Le charbon aux USA

[energy_isere]

L' agence de l' environement US doit décider si le projet de la compagnie charboniére Arch Coal Inc pour le plus gros "mountain top removal" pourra voir le jour ou pas .

EPA to decide on Arch Coal mountaintop coal removal

26 Sep 2010 Steel Guru

Dow Jones reported that the US Environmental Protection Agency, facing pressure from all sides, is nearing a decision on whether to allow Arch Coal Inc to proceed with the development of the largest mountaintop removal coal mining operation in Appalachia.

An EPA spokeswoman said that an EPA regional administrator will make a recommendation on a permit that the company needs. She added that "The EPA's Office of Water will then begin a thorough review of the recommendation, with a decision planned for sometime this fall."

The EPA last year put the brakes on Arch's Spruce No 1 mine in Logan County in West Virginia. It was the first time in 37 years that the agency had used its power to hold up a previously issued mountaintop removal mining permit.

The EPA told the US Army Corps of Engineers that it was taking the unusual step because of the magnitude of potential environmental damage, including the burial of more than seven miles of streams.

Mountaintop mining is common in West Virginia, Kentucky and parts of Virginia. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the resulting rock and dirt into valleys. As water runs through the mining spoil that fills the valleys, scientists say, it often picks up metals and minerals, degrading streams.

The Corps issues permits needed for mountaintop coal mines, but the EPA has the power to veto those permits. Until September 2009, the EPA had never before rescinded a previously issued mountaintop-removal mining permit.

http://www.steelguru.com/raw_material_n ... 67114.html

[energy_isere]

Les grands du charbon aux USA commencent à faire de l' exportation, et en ce moment c' est renforcé à cause des problémes d' inondation des mines de charbon en Australie qui était grosse exportatrice.

Les limitations matérielle viennent de la difficulté de' amener ce charbon de l' intérieur du territoire vers les terminaux portuaires d' exportations des USA.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Coal miners are scrambling for toe holds in North America's clogged export facilities on the West Coast to take advantage of Asia's burgeoning coal demand.

Coal from Wyoming and Montana, which traditionally stays within U.S. borders, is now profitable to export, thanks to rapidly industrializing nations such as China, where coal is the most common power plant fuel.

Arch Coal Inc. , the second-largest U.S. coal producer by volume, on Wednesday said it's paying $25 million for a 38% stake in a commodities exporting terminal on the Columbia River in Washington state, the latest in a string of deals involving natural resources companies seeking to serve growing markets in Asia.

Demand for U.S. coal has come even more to the fore as flooding in Australia has disrupted supplies from the world's No. 2 thermal coal exporter after Indonesia.

The Arch deal gives the company--which produces thermal coal from the Powder River Basin area of Wyoming and Montana--access to volume and storage capacity at a terminal majority owned by Brisbane, Australia-based Ambre Energy.

Wyoming's Cloud Peak Energy , another producer of thermal coal from the Powder River Basin, is also on the hunt for additional export opportunities.

"We're looking at everything," said Karla Kimrey, vice president of investor relations. Kimrey declined to disclose specific West Coast sites.

Last year, Cloud Peak shipped around 3 million tons from a port near Vancouver, and it estimates roughly the same figure this year.

But that port is at full capacity now, even though there's plenty of thermal coal used in power generation from the Powder River Basin that could still go to Asia.

"There's huge supply and huge demand, and no way to get it there," Kimrey said.

Peabody Energy Corp. , the largest U.S. coal producer, has also been looking to boost the flow of coal from the West Coast. It has carried out engineering work and considered about a dozen sites in the U.S. and Canada for a facility that could ship 20 million to 30 million tons a year.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asia-d ... 2011-01-12

[Raminagrobis]

lien

après toutes ces années, le projet Chuitna en Alaska n'avance pas. Il s'agit d'exploiter un gisement de charbon à ciel ouvert un peu au nord de la baie de cook, et d'exporter le charbon :potentiellement jusqu'à 12 Mt par an, à comparer à la production actuelle de l'état, 1.5 Mt.

La principale raison de l'opposition très forte au projet est la destruction d'une douzaine de rivières saumoneuses.

L'Alaska possède plusieurs bassins charbonnier mais seule une mine à ciel ouvert dans le sud est active actuellement. Diverses mines à travers la péninsule, de petites tailles, ont été exploitées au cours du XXe siècle.

[energy_isere]

L' administration Obama annonce des expansions de projets charbonniers (aux USA) de grande ampleur.

Obama administration announces massive coal mining expansion

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 March 2011

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced on Tuesday an enormous expansion in coal mining that threatens to increase U.S. climate pollution by an amount equivalent to more than half of what the United States currently emits in a year.

.......


In other words, despite his administration's rhetorical embrace of clean energy, Obama is effectively using modest wind and solar investments as cover for a broader embrace of dirty fuels. It's the same strategy BP, Chevron, and other major polluters use: tout modest environmental investments in multi-million dollar PR campaigns, while putting the real money into fossil fuel development.

..........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... -expansion

[Darkhuile]

Il y a longtemps que les illusions sur Obama sont tombées, dans ce domaine comme dans d'autres.

[energy_isere]

Les exportations US de charbon sur un plus haut en volume depuis 19 ans.

7.4 millions de tonnes exportées en Fevrier 2011. Dont 1.3 millions de tonnes pour le Japon.

US coal export in February 19 year high

15 Apr 2011

Latest trade data shows a substantial increase in US seaborne coal exports. February exports (excluding those to Canada) rose for the seventh consecutive month to 7.4 million tons up by 52% YoY to the highest level since March 1992.

According to data from the US Department of Commerce, exports to Asia-Pacific rose 54% on January to 3.2 million tons in February, compared with 1.0 million tons in the same month last year. Japan became the largest single destination for US coal exports in February, rising to 1.3 million tons. This compared with last year’s annual total of 2.9 million tons.

http://www.steelguru.com/raw_material_n ... 00588.html

[energy_isere]

Du charbon du Colorado sera exporté des USA à raison de 2.2 million de tonnes par an.

Texas company to ship coal from Colorado to global market

The Denver Post 04/26/2011


Kinder Morgan, the Houston-based energy company, has signed a contract to ship up to 2.2 million tons a year of Colorado coal to the international export market.

The company declined to identify the mining company other then to say it was a large Western coal producer.

In 2009, Colorado's nine coal companies produced 28.8 million tons of coal valued at $1 billion, according to the Colorado Mining Association.

The deal is being driven by "a tremendous increase in the demand for coal export," Richard Kinder, Kinder Morgan chief executive, said during the company's first-quarter earnings call last week.

"This will be the first time that Western coal has been exported from the Port of Houston, and again, we see great opportunities to further expand our handling of export coal on both the East Coast and the Gulf Coast," Kinder said.

The length of the contract was not revealed, but Kinder Morgan is spending $18 million on expansion of its terminal on the Houston Ship Channel, said a Kinder Morgan spokesman.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_17927000

[energy_isere]

La demande croissante en Asie pousse les Etats-Unis à devenir de gros exportateurs de charbon

leblogenergie 14 Mai 2011

La production mondiale annuelle de combustibles solides (charbon, lignite) pour applications thermiques ou métallurgiques sont de l'ordre de 7 milliards de tonnes ou 3,4 milliards de TEP. Dans la décennie à venir l'EIA dans sa prévision de 2011 imagine après une pose due à la dernière crise économique, une reprise de la croissance de la consommation de charbon dans le monde, autour des 1,6% par an ou plus de 110 MT de plus par an. Cette croissance sera essentiellement tirée par les pays asiatiques (Japon, Corée, Inde, Chine,...) qui doivent faire face soit à la croissance de leur économie, soit à des revirements dans leur mix énergétique comme il faut l'anticiper pour le Japon. En Europe c'est essentiellement l'Allemagne qui va dès cette année pousser les feux de ses centrales au lignite et au charbon, pour compenser l'arrêt probable de certaines centrales nucléaires. Aux États-Unis la politique de maîtrise des émissions de CO2 par les contraintes règlementaires de certains États auprès des distributeurs d'électricité, tend à favoriser l'utilisation du gaz naturel couplé avec les énergies renouvelables.



Pour le patron de Arch Coal, un gros exploitant de mines de charbon américain, ce sont 35 GW de génération d'électricité au charbon qui risquent de disparaître dans la décennie à venir aux U.S.A. mais ce sont 249 GW de centrales au charbon dans le monde qui sont en cours d'instruction et de construction. Cet effet de balance qui va déplacer des consommations de charbon des États-Unis vers l'Asie est bien sûr anticipé par les producteurs de charbon américains qui avec un milliard de tonnes de charbon produit, vont de plus en plus exporter leurs productions vers l'Asie et l'Europe. Ces exportations qui devraient atteindre puis dépasser les 100 MT en 2012 porteraient ainsi les États-Unis vers le TOP 5 des pays exportateurs derrière l'Australie et l'Indonésie, à égalité avec la Russie et devant l'Afrique du Sud et la Colombie. Bien sûr ce changement de destination posera bien des problèmes logistiques pour acheminer le produit vers les ports du Golfe du Mexique via le Mississippi, vers les ports de l'Atlantique pour le charbon des Appalaches où des ports du Pacifique pour les ressources des Rocheuses (FIG.).

Le commerce mondial du charbon qui ne représente aujourd'hui que dans les 14% à 15% de la ressource annuelle consommée (un milliard de tonnes) devrait croître plus rapidement que la demande moyenne afin de combler les déséquilibres entre production et consommation et ceci malgré les contraintes logistiques inhérentes à la ressource solide. L'Inde par exemple devrait consommer dans les 696 millions de tonnes en 2011-2012 avec une capacité de production et d'acheminement de charbon de 554 millions de tonnes. En implantant ses nouvelles centrales électriques dans les ports, elle va devoir importer plus de 20% de ses consommations de charbon.

http://www.leblogenergie.com/2011/05/de ... rs-de.html

[energy_isere]

La production de Charbon aux USA baisse au second trimestre pour des raisons techniques.
Les inondations sur le Missouri et l' Ohio empéchent des transports de charbons .

Floods cut US Q2 coal production - EIA

US second quarter coal production fell as floods along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers limited rail loadings from the west. As per report production declined 2.6% from the second quarter of 2010. The Illinois basin was the only major region to show an increase, rising 3.4%.

..............

http://www.steelguru.com/raw_material_n ... 15155.html

[energy_isere]

La part de l' electricité US à base de charbon thermique est sur un plus bas depuis 30 ans (en pourcentage).
Ca reste quand méme à 46 %.
C 'est grignoté par le Gaz.

US electricity generation from coal hits 30 year low - EIA

According to US Energy Information Administration, the share of US electricity generated by coal during the first quarter of 2011 was at the lowest level in more than 30 years as power plants switched to natural gas.

The US electric power sector generated about 440 terawatthours using coal during the first quarter of 2011, down 5.8% from the first quarter of 2010. Coal provided 46% of total generation in the first quarter of 2011 compared with 49% during the same three-month period in 2010 and 52% in the first quarter of 2008.

EIA said that coal's share of electricity generation fell in all regions of the country while total electricity generation increased less than 1%. Natural gas generation in the northeast census region grew nearly 6% from last year in the first quarter on lower marginal gas prices and rising coal prices.

The EIA reported that “Generators in the eastern US will likely continue the trend of substituting natural gas for coal.”

http://www.steelguru.com/raw_material_n ... 18376.html

[energy_isere]

Déclin de la production de charbon des Appalaches.

....
The federal government's projections are dire for a region practically synonymous with coal. The Energy Department's statistical agency, the Energy Information Administration, says production is expected to drop to 112 million tons by 2015, less than half of the 234 million tons mined three years ago.

A collapse of that magnitude would have a devastating effect on the economies in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, which produce about 90 percent of Central Appalachian coal.

There were about 37,000 coal industry employees in Central Appalachia in 2008, accounting for anywhere from 1 to 40 percent of the labor force in individual counties, according to a report by Downstream Strategies, a consulting firm in Morgantown, W.Va., which issued a report on the region's coming decline. The report blames the decline on the region's depleted reserves, environmental regulations as well as competition from regions that have lower operating costs, like the western U.S.

"We are going to see declines in labor and jobs, and it's going to happen rapidly" in West Virginia, said Rory McIlmoil, who helped draft the report. McIlmoil said that state is expected to see a decline of over $100 million in the taxes coal operators pay to mine in the state.

If the loss projections are true, "that's going to have a drastic effect" in eastern Kentucky, said Brad Hall, president of the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in Pikeville.
......

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... 6239af39a1

[energy_isere]

Il y a du charbon en Alaska, plein,(c'est connu depuis assez longtemps) qui est encore inexploité sauf la petite mine de Usibelli : http://www.usibelli.com/ qui fait environ 1.5 millions de t de charbon par an.
Cette page décrit comment ils s' y prennent pour miner http://www.usibelli.com/Mine_anim.asp
(j' avais jamais vu cette technique auparavant)

The Oil Drum publie un article ici : http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8417#more

En résumé il ya de grosses ressources, mais difficile à chercher, difficile à transporter.
De ce fait cela reste des ''ressources'' et non des ''reserves''.

Il y a cette photo assez stupéfiante, les veines de charbon apparentes !



La carte de la localisation de ces ressources :

[energy_isere]

Record homologué au Guiness book.

Chez Peabody, North Antelope, record du monde de charge validé par le Guiness Book:
The largest mining truck body by volume is the Westech T 282 C Flow Control Body which has a volume of 470.4 cubic metres at a coal density of 0.86 tons/m3. It was manufactured, designed and engineered by Westech (USA) an Austin Engineering LTD company and was presented and measured at the North Antelope Rochelle Mine, Wyoming, USA, on 19 July 2011.

470 m3 x 0.86 t/m3 ça donne 404 tonnes de charbon dans le camion !



source : http://photostp.free.fr/phpbb/viewtopic ... 03#p354403

[energy_isere]

China digs into American coal mines

Comme la consommation de charbon pour les centrale thermique diminue aux USA (au profit du Gaz, et en particulier Gaz de schiste), les mineurs de charbons chrchent d' autres débouchés, en particulier l' exportation en Chine.

1er investissement en centaines de millions de $ d' une société Chinoise dans le charbon US

..
The preferred partners include China’s state-owned energy majors such as Shenhua Group and China National Coal Group. On May 7, Guizhou Guochuang Energy Holding Group said it had raised 3.9 billion yuan ($616 million) in a private placement to be used mainly to acquire and develop Triple H Coal Company, making it the first Chinese company to invest in coal in America.
....

[dysgraphik]

En ordre de grandeur, les exportations de charbon américaine sont restées négligeables et globalement en diminution sur ces dernières décennies.

Globalement les stats de BP me donnent plutot l'impression que la production suit de près l'évolution de la demande nationale.
Notez le décrochage consommation/production de 2009.