New West Energy Grok

King Coal’s Reign Barely Challenged

By Richard Martin, 12-29-06

The most important choice facing energy policymakers in the West is not how to promote more alternative-energy production, or whether to pursue new nuclear plant construction: it's what to do about the existing fleet of coal-fired power plants and the new ones on the drawing board.

King Coal still supplies more than half of the nation's electricity, a figure that climbs to over 70 percent in Western states like Colorado. Even as California moves to ban new construction of coal-fired power plants, there are 153 new coal plants under construction or proposed nationwide, according to the National Energy Technology Lab. A scant two dozen of those would use new technology to convert coal to clean-burning synthetic gas and capture carbon dioxide emissions. Like oil prices, coal has seen a spike in value: Colorado coal prices have hit $36 a ton for the highest quality fuel, according to Coal Daily.

Recent polls suggest that while the public supports the building of new coal-fired plants, it supports the development of renewable energy sources even more.

Some electricity users are starting to put that support into practice. Last week the Delta Montrose Electric Association declined a proposed 10-year contract extension with its supplier, Tri-State Energy, largely because Tri-State wanted to use the extension to build three new coal-fired plants. Delta-Montrose doesn't want to pay for additional energy produced by coal.

In other energy news:

-- Cellulosic ethanol, made from a variety of biomass waste products including cornstalks and straw, is far more expensive to produce than conventional oil or even ethanol produced from corn. But it's almost certainly the most environmentally benign way to produce large amounts of fuel, and the technology is advancing rapidly, bringing prices down.

-- Amid the juniper forests and sandstone of eastern Utah, just a few miles from Arches National Park, natural gas drilling is making its presence felt with new roads and new rigs. "The Golden State gas well being drilled only about seven miles from Delicate Arch — Utah's most famous arch," writes Grand Junction Sentinel reporter Bobby Magill, "may represent the first sign of a clash pitting protection of landscapes intrinsic to the beauty of Utah's parklands against energy development."

-- Months after resigning as Secretary of Interior, Gale Norton has taken the post as a top legal adviser to Royal Dutch Shell PLC. As New West's Todd Wilkinson reports, Norton will be general counsel for Shell's "unconventional resources division," which develops "emerging technology that targets such things as oil shale and extra heavy oil."

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