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UP layoffs tied to declining traffic
Missed opportunity, Fritz. Would have been a good time to badmouth the EPA and their anti-coal policy. That outfit has to go!
How can this be with the administratiom touting the lowest unemploymemt figures in 30 years?
The administration lies Jim. At least the coal part is due to Obama but the oil just may be due to a decrease in demand.
The coal drop is due to conversions to cheap natural gas because a natural gas fired plant takes a samaller foot print and far fewer people to run it. On top of that it can be turned on and off at the flick of a switch. If it either costs to much to run that day or there is to many producers on line so the spot market price is down then they just shut down. I have several friends working in the deregulated industry.
Now many of the other commodities are down because oil and natural gas drilling is down because it is not as profitable since market prices are down. The end result is the bubble has burst.
Donald Armstrong is only partially correct. The primary reason coal is down and will continue to drop is that the Obama Administration’s EPA has put out draconian regulations that make it economically impossible to build and operate coal fired generation facilities. They are focused on destroying all fossil fueled industries.
We are experiencing yet another aspect of the “fundamental transformation of America” that we were promised in 2008. The problem is I don’t think most of us are liking the “transformation.”