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Gore Nightmare Wins as Europe Pays to Ship U.S. Coal
Christopher Martin, Bloomberg
Now that the price of coal is at a historic low relative to oil, there's no stopping consumers and producers alike from embracing Al Gore's nightmare.

A ton of U.S. coal is so cheap at about $47 that European utilities will pay $50 to ship it across the Atlantic, according to Galbraith's Ltd., a 263-year-old London shipbroker. While oil and coal cost the same as recently as 1998, West Texas Intermediate crude is five times more expensive after climbing to a record $96.24 on Nov. 1.

Peabody Energy Corp., Consol Energy Inc. and Arch Coal Inc., the three biggest U.S. coal companies, forecast the largest increase in exports in 20 years, degrading the call for a moratorium on coal plants by former U.S. Vice President and this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore. Coal use worldwide has grown 27 percent since 2002, three times faster than crude, said BP Plc. U.S. East Coast coal has risen 71 percent, while oil tripled on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

``Coal is by far the cheapest fuel because there's no price on how much damage it causes,'' said John Holdren, a Harvard University professor of environmental science and director of the Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts
(5 November 2007)

A coal state vies to share in global boom
Tom A. Peter, Christian Science Monitor
West Virginia sees opportunity to sell mining equipment to China and, perhaps, more coal to Europe.
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Morgantown, W.Va. - China and other developing nations' hunger for coal is proving to be both a financial boon and logistical challenge for small but coal-rich states like West Virginia.

Third-world consumption has opened new markets and boosted coal prices, but it's come in tandem with shortages in mining equipment, like tires and steel, that raised the cost of mining and forced some companies to change their operations to avoid productivity losses.

All of this has pushed West Virginia, not exactly a major international player, onto the world stage. The state's governor, Joe Manchin III, is currently leading a delegation of local mining supply and equipment companies through China to improve trade relations and to encourage West Virginian firms to take advantage of eager Asian buyers.

"We have tremendous opportunities," said Governor Manchin on Friday, during a call from China with reporters. While relatively little coal reaches China from West Virginia, the state is home to a number of mining-support companies that sell equipment to China.

US mining equipment, made to conform to America's safety standards, is particularly attractive in China, where, on average, more miners die in the first week of every year than in an entire year in the US.
(6 November 2007)