Coal keeps cruising

[TransitJohn]

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER
Star-Tribune energy reporter Friday, January 07, 2005




GILLETTE -- Wyoming coal miners continued to break industry records in 2004, including the high-water mark for production, surprising even market analysts.

More than 4,500 coal miners in the state collectively scooped 395.8 million tons of coal, according the Casper Star-Tribune's annual statewide survey. That's 19.5 million tons more than the year before -- an increase of more than 5 percent and the largest annual increase since 2001.

"It beat our estimates by about 2 percent," said Dick Price, a coal market analyst and managing director of New York-based Westminster Securities Corp.

"I think you saw a turn in the economy. It improved the demand for electricity, and as a consequence, increased demand for coal," Price said.

"Wow, I'm really surprised," Arch Coal Inc. spokesman Greg Schaefer said. "It shows utilities are really looking at Powder River Basin coal."

Big production numbers translate into healthy, growing local economies in much of northeast Wyoming, and a steadily increased flow of money to state coffers as well. In all, the industry contributes more than $450 million annually to the state's economy, according to the Wyoming Mining Association.

Coal directly employs more than 4,600 people in the state and an estimated 18,700 additional, related jobs. Annual payroll for direct and secondary employment from the industry exceeds $634 million, according to the Wyoming Mining Association.

Wyoming provides 35 percent of the nation's coal, and that coal is burned to generate more than half of the nation's electricity.

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http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/01/07/news/wyoming/d00967cc98f9707887256f820004a9b5.txt

[One_Life_To_Give]

1. High Oil and Gas prices

Logical consequence of the High Oil and Gas prices.