WyoFile Feature
Railroad Wins in Wyoming Coal Dust-Up
Why cleaning up the dust from coal trains may be a matter of national security.By Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile, Guest Writer, 5-09-11
Coal trains line up near Rozet, Wyoming. Photo by Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile.
Within weeks, Powder River Basin coal customers will have to kick in an extra few million dollars per year to help control coal dust from loaded trains leaving Wyoming.
According to Platts reporter Peter Gartrell, BNSF Railway will impose a new tariff for coal dust suppression. The pending tariff comes after a March ruling by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board that nullified one previously proposed by BNSF. That ruling was the latest in a years-long battle between the railroad and utilities over just who is responsible to pay for dust suppression along thousands of miles of rail used to connect the Powder River Basin to coal-fired power plants across the U.S. (Note: This story was updated on May 12 to clarify the ruling by the Surface Transportation Board.)
Last year, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., which challenged the tariff, estimated the annual cost at $100 million. But no matter how the estimated $100 million in annual coal suppression is eventually divided between utilities and the railroad, it still adds to the overall cost of Powder River Basin coal.
Before you roll your eyes thinking this is another ploy by environmentalists to poke Big Coal in the eye, consider this; Suppressing coal dust from loaded trains is a matter of national security.
In 2005, back-to-back derailments in the southern Powder River Basin temporarily cut more than 20 million tons of expected deliveries, throwing utilities into a panic as their stockpiles shrank to a little more than a week’s supply in some cases. At the time, mines in the Powder River Basin supplied about 40 percent of the nation’s coal, putting at risk more than 20 percent of the nation’s electrical generation. Utilities were forced to buy coal and natural gas on the daily market, resulting in millions of dollars of unexpected costs to their customers.
The cause of the derailments; Coal dust from loaded trains had accumulated on the rail bed preventing proper water drainage during the wet 2005 spring.
Of course, coal dust is a human health and environmental issue, too. According to a recent column in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, coal dust blowing into an aquatic reserve is among a long list of concerns by opponents of the proposed Gateway Terminal, which would export Powder River Basin coal to China and other Asian countries.
Wyoming coal producers Arch Coal Inc. and Peabody Energy (and others) intend to push hard for this project and other West Coast coal port expansions to serve a lucrative Asian market. And they won’t have to battle for it alone. The potential new export market represents a huge opportunity for BNSF Railway, which stands to gain new contracts to ship coal from Wyoming to West Coast ports.
While the railroad is careful to make sure utilities bear their fair cost of transportation, it has a clear interest in keeping coal trains rolling.
The 2005 coal-dust derailments forced BNSF Railway and Union Pacific to decide their future partnership with the Powder River Basin coal industry, and their response was to invest about $1 billion to modernize and expand their coal networks, focusing on their Powder River Basin routes — clearly an intent to keep coal flowing from northeast Wyoming for a long time to come.
This piece originally appeared at WyoFile.
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Not like anyone could be surprised. There are a couple of the first hills where trains would get their first wheel on, it was amazing to see the first lift of coal dust as the train hit track speed.
Coal isn't necessarily toxic, but the fines plug up the drainage pretty effectively. The cost needs to be passed through.
As for that bloated twit Joel Connelly, he has no creds whatsoever. Not one word of the fact that Bob Ferris was with Defenders of Wildlife for years. Not exactly a grassroots type.
Whatever the case, the Cherry Point and Longview port terminals are likely to happen. Better we have the Chinese burn our pretty coal for us to re-breathe than to have them put their filthy guck up our noses.
BNSF won one point, in that Rail can implement reasonable dust control systems and methods. This says Rail lost the ability to penalize shipper’s based on Rail’s current dust control and measurement systems (never even shown to shippers – could be an empty box and no dust monitor for all they know). Rail’s routine O&M;along the rail line from Wyoming being paid by Shipper’s is the goal of Rail, at this point they failed miserably. Rail will not even meet with their Coal Customers, their largest Customer Base. This means Rail is ignoring STB’s directive to be cooperative in seeking a reasonable end system to control dust. Instead Rail began sending veiled threats a new tariff is coming soon and coming hard. It is as if Rail wishes to punish their customers' STB win and for possibly taking away any portion of mass profits rail now enjoys for the benefit of people who use electricity.