| November 2016
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In This Issue |
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Industry News
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Training and Education
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Calendar of Events
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American Coal Magazine
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Technology / R&D
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Industry News
 Earlier this year, the Board of Directors of the American Coal Council (ACC) approved updates to the American Coal Council Bylaws. The primary changes incorporated into the June 10, 2016 Amended and Restated Bylaws of American Coal Council are as follows:
1. Updated for changes in the Colorado statutes (ACC is incorporated in Colorado)
2. Modernized the notice and communication provisions
3. Clarified members’ voting rights and requirements
4. Revised Board member term limits from one term to two terms. This provides Board members with the right (but not the obligation) to serve for two terms. A two-term limit is common among associations, as it provides for a balance of experienced and new Board members.
The Amended and Restated Bylaws provide for delivering written ballots by electronic mail. ACC plans to send written ballots for election of its 2017 Board of Directors via email to primary designated representatives on November 3, 2016. No ballots will be sent by regular USPS mail. Email will be the only method ACC will use to send the 2017 Board Director ballots. Delivering ballots by email rather than by regular USPS mail will speed up the process of getting ballots to members for voting and save postage costs. ACC members will continue to have the option to return completed ballots via email, fax, or regular mail.
Any questions on this or the Board of Director elections, may be directed to Betsy Monseu at the ACC office at 202.756.4540 or by email to bmonseu@americancoalcouncil.org.
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The 15th Annual Coal Trading Conference, co-hosted by the American Coal Council and the Coal Trading Association, is December 5-6, in New York at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square. With changes in coal markets and a new Administration coming to Washington, this year’s program is particularly timely and we hope you can join us.
We are pleased to have the participation of the following speakers:
Policy/Regulatory Outlook
- Fred Palmer, Partner, Total Spectrum/Steve Gordon and Associates
- Richard Reavey, Vice President Public Affairs, Cloud Peak Energy Resources LLC
Luncheon Keynote Address
- Dennis Gartman, Editor and Publisher, The Gartman Letter
Natural Gas and Coal Market Outlook
- Bill Meister, Independent Consultant, for Golder Associates
- Bob Yu, Senior Analyst, S&P Platts Bentek
The Utilities’ Perspective
- Ginny Farrow, Portfolio Director, Coal, NRG Energy, Inc.
Panel
- Joe Racelis, Dominion
- Brett Phipps, Managing Director, Fuel Procurement, Duke Energy
- Rob Hardman, Vice President – Coal Supply, Dynegy
Hotel Reservations:
The Marriott Marquis is the host hotel, and our discounted conference room rate is $399 plus tax. For reservations call 877.303.0104 and mention that you're with "Coal Trading Conference" or CLICK HERE. Please reserve by November 12, 2016.
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PITTSBURGH — ACC CEO Betsy Monseu spoke on "the future of coal" in North America and globally at the 2016 Met Coke World Summit in Pittsburgh. Her
presentation and remarks addressed policy and regulatory issues, education and advocacy, and energy and climate leadership.
Her advocacy discussion included some slides from the outstanding ACC’s Tomorrows Leadership Council presentation developed by 2016 TLC mentors Cheryl Gulledge of Southern Company Services and DeAngela Morant of CSX Transportation and delivered by DeAngela at ACC’s 2016 Coal Market Strategies conference.
Betsy’s 2016 Met Coke World Summit presentation and the TLC presentation from Coal Market Strategies 2016 are available in the Members section of the ACC website.
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Effective August 15, 2016, the American Coal Council’s office location changed from Suite 600 to Suite 300 at our existing street address, 1101 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20004.
Please make the change to Suite 300 in your records.
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 Have you checked out the ACC’s social media outlets lately?
Please be sure to follow @AmericanCoal. Tweet "shout outs" and links to @AmericanCoal, along with coal-related hashtags: #coal, #climate, #CCS, #CCT, etc.
Please be sure to like and share ACC’s page and posts with your company and personal accounts.
If your company has tech or social media savvy employees, or employees with graphic design capabilities who are willing to donate time to help prepare infographics, social media posts, write articles, etc., please let the ACC know – info@americancoalcouncil.org.
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 Each year we publish a Membership Directory with contact information for each of our member companies.
As a benefit of membership, we make this Directory available for ACC members to download (in PDF format). Click here or on the graphic below to download the 2016 Membership Directory.
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 The ACC's 2015 Tomorrow's Leadership Council recently developed a "Coal Communications Kit" to help coal advocates educate, inform, build bridges, and counter misinformation about coal. This document provides ideas and information that coal industry employees and others can use to improve communications and relations with others in the public realm.
Whether you're on an airplane, at a business or community event, or seeking to inform relatives and friends, coal advocates now have useful facts and information to assist them in communicating the importance, value, and benefits of coal in U.S. energy production.
1. Technological improvements in the coal industry
2. Airborne emissions and emissions reduction
3. Scalability of coal as an energy resource
4. Comparisons of coal vs. other fuels/energy resources
5. Coal’s role in grid reliability
6. Climate change
7. Costs of not using coal
8. Coal's role in international trade
9. Impacts of mining coal
10. Coal and resource depletion
11. EPA regulations
12. Pollution in China
The Coal Communication Kit provides ready responses to commonly held negative notions about coal. It offers convenient "elevator speeches", Facebook posts, and Tweets, as well as more detailed information and resources.
We’re confident coal advocates will find this information useful and easy to share. Be sure to check out the Coal Communications Kit, use it in your discussions with friends, the media, elected officials, and others. Then, please be sure to share the Coal Communications Kit on your social media accounts. Spread the information around so everyone can access it!
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Thank you to our Champion Sponsors!!
Thank you to our Patron Sponsors!!
You are invited to join an exclusive group of American Coal Council (ACC) member companies who have elevated their level of commitment to the ACC through their Annual Sponsorship support. In doing so, these companies have also gained recognition as industry leaders in supporting the ACC’s objective to advance the development and utilization of coal as an economic, abundant and environmentally sound fuel source.
Click here to learn more about the benefits and opportunities associated with an annual ACC sponsorship.
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Training and Education
The ACC’s Tomorrow’s Leadership Council (TLC) is designed to advance and vest executive talent in the coal industry. TLC is an annual program designed to provide a meaningful opportunity for up-and-coming executives to enhance their industry knowledge and networks through projects and activities that advance industry-wide objectives as well as professional development goals.
The TLC program, which launched in 2009, has "graduated" over 120 executives from 50 companies from throughout the coal supply chain.
We welcome member and nonmember companies to register their entry-level staff and mid-level executives for this one of a kind professional development program. They will have the opportunity to meet and engage with others in the coal supply, consumption, transportation, and trading sectors, as well as those working in companies that partner with and support these business sectors.
Participants benefit from professional development seminars, ACC conference attendance, special networking dinners, and the opportunity to work on a collaborative group project with others in the program.
Additional program and registration information is available on the ACC website. Please also call or email Betsy Monseu, ACC CEO, at 202.756.4540 or bmonseu@americancoalcouncil.org with any questions or for more information.
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Post-election Coal & Energy Policy Perspective
Featuring Charles D. McConnell, Former Assistant Secretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy – Fossil and current Executive Director, Energy and Environment Initiative Rice University
Thursday, November 17, 2016 ˜ 2-3 p.m. Eastern
The long-awaited 2016 election will be over, its twists and turns recorded as high and low water marks for comparing future election cycles. With eyes turning to a new POTUS, what are the likely changes and opportunities in the next 4 years? Is there reason for optimism in coal? It’s not just the POTUS that matters!
JOIN US as the Honorable Charles D. McConnell, an energy industry veteran and former Assistant Secretary of Energy for two years during the Obama administration, shares an early perspective of the post-election landscape. Mr. McConnell will address energy sustainability and ways the coal and fossil energy sector can progress a positive policy agenda, exploring these topics:
- What room is there for coal in a Clinton administration’s vision of a "clean energy" future?
- How does the impact of the strongest anti-establishment candidate in decades play out with a win, or a loss, for Donald Trump?
- Who is likely to lead the Department of Energy, and the EPA, and how will federal agency priorities and regulatory initiatives be guided by the new President?
- What are the headwinds and tailwinds in the market, as relates to EPA and COP22?
There is no charge for members of the
American Coal Council, but pre-registration is required.
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Calendar of Events
Mark your calendars for these upcoming 2017 ACC events:
- Spring Coal Forum — March 7-9, 2017, Sandpearl Resort (Clearwater, Florida)
- Coal Market Strategies — August 7-9, 2017, Stein Erikson Lodge (Park City, Utah)
- Coal Trading Conference with CTA — December 4-5, 2017, Crowne Plaza Times Square (New York, NY)
Be sure to watch the events page on the ACC website for registration and event information for our conferences and monthly webcast programs.
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American Coal Magazine
It takes a fair bit of gumption to mine coal in this world enthralled by apocalyptic visions of climate change. Coal may no longer be king, but it is still a vital energy resource that helps sustain economic growth and prosperity. Peabody Energy is widely recognized as a pioneer in land restoration and reducing the footprint and impact of its mining operations.
Long before land restoration became mandatory, Peabody Energy was already cleaning up. The 1954 Operation Green Earth, the company’s first land reclamation initiative, set the tone. Peabody Energy, founded in 1883 and with 26 open pit and underground mines in the US and Australia totaling over seven billion tons of reserves, essentially wrote the book on environmental stewardship for the coal industry.
Even under today’s trying market conditions, Peabody Energy remains fully committed to the highest ESG (environmental, social, and governance) standards. By improving efficiency, the company managed to significantly reduce its CO2 emissions even though the energy required to extract a ton of coal has increased markedly. Water use has also been reduced.
Last year, Peabody Energy restored close to 2,000 hectares of mined land into wildlife habitats, forests, wetlands, and farmland. The company also funds research into high efficiency, low emissions power plants in the US, Australia, and – crucially – China.
The CFI.co judging panel recognizes Peabody Energy as a pioneer in the move towards sustainable business practices and grants the company its 2016 Best ESG-Responsible Mining Company Global Award.
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 The American Coal Council and Naylor Association Solutions have partnered together to provide the American coal industry with a wide variety of print, digital, and online advertising opportunities.
Be sure to check out our Media Guide & Rate Card with all the information that you need to advertise in any of our publications.
Remember that ACC Members receive a 10% discount on all advertising rates listed in our Media Guide.
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By Mike Carroll, MMI Newswire (October 28, 2016) Coal is on a roll this week as a federal judge in West Virginia faulted new clean air rules for failing to take into account potential job losses. The decision sided with the Murray Energy Corp., an Ohio-based coal mining company, over the Environmental Protection Agency. It comes in the wake of a February U.S. Supreme Court decision that halted implementation of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which aimed to cut carbon dioxide pollution from power plants, pending a review by appellate courts. Judge John Preston Bailey of the Northern District of West Virginia concluded that the EPA’s clean air regulations must include evaluations of potential job losses or employment shifts resulting from regulations drafted in support of the federal Clean Air Act – something that the agency failed to do. "EPA cannot redefine statutes to avoid complying with them," Bailey said in the decision. "Nor can EPA render them superfluous or contrary to their original purpose by simply defining them to be."
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Towers will grab gas emitted by a huge coal power plant for use pumping oil out of the ground.
By Umair Irfan, (ClimateWire October 4, 2016)
On schedule, on budget....
It’s a tall order for any new technology, but for a commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) system, it might be the start of a revolution.
The Petra Nova carbon capture system under construction at the W.A. Parish Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant southwest of Houston, is slated to go online before the end of the year. The billion-dollar facility will become the largest post-combustion carbon capture system installed on an existing power plant in the world.
Systems like Petra Nova that keep carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere may become a necessary means to mitigate climate change, and for some utilities, they could offer a lifeline to beleaguered fossil fuel plants.
"We believe that coal plants are an important part of the energy mix of the United States," said David Greeson, vice president for development at NRG Energy Inc.. "Our challenge, then, is to mitigate the environmental impacts." NRG Energy and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp., Japan’s largest oil producer, are running the Petra Nova project as a 50-50 joint venture under the umbrella of Petra Nova Parish Holdings LLC.
Learn More...
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(October 21, 2016) — In a new twist for waste-to-fuel technology, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into ethanol.
"We discovered somewhat by accident that this material worked," said ORNL’s Adam Rondinone, lead author of the team’s study. "We were trying to study the first step of a proposed reaction when we realized that the catalyst was doing the entire reaction on its own."
"We’re taking carbon dioxide, a waste product of combustion, and we’re pushing that combustion reaction backwards with very high selectivity to a useful fuel," Rondinone said. "Ethanol was a surprise -- it’s extremely difficult to go straight from carbon dioxide to ethanol with a single catalyst."
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(National Mining Association, October, 2016) -- In a Facebook interview last week, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy acknowledged the obvious: her support for the environmental left’s "keep it in the ground" policy ("I think we share the same goal"), that coal state economies are suffering (they’re "in trouble" she allowed) and EPA’s regulations likely contributed (they may "steepen the curve" of coal’s fall).
Then, like a formula one driver veering from a collision, she quickly dodged responsibility for this "trouble" by blaming market competition. "Frankly, the coal industry has been going downhill since the 1980s," she told Mashable.
Frankly, this is nonsense.
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By Joshua Learn
S&P Global Market Intelligence: (October 2016)
Coal-fired generation is not the answer for fighting energy poverty, according to a new position paper from international development organizations.
The paper, "Beyond Coal," released by the Overseas Development Institute and a consortium of other international groups focused on fighting poverty, among other things, disputed claims by the fossil fuel industry that coal should play a central role in efforts to eliminate extreme poverty and improve access to energy for billions of people in developing countries.
The paper also called for an end to subsidies that help the coal industry across the world. Betsy Monseu, spokesperson for the American Coal Council, noted that subsidies are responsible for the declining cost of renewable energy. "These subsidies have absolutely dwarfed incentives for carbon capture and storage, both in the U.S. and worldwide."
The ACC's Monseu said the authors of the paper acknowledged the importance of coal in China's development, which she called a "resounding economic success story," and also that the Asian country was making "great strides" in improving emissions from sulfur and nitrogen, among other things.
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 By Angharad Lock
World Coal, (October 2016)
A recent analysis by the Great Lakes Energy Institute (GLEI) of Case Western Reserve University concluded the decline of the nation’s coal industry has been due to market forces and technology: "EPA rules have little to do with coal’s decline", the analysis said. "Shale-gas competition has decimated coal."
The American Coal Council has argued that GLEI’s analysis contains numerous flaws and omissions, and disagrees with GLEI’s conclusion, stating that "there is abundant evidence that coal’s decline is directly related to regulations promulgated during the two Obama terms – regulations which have significantly increased the cost of using coal for electricity generation, made it less competitive in the fuels marketplace, and resulted in the closure of a large number of coal plants. In addition to forcing the shutdown of existing coal plants through regulations such as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), the threat of EPA’s impending regulations for CO2 has already shut out the possibility of building of new coal plants."
For the complete statement issued by the American Coal Council, please click here.
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An October 17, court ruling was just the latest boost given coal producers in their long, slow battle against regulators and economic change. A U.S. District Court judge ruled the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had failed to assess the effect on coal mining jobs caused by the agency's tightened power plant emissions restrictions issued in 2011 under the Clean Air Act. The judge gave the EPA two weeks to produce data reviewing the matter. There has been no word on whether the agency will appeal the decision.
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