I haven't heard anything in the Climate Action Plan that would deal with reducing the export of coal, but I haven't followed that aspect either. I forget the amount of Appalachian Coal exported to Europe where it has lower transportation costs than exports to China / India, but I remember being surprised by how much coal goes to Europe.
-Danny
On Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 1:30 PM, James Kotcon jkotcon@wvu.edu wrote:
From the National Journal. Full story at:
http://news.yahoo.com/coal-lobbys-fight-survival-060025322.html
*"The coal industry hopes that even if U.S. coal production shuts down, it could find salvation in overseas markets, by exporting coal to China and Europe. But Obama put the kibosh on that this week, too. He called on all world governments to end public funding for coal-fired power plants—a move the U.S. can enforce through its influence in organizations like the World Bank. "That definitely sent a signal that the U.S. doesn't support coal in the world," said Jennifer Morgan, an analyst with the World Resources Institute, a think tank."*
*In the coming weeks, the {Coal Lobby} will roll out a new public-relations and lobbying blitz aimed at resetting its message and defusing antagonism with the administration. Instead of saturating Fox News with "war on coal" ads, the group will send Duncan on cable news and the editorial-board circuit to talk about coal's role in the economy and how to create a "path forward" for with new technology.*
Anyone want to speculate on what the efforts on coal exports will do? I have not followed that aspect of Obama's Climate Action Plan.
And the key pitch of the story is that the Coal lobby will have to surrender the "War on Coal" rhetoric, and ask the Obama Administration for help, or it won't survive at all.
Jim Kotcon