DOE Announces Loan Conditional Commitment Toward $2.4 Billion Wabash Valley Resources Project to Produce Low-Carbon Fertilizer and Revitalize Coal Community
In a groundbreaking move to bolster American agriculture and improve air quality, the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office has announced a conditional commitment of a $1.559 billion loan—toward a total investment of $2.4 billion—to Wabash Valley Resources (WVR), a pioneer in low-carbon anhydrous ammonia fertilizer production. This historic investment is one of the single largest efforts to increase the supply of domestically produced fertilizer and displace imported ammonia supply to the Eastern Corn Belt.
WVR's innovative approach of utilizing industrial waste in combination with carbon capture has the potential to be the United States' first carbon-negative ammonia production process.
Enhancing Food Security and Opening New Markets for American Farmers
By producing ammonia domestically, WVR is set to play a crucial role in alleviating a restricted supply chain in the Eastern Corn Belt. Furthermore, WVR's efforts will support the production of low-carbon corn and ethanol, expanding American farmers' access to domestic and international markets that value green attributes.
Revitalizing a Coal Community
The $2.4 billion investment is not only a victory for the agricultural sector but also a catalyst for revitalizing a community that has been deeply affected by the decline of coal-related industries. This initiative is expected to create over 1,100 direct and indirect jobs. Additionally, it will create at least 500 union construction jobs. WVR is proud to build on its long-standing tradition of employing a unionized workforce for construction and maintenance by signing the National Maintenance Agreement.
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US Ships Record Volumes of Thermal Coal to Africa
The United States shipped a record 6.1 million metric tons of thermal coal - used mainly for power generation and in industrial boilers - to Africa during the first eight months of 2024, ship-tracking data from Kpler shows.
That total was 83% more than during the same months in 2023, and ensured the U.S was Africa's top thermal coal supplier so far in 2024, accounting for a record 64% share of total African thermal coal imports.
In conjunction with 11.1 million tons of exports to Asia - the top U.S. market for coal - the shipments to Africa helped lift total U.S. coal exports to the third highest on record over the first eight months of the year.
That sustained high level of coal exports undermines U.S. and global efforts to reduce the use of coal in power generation, due to the sharply higher level of emissions from coal compared to other fossil fuels when burned for power.
Continued high U.S. coal exports raises the risk of backlash from international climate advocates, who are looking to the United States to play a leading role in efforts to stem the sale and use of coal.
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Training Resources Applied to Mining (TRAM) Annual Conference
Health and safety trainers will soon have an opportunity to improve their training skills and learn new ideas for their training programs.
The Training Resources Applied to Mining (TRAM) Conference will be held in person this year on November 12 - 15, 2024 at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy.
The Academy is located at 1301 Airport Road in Beaver, West Virginia.
The conference is tuition-free and will feature presentations from some of the industry's most respected safety trainers. In addition, workshops will cover a wide variety of topics that are relevant to mine safety trainers.
The presentation topics for 2024 will cover everything from best practices for better content delivery to innovative training design techniques.
Training in today's mining industry is considered a foundational element in the mission to improve mine safety. Through the years, the training materials competition has fostered a new level of professionalism in the development of training materials.
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MINExpo INTERNATIONAL® Will Draw 44,000 with One Week to Go
With a week to go, on September 24-26, owned and produced by the National Mining Association (NMA), MINExpo INTERNATIONAL® will bring professionals, experts and decision makers together from the global mining industry to work on achieving greater safety and increased productivity in mining. The show floor will feature mining products for underground longwall and continuous mining as well as surface mining, coal preparation and transportation. MINExpo® certainly will have plenty to offer attendees.
More than 44,000 industry professionals are expected from all over the world and one quarter of them or around 11,000 will be from the coal industry. There are 3 exhibition halls, over 1,900 industry suppliers, and 700,000 square feet of mining equipment and services. A special feature of MINExpo® is always the Technical Program, comprising presentations by experts in their fields covering a very wide variety of mining subjects.
MINExpo® attracts influential buyers and some 90% of attendees have indicated they are prepared to buy new products and services, with 36% saying they’ll spend up to $1 million and with another 32% planning to spend more than $10 million. Registration and Housing with discounted rates on rooms will be available early in 2024 and update notifications to both can be arranged at MINExpo.com.
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Congrats on… the Energy Poverty
In October, Britain will close its last coal plant marking the culmination of a decade-long policy that has proven to be a catastrophe for British consumers.
While some headlines have celebrated Britain’s phaseout, the cost – still to be fully tallied – has been extraordinary. If anything, Britain’s energy policies have become textbook case studies of exactly what not to do if energy affordability, security and economic competitiveness are desired outcomes.
Britain’s pivot away from fuel-secure, existing coal has meant an embrace of notoriously volatile European gas markets dominated by Vladimir Putin. It has been a colossal mistake that left British consumers extraordinarily vulnerable during the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a pivot towards eye-wateringly high electricity prices that simply would not be tolerated in the U.S.
Energy prices have become a lead balloon on Britain’s economy and a crisis for working people and retirees on fixed incomes. In the second half of 2023, Britain’s electricity prices were higher than those in any E.U. country – a remarkable achievement when one considers the competition.
Electricity prices in the U.K. fully doubled between 2010 and 2024. They are in fact so high, they’re 175% higher than the average price for electricity in the U.S. And in October, they are going to jump another 10%.
Britain’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, or Ofgem, has announced that the already highly subsidized price cap for British households will have to go up again this winter. This comes when households in arrears on their energy bills are already at a record. Nearly one million households are behind on their power bills with no arrangement to repay, and 748,000 face similar problems with their gas bills.
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