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UP sees lower operating income in 2Q2015
Right sizing our resources sounds like layoffs couched in business speak to me.
Dennis that’s exactly what that means. Looks like 08 all over again. Thanks to the EPA for killing coal by over regs. Court ruling on that has come way to late as power plants have spent millions converting to natural gas when they didn’t have to. I love this country but HATE our government for what it’s doing to the country I love.
@Mike, you’re statements are a little bit off the mark, it’s not as expensive as the Utilities make it out to be to operate cleaner burning coal plants(as a shareholder of Southern Co. stock I know this for a fact). The Utilities are just to lazy to install the needed technology that would allow them to continue to burn the same coal they have been for the past century. Even designing a new coal power plant from the ground up, those technologies don’t add a “significant” amount of cost to the bottom line.
I note the comments on coal for power generation. Here in NH they deregulated the market and people left PSNH and other public utilities in droves to get their electricty from 3rd party resellers. It was a lt cheaper until cold weather hit and pipeline constraints raised the price of natural gas. Then all those private power plants that were sold via dregulation shut down because it was “not profitable enough” to run. The end result was much of New England came close to a crash of the electric power grid. The saving grace was the coal fired Bow power plant and back up jet fueled emergency generaters. Now 6 years ago the state manadated they upgrade the scrubbers on the plant and it is one of the cleanest plants in the US. Back then natural gas fired plants were going belly up due to high fuel costs. Now it was projected to be under 200 million to upgrade the plant but steel prices pushed it to over 400 million. Last winter it was the cheapest power available.
Despite all that the politicians in this state have forced the power company to sell the multiple coal , oil and bio mass fired power plants along with several dams so it is fully deregulated claiming that will lower costs for everyone. If no one buys the plant it will be torn down.
Now there is one big problem and that is a lack of capacity for Natural gas comiing into New England and right now here in NH everyone is fighting plans to bring a 36 inch high pressure pipeline into the Southern area. The NIMBYS are out in droves claiming the entire route will have a 1 milie incineration zone around it. The end result is a just recently upgraded clean coal fired plant will be shut down and more than likely there will be a total power grid failure with politicians all claiming “Hey don’t blame me”.