big Green and news media are unleashing in the wake of the Paris climate agreement ... and as a prelude to the 2016 elections.

Who were the big winners last night? The list certainly Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders and arguably John Kasich, but 27 states may have won a bigger battle. In a dramatic decision overshadowed by the New Hampshire primary last night, the Supreme Court blocked the Obama administration’s attempts to impose drastic new regulations on power plants — at least until the courts hear challenges to the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.

The Supreme Court delivers a major blow to President Barack Obama’s clean power plan.
A recent ruling put a hold on regulations to curb carbon-dioxide emissions, and the highly unusual move is gaining praise from local coal-fired power plants. This after just months ago a proposed plan threatened the entire industry.

On August 3rd, President Obama announced his administration’s signature global warming policy, known as the Clean Power Plan. In the simplest of terms, the Clean Power Plan empowers the Environmental Protection Agency to centrally plan the electric industry.

If we were to assess the future of the global coal sector from reading the mainstream press, we could safely assume that the last mine was about to close and that draglines and long walls would be museum artifacts within a decade. Thankfully some of us still analyze the fundamentals of commodity markets rather than just push an ideological position, unconstrained by the inconvenience of facts.