Use all available resources to meet our energy needs
For most of us, energy comes at a comparatively cost-effective rate. Worst case: We shrug or groan when we peek at the electric bill following high-demand use periods, like the hottest or coldest days of the year. It rarely breaks the bank.
And coal remains a big reason why.
Pennsylvanians, on average, pay 9.83 cents per kilowatt hour. That’s because coal provides 40 percent of our electricity capacity. New Yorkers, in contrast, pay 15.62 cents per kilowatt hour. There, coal accounts for just 4 percent of electricity. New Jerseyans pay 13.7 cents per kilowatt hour. Coal makes up just 3 percent of their electricity needs.
What would these statistics look like regionally if our policymakers followed the examples of those in New York and New Jersey, where energy infrastructure and production – including coal – have run into fierce resistance from environmentalists and regulators?
More importantly, how would those less well-off make ends meet?
While many of us now have more wiggle room in our budgets because of the lower bills that come with the benefits of being next door to the Marcellus and Utica shales, and their record-setting production rates, tearing open the electric bill remains an eye-opening jolt for far too many people. It later leads to the type of difficult, either-or decision-making no family should have to make.
That’s because while experts say households should not spend more than 6 percent of their income on energy-related costs, those on fixed incomes or living at or near the poverty mark habitually spend far more.
Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the bottom-fifth of households spent a budget-crushing 22 percent of their after-tax income on residential utility bills and gas in April 2016. Groundswell, a renewable energy advocacy group, reported recently that the bottom 20 percent of households spend nearly 10 percent of their income just to pay the electricity bill. The U.S. Department of Health and Services, meanwhile, reported that about 23 million people required some sort of federal assistance to help pay for electricity or home heating in 2011.
And of the 43.3 million Americans living on food stamps, 1.85 million reside in Pennsylvania and nearly 360,000 live in West Virginia, a recent white paper by Consumer Energy Alliance said. Counties throughout Appalachia have higher poverty rates than many other regions, and the Pennsylvania Coal Association said that in 2009, state households with annual incomes below $50,000 – nearly half the state – spent about 18 percent of their average after-tax income on energy. For households that earned $10,000 or less, the percentage skyrocketed to 62 percent.
The most-commonly heard solution is to increase social services programs that help low-income families foot the bill. But that doesn’t prevent the bill from going up to begin with, nor does it help get it down. Instead, a more proactive solution for our region would be to embrace all our resource options – coal included.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), Pennsylvania was the third-largest coal-producing state in 2016. West Virginia, similarly, was the largest coal-producing state east of the Mississippi River, second nationally only to Wyoming.
And for good reasons: Working alongside natural gas, coal remains one of the most cost-effective, stable and abundant sources of energy we have. It’s also a major jobs creator. In Pennsylvania, more than 36,000 jobs are tied to the coal industry, with wages roughly $30,000 higher than the average private sector job. In West Virginia, coal wages are twice the state average.
Coal is a head-turning revenue engine, too. In West Virginia, coal and utilities pay 60 percent of all state business taxes. In Pennsylvania, coal contributes more than $4 billion per year to the state’s economy. Also, in Pennsylvania, each coal job creates 1.6 additional jobs outside the industry. Think lumber yards, stores, diners and public services, for starters.
We’re fortunate to have an abundance of this resource in our backyard, and it’s established us as a leader in energy independence. Just last month, Corsa Coal, in Canonsburg, opened a new mine near Somerset, which has served as an economic boon for locals. And since 1990, through the Coal Methane Outreach Program, the methane recovered and used has spiked from 13.8 billion cubic feet to 37.2 billion cubic feet. This program helps to do what the coal industry always has – power the economy – in an environmentally-conscious manner. Programs and innovations like this will continue to propel the industry forward, right along with the communities that have sustained it for decades.
We cannot sit idly by and let critical industries be relegated to the dustbin of history. The stakes for our families and communities are too high.
Butler is the Mid-Atlantic director for Consumer Energy Alliance, an advocacy group for energy consumers and producers.