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100-604: While the Midwest has intensive manufacturing and agriculture sectors, making it the most coal-dependent region in North America, it also has significant renewable energy resources and is particularly vulnerable to the climate change caused by burning coal and other fossil fuels. The Midwestern Accord was the fourth tier of the MGA Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Summit Platform, signed on November 15, 2007. It established

200-512: A cyclothem . Cyclothems are thought to have their origin in glacial cycles that produced fluctuations in sea level , which alternately exposed and then flooded large areas of continental shelf. The woody tissue of plants is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Modern peat is mostly lignin, with a content of cellulose and hemicellulose ranging from 5% to 40%. Various other organic compounds, such as waxes and nitrogen- and sulfur-containing compounds, are also present. Lignin has

300-454: A Clean Energy Incentive Plan that will reward communities who invest in wind and solar generations; the premise is to increase demand for energy efficient programs in low-income communities. In addition to incentivizing public engagement, they will also be testing air quality evaluations and providing demographic information in order to gauge the impact of air pollution on communities who are located near power plants. President Obama announced

400-417: A process called carbonization . Carbonization proceeds primarily by dehydration , decarboxylation , and demethanation. Dehydration removes water molecules from the maturing coal via reactions such as Decarboxylation removes carbon dioxide from the maturing coal: while demethanation proceeds by reaction such as In these formulas, R represents the remainder of a cellulose or lignin molecule to which

500-527: A switch in fuels happened in London in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Historian Ruth Goodman has traced the socioeconomic effects of that switch and its later spread throughout Britain and suggested that its importance in shaping the industrial adoption of coal has been previously underappreciated. The development of the Industrial Revolution led to the large-scale use of coal, as

600-548: A target for reducing carbon emissions within its borders, which could be accomplished how the states saw fit, but with the possibility of the EPA stepping in if a state refused to submit a plan. If every state met its target, the plan was projected to reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation by 32 percent relative to 2005 levels by 2030, and would have reduced other harmful air pollution as well. In March 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating that

700-588: A total savings for consumers projected at $ 155 billion from 2020 to 2030. Enough energy would have been conserved to power 30 million homes and 30 percent more renewable energy would have been generated annually by 2030, with hundreds of thousands of jobs created. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), coal in 2015 in the United States produced 1,364,000,000 metric tons of CO 2 . This amounted to 71% of CO 2 emissions from

800-403: A weight basis. This composition reflects partly the composition of the precursor plants. The second main fraction of coal is ash, an undesirable, noncombustable mixture of inorganic minerals. The composition of ash is often discussed in terms of oxides obtained after combustion in air: Of particular interest is the sulfur content of coal, which can vary from less than 1% to as much as 4%. Most of

900-406: A weight composition of about 54% carbon, 6% hydrogen, and 30% oxygen, while cellulose has a weight composition of about 44% carbon, 6% hydrogen, and 49% oxygen. Bituminous coal has a composition of about 84.4% carbon, 5.4% hydrogen, 6.7% oxygen, 1.7% nitrogen, and 1.8% sulfur, on a weight basis. The low oxygen content of coal shows that coalification removed most of the oxygen and much of the hydrogen

1000-544: A worsening public image of the United States internationally. However she is hopeful that the decision's impact on the industry's direction toward a cleaner energy system won't be severe as several states already meet the 2022 target carbon dioxide emissions established in the Clean Power Plan. On June 1, 2017, Donald Trump announced United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement , but a number of U.S. states formed

1100-632: A “Resolution of Disapproval” under the Congressional Review Act , which would have permanently blocked the Clean Power Plan and prohibited the EPA from developing “substantially similar” standards. S. J. Res. 24 was approved by the Senate on November 17 by a vote of 52–46 and by the House on December 1 by a vote of 242–180. Obama vetoed the resolution on December 18. According to the League of Conservation Voters ,

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1200-418: Is 40% of total fossil fuel emissions and over 25% of total global greenhouse gas emissions . As part of worldwide energy transition , many countries have reduced or eliminated their use of coal power . The United Nations Secretary General asked governments to stop building new coal plants by 2020. Global coal use was 8.3 billion tonnes in 2022, and is set to remain at record levels in 2023. To meet

1300-625: Is also a cognate via the Indo-European root. The conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called coalification . At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests in low-lying areas. In these wetlands, the process of coalification began when dead plant matter was protected from oxidation , usually by mud or acidic water, and was converted into peat . The resulting peat bogs , which trapped immense amounts of carbon, were eventually deeply buried by sediments. Then, over millions of years,

1400-429: Is burned in a turbine). Hot exhaust gases from the turbine are used to raise steam in a heat recovery steam generator which powers a supplemental steam turbine . The overall plant efficiency when used to provide combined heat and power can reach as much as 94%. IGCC power plants emit less local pollution than conventional pulverized coal-fueled plants. Other ways to use coal are as coal-water slurry fuel (CWS), which

1500-411: Is converted into coal by the heat and pressure of deep burial over millions of years. Vast deposits of coal originate in former wetlands called coal forests that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous ( Pennsylvanian ) and Permian times. Coal is used primarily as a fuel. While coal has been known and used for thousands of years, its usage was limited until

1600-594: Is entirely vertical; however, metamorphism may cause lateral changes of rank, irrespective of depth. For example, some of the coal seams of the Madrid, New Mexico coal field were partially converted to anthracite by contact metamorphism from an igneous sill while the remainder of the seams remained as bituminous coal. The earliest recognized use is from the Shenyang area of China where by 4000 BC Neolithic inhabitants had begun carving ornaments from black lignite. Coal from

1700-455: Is made when metallurgical coal (also known as coking coal ) is baked in an oven without oxygen at temperatures as high as 1,000 °C, driving off the volatile constituents and fusing together the fixed carbon and residual ash. Metallurgical coke is used as a fuel and as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore in a blast furnace . The carbon monoxide produced by its combustion reduces hematite (an iron oxide ) to iron. Pig iron , which

1800-409: Is more abundant, and anthracite. The % carbon in coal follows the order anthracite > bituminous > lignite > brown coal. The fuel value of coal varies in the same order. Some anthracite deposits contain pure carbon in the form of graphite . For bituminous coal, the elemental composition on a dry, ash-free basis of 84.4% carbon, 5.4% hydrogen, 6.7% oxygen, 1.7% nitrogen, and 1.8% sulfur, on

1900-452: Is used as fuel. 27.6% of world energy was supplied by coal in 2017 and Asia used almost three-quarters of it. Other large-scale applications also exist. The energy density of coal is roughly 24 megajoules per kilogram (approximately 6.7 kilowatt-hours per kg). For a coal power plant with a 40% efficiency, it takes an estimated 325 kg (717 lb) of coal to power a 100 W lightbulb for one year. In 2022, 68% of global coal use

2000-691: The Bronze Age (3000–2000 BC), where it formed part of funeral pyres . In Roman Britain , with the exception of two modern fields, "the Romans were exploiting coals in all the major coalfields in England and Wales by the end of the second century AD". Evidence of trade in coal, dated to about AD 200, has been found at the Roman settlement at Heronbridge , near Chester ; and in the Fenlands of East Anglia , where coal from

2100-512: The Fushun mine in northeastern China was used to smelt copper as early as 1000 BC. Marco Polo , the Italian who traveled to China in the 13th century, described coal as "black stones ... which burn like logs", and said coal was so plentiful, people could take three hot baths a week. In Europe, the earliest reference to the use of coal as fuel is from the geological treatise On Stones (Lap. 16) by

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2200-833: The House Energy and Commerce Committee that the EPA's energy policy was "burning the Constitution." Challengers argue that EPA overstepped its legal authority in issuing the CPP, in regards to the power plants covered by the plan, and that the scope of the "building blocks" for action goes beyond standards applied to specific electric generating units, as called for by the Clean Air Act. Eighteen states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington) have joined

2300-571: The Industrial Revolution . With the invention of the steam engine , coal consumption increased. In 2020, coal supplied about a quarter of the world's primary energy and over a third of its electricity . Some iron and steel -making and other industrial processes burn coal. The extraction and burning of coal damages the environment , causing premature death and illness, and it is the largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide contributing to climate change . Fourteen billion tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted by burning coal in 2020, which

2400-590: The Midlands was transported via the Car Dyke for use in drying grain. Coal cinders have been found in the hearths of villas and Roman forts , particularly in Northumberland , dated to around AD 400. In the west of England, contemporary writers described the wonder of a permanent brazier of coal on the altar of Minerva at Aquae Sulis (modern day Bath ), although in fact easily accessible surface coal from what became

2500-529: The Paris Agreement target of keeping global warming below 2 °C (3.6 °F) coal use needs to halve from 2020 to 2030, and "phasing down" coal was agreed upon in the Glasgow Climate Pact . The largest consumer and importer of coal in 2020 was China , which accounts for almost half the world's annual coal production, followed by India with about a tenth. Indonesia and Australia export

2600-702: The Somerset coalfield was in common use in quite lowly dwellings locally. Evidence of coal's use for iron -working in the city during the Roman period has been found. In Eschweiler , Rhineland , deposits of bituminous coal were used by the Romans for the smelting of iron ore . No evidence exists of coal being of great importance in Britain before about AD 1000, the High Middle Ages . Coal came to be referred to as "seacoal" in

2700-438: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Synapse Energy Economics relied on assumptions from a 2012 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) study on future potential of energy and reported findings indicating that the CPP will decrease the cost of electricity. M.J. Bradley & Associates rely on data from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and reported generally optimistic findings, with large decreases in costs due to

2800-535: The United States Climate Alliance to maintain within state borders the objectives of the Clean Power Plan separately from the federal government. On October 4, 2017, an EPA document obtained by Reuters revealed that the EPA was planning to repeal the Clean Power Plan. A list of potential alternatives to the Clean Power Plan following public discussion were leaked to Bloomberg News on October 6. Likewise, The Washington Post and CNN reported that

2900-491: The coal gap in the Permian–Triassic extinction event , where coal is rare. Favorable geography alone does not explain the extensive Carboniferous coal beds. Other factors contributing to rapid coal deposition were high oxygen levels, above 30%, that promoted intense wildfires and formation of charcoal that was all but indigestible by decomposing organisms; high carbon dioxide levels that promoted plant growth; and

3000-459: The constitutionality and the political effects of the Clean Power Plan. The New York Times Editorial Board published an editorial arguing that the D.C. Circuit should uphold the plan. In August 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the EPA an additional 60 days to review the CPP and submit their position to the court, before continuing the process to settle

3100-444: The steam engine took over from the water wheel . In 1700, five-sixths of the world's coal was mined in Britain. Britain would have run out of suitable sites for watermills by the 1830s if coal had not been available as a source of energy. In 1947 there were some 750,000 miners in Britain, but the last deep coal mine in the UK closed in 2015. A grade between bituminous coal and anthracite

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3200-407: The 13th century; the wharf where the material arrived in London was known as Seacoal Lane, so identified in a charter of King Henry III granted in 1253. Initially, the name was given because much coal was found on the shore, having fallen from the exposed coal seams on cliffs above or washed out of underwater coal outcrops, but by the time of Henry VIII , it was understood to derive from the way it

3300-539: The 2021-22 term. On June 30, 2022, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled against the EPA, holding that "Congress did not grant EPA...the authority to devise emissions caps based on the generation shifting approach the Agency took in the Clean Power Plan" and that "Under this body of law, known as the major questions doctrine , given both separation of powers principles and a practical understanding of legislative intent,

3400-466: The Affordable Care Act on June 25, 2015, however, the EPA adopted a more aggressive statutory interpretation . In the final rule announced on August 3, the EPA argued that the Senate's language unambiguously allows it to regulate, while the House language in the U.S. Code should be ignored because it is unreasonable under the Clean Air Act's "comprehensive scheme". Opponents immediately declared

3500-423: The CPP, states may choose to allocate roughly 10% of their carbon pricing revenue to protect low-income communities. Higher-income communities may be disproportionately affected by the CPP because of decreased income levels, due to greater dependence on capital income, rather than wages. Coal miners, making up 0.057% of the total U.S. employment, may be disproportionately affected by the CPP due to potential layoffs in

3600-508: The CPP. NERA Economic Consulting, funded by coal lobbyists, relied on U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data with pessimistic assumptions, resulting in pessimistic findings stating that some states may even face double-digit price increases. The EPA drew from the NREL for data and made middle-ground assumptions, ultimately reporting findings that are similarly "middle-ground" compared with other studies. The ability to measure and determine

3700-578: The Carboniferous, and suggested that climatic and tectonic factors were a more plausible explanation, reconstruction of ancestral enzymes by phylogenetic analysis corroborated a hypothesis that lignin degrading enzymes appeared in fungi approximately 200 MYa. One likely tectonic factor was the Central Pangean Mountains , an enormous range running along the equator that reached its greatest elevation near this time. Climate modeling suggests that

3800-587: The Central Pangean Mountains contributed to the deposition of vast quantities of coal in the late Carboniferous. The mountains created an area of year-round heavy precipitation, with no dry season typical of a monsoon climate. This is necessary for the preservation of peat in coal swamps. Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants. This coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae. Sometimes coal seams (also known as coal beds) are interbedded with other sediments in

3900-424: The Clean Power Plan would have reduced the pollutants that contribute to smog and soot by 25 percent, leading to 140,000 to 150,000 fewer asthma attacks among children and 2,700 to 6,600 fewer premature deaths. Net climate and health benefits were estimated between $ 25 billion and $ 45 billion per year beginning in 2030. The average American family would have saved an estimated $ 85 per year in energy bills in 2030, with

4000-454: The EPA fact sheet on the Clean Power Plan, climate change is responsible for everything from stronger storms to longer droughts and increased insurance premiums, food prices and allergy seasons. The populations most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change include children, older adults, people with heart or lung disease and people living in poverty. The repeal of the Clean Power Plan will increase greenhouse gas emissions, expediting

4100-568: The EPA for further proceedings consistent with its opinion. The court characterized the ACE as a "fundamental misconstruction" of environmental laws . The ruling did not reinstate the Clean Power Plan; however, it did create the opportunity for the Biden administration to improve and clarify the rules. In 2022, in the case West Virginia v. EPA , the U.S. Supreme Court curbed the EPA's ability to broadly regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants as

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4200-466: The EPA review the plan. In June 2017, he withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement , and on October 9, Trump-appointed EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announced the formal process to repeal the Clean Power Plan would begin on October 10, 2017. In May 2019, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced plans to change the way the EPA calculates health risks of air pollution, saying

4300-491: The EPA would repeal the plan and limit the alternatives to advice for local utilities on October 10. Then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a proposed rule to repeal the Clean Power Plan on that day. New York's and Massachusetts’ attorneys general planned to sue the EPA over the repeal. The EPA held a hearing, titled, "Proposal to Repeal the Clean Power Plan", on Nov. 28–29, 2017 in Charleston, West Virginia. The hearing

4400-547: The EPA's proximity analysis concludes that a higher percentage of minority and low-income communities live near power plants when compared to the national averages, increasing risk of disease and death due to toxic particulate matter emissions and air pollution. The EPA has determined that greenhouse gas pollution causes global temperature warming, leading to harmful changes to the environment and human health globally such as increased drought and increased famine due to decrease in water supply and agricultural production. According to

4500-563: The Greek scientist Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BC): Among the materials that are dug because they are useful, those known as anthrakes [coals] are made of earth, and, once set on fire, they burn like charcoal [anthrakes]. They are found in Liguria ;... and in Elis as one approaches Olympia by the mountain road; and they are used by those who work in metals. Outcrop coal was used in Britain during

4600-582: The June 18, 2014, proposed rule, EPA argued that because the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment is ambiguous, EPA's interpretation is entitled to judicial deference . EPA found the statute to be ambiguous because the language in the United States Code is from a May 23, 1990, House amendment that conflicts with a never codified April 3 Senate conforming amendment. After the U.S. Supreme Court in King v. Burwell upheld

4700-702: The Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program, which aimed to: Through the Midwestern Accord, the governors agreed to establish a Midwestern greenhouse gas reduction program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their states, as well as a working group to provide recommendations regarding the implementation of the accord. In June 2009, the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord Advisory Group finalized its draft recommendations . In March 2010

4800-408: The Paris Agreement, this action may discourage other countries from upholding their own commitments. Janet McCabe , an Obama Administration EPA department head, stated that the decision completely disregards the impacts of climate and the cost and benefits associated with the started programs. According to her it will lead to several more years of uncertainty and potentially lost opportunity as well as

4900-561: The Plan was illegal, attempting to sue before the agency finalized the rule. Only ten days after the EPA announced the final rule, twenty-seven states petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for an emergency stay. Peabody Energy hired Laurence Tribe , President Obama's mentor at Harvard Law School, to author a brief which was later acclaimed on the Senate floor. Tribe would go on to testify before

5000-405: The Plan's requirements although sometimes indirectly, regardless of open opposition. On September 27, 2016, the case against the CPP was heard in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit . The chief judge of the court, Merrick B. Garland , recused himself, as he was also President Obama's US Supreme Court nominee . The argument has sparked debate about both

5100-466: The United States because of the shrinkage in the industry sector. More specifically, there will be a 19% reduction in the iron and steel production, 21% reduction in cement production, and 11% in refining production. On the other hand, those who argue favorably for the Clean Power Plan have addressed the employment concerns of critics of the Clean Power Plan. While jobs will be decreasing in the industrial sector, there has also been an increase nationwide in

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5200-482: The accord. The MGGRA became defunct after the 2010 United States elections . Clean Power Plan The Clean Power Plan was an Obama administration policy aimed at combating climate change that was first proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014. The final version of the plan was unveiled by President Barack Obama on August 3, 2015. Each state was assigned

5300-472: The administration of incoming President Joe Biden to make a rule from scratch. Several states and energy companies petitioned to the Supreme Court on the basis of the D.C. Circuit ruling to challenge fundamental aspects of the power granted by Congress to the EPA to regulate emissions. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to four petitions in October 2021, consolidated under West Virginia v. EPA , heard during

5400-481: The administration's attempt to loosen emission standards. Environmentalists are concerned that the new ACE standards are so limited in the pollution controls it requires power producers to install that it could hamstring future administrations from addressing climate-altering pollution. On January 19, 2021, the federal D.C. Circuit ruled the Affordable Clean Energy rule violated the Clean Air Act, leaving

5500-574: The advisory group presented a plan to the MGA that called for implementation beginning in January 2012. No further action was taken, as leadership in several of the states switched positions on climate policy. In July 2014, accord member Kansas and observers Indiana, South Dakota, and Ohio joined a lawsuit opposing the EPA Clean Power Plan , federal climate regulations which could be met by implementation of

5600-440: The agency must point to 'clear congressional authorization' for the authority it claims." Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock , formed as rock strata called coal seams . Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements , chiefly hydrogen , sulfur , oxygen , and nitrogen . Coal is a type of fossil fuel , formed when dead plant matter decays into peat which

5700-472: The assumptions made and the variables analyzed. Ultimately, the effect of the CPP on households is most influenced by how states decide to meet their emissions goals, allocate the revenue generated by the carbon tax, and collaborate with other states. Data on the economic impact of the Clean Power Plan on electricity prices relies heavily on four studies conducted separately by Synapse Energy Economics, M.J. Bradley & Associates, NERA Economic Consulting, and

5800-493: The case Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency that EPA regulation of carbon dioxide is actually required by the Clean Air Act , which is still in effect. Trump explained this decision calling the Clean Power Plan a "job-killing regulation" which some see as false, saying "the potential for job growth in the clean energy sector dwarfs any potential job growth in the fossil fuel economy". Opposition argues that with

5900-420: The case about the legality of the CPP. President Donald Trump 's proposed 2018 United States federal budget defunded the Clean Power Plan. On March 28, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order directing EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to review the Clean Power Plan. EPA will need to go through the formal rulemaking process to change the existing rule, and in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in

6000-462: The change was intended to rectify inconsistencies in the current cost-benefit analyses used by the agency. This became the Affordable Clean Energy rule. On June 19, 2019, the EPA issued the final Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE), which replaced the Clean Power Plan. On January 19, 2021, the last full day of the Trump administration, the D.C. Circuit vacated the Affordable Clean Energy rule and remanded to

6100-634: The coal industry. In contrast, coal miners disproportionately benefit from increased clean air and decreased health expenditures. Just one to five percent of the revenue generated from a moderate carbon price would offset any detriment to coal miner communities. According to a 2017 analysis of the Energy Innovation's Energy Policy Simulator, a repeal of the Clean Power Plan would lead to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions of more than 500 million metric tons by 2030, and by 2050, that figure would rise to more than 1,200 million metric tons. Furthermore,

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6200-598: The country into three regions based on connected regional electricity grids to determine a state's goal. States were not told the means they had to use to meet the target, but if a state had not submitted a plan by the deadline, the EPA could have imposed its own plan on that state. States could implement their plans by focusing on three building blocks: increasing the generation efficiency of existing fossil fuel plants, substituting natural gas generation for coal-powered generation, and substituting generation renewable sources for fossil fuel-powered generation. The EPA estimated

6300-406: The damaging environmental changes due to climate change that disproportionately affect subaltern populations around the globe. As aforementioned, a major part of the Clean Power Plan's mission is to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industry. Opponents of the Clean Power Plan have stated that the attempt in reducing these emissions is also going to be reducing the number of jobs in

6400-399: The electric power sector. By switching this coal generation to a cleaner source such as wind power , CO 2 emissions could be significantly reduced. According to the League of Conservation Voters , in 2015, the Clean Power Plan "established the first national limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants—our nation's single largest source of the pollution fueling climate change" and

6500-427: The encyclical Laudato si' by Pope Francis . The policy has been described as "[Obama's] most ambitious climate policy to date." In response to Obama's 2015 announcement, hundreds of businesses voiced support for the plan, including eBay , Nestlé , and General Mills . To show support for the Clean Power Plan, 360 other companies and investors sent letters to their governors. The companies and investors signing

6600-430: The evolution of the first trees . But bacteria and fungi did not immediately evolve the ability to decompose lignin, so the wood did not fully decay but became buried under sediment, eventually turning into coal. About 300 million years ago, mushrooms and other fungi developed this ability, ending the main coal-formation period of earth's history. Although some authors pointed at some evidence of lignin degradation during

6700-512: The factors involved in coalification, temperature is much more important than either pressure or time of burial. Subbituminous coal can form at temperatures as low as 35 to 80 °C (95 to 176 °F) while anthracite requires a temperature of at least 180 to 245 °C (356 to 473 °F). Although coal is known from most geologic periods , 90% of all coal beds were deposited in the Carboniferous and Permian periods. Paradoxically, this

6800-498: The form of iron pyrite (FeS 2 ). Being a dense mineral, it can be removed from coal by mechanical means, e.g. by froth flotation . Some sulfate occurs in coal, especially weathered samples. It is not volatilized and can be removed by washing. Minor components include: As minerals, Hg, As, and Se are not problematic to the environment, especially since they are only trace components. They become however mobile (volatile or water-soluble) when these minerals are combusted. Most coal

6900-563: The health risks for various environmental regulations, to the detriment of industry. Administrator Wheeler defended the change as a way to rectify inconsistencies in the current cost-benefit analyses used by the agency. The new plan will be known as the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule. The planned changes were hailed by industry representatives. Environmentalists are fighting the administration's power plant regulation rollbacks. In April 2020, several environmental groups and twenty-two states filed their first legal briefs in an attempt to fight

7000-475: The heat and pressure of deep burial caused the loss of water, methane and carbon dioxide and increased the proportion of carbon. The grade of coal produced depended on the maximum pressure and temperature reached, with lignite (also called "brown coal") produced under relatively mild conditions, and sub-bituminous coal , bituminous coal , or anthracite coal (also called "hard coal" or "black coal") produced in turn with increasing temperature and pressure. Of

7100-648: The impact on at-risk communities is confounded by these varying conclusions. Differences between states aside, three key at-risk groups are lower-income communities, higher-income communities, and coal miner communities. Lower-income households may disproportionately experience increases in expenditures due to a large share of their consumption falling into the energy-intensive category, including products and services like electricity, heating, and gasoline. However, lower-income communities are also likely to benefit from increased air quality, and therefore decreased health care expenditures. In order to combat any negative impact of

7200-431: The increasing tendency of the anthracite to break with a conchoidal fracture , similar to the way thick glass breaks. As geological processes apply pressure to dead biotic material over time, under suitable conditions, its metamorphic grade or rank increases successively into: There are several international standards for coal. The classification of coal is generally based on the content of volatiles . However

7300-408: The infrastructure to combat climate change-induced drought, famine, and other natural and anthropogenic disasters. The economic impact of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), not including the impact on employment, can be measured by many variables including its impact on electricity prices and health expenditures. In four major studies conducted on the economic impact of the CPP, findings varied widely due to

7400-498: The letter represent all 50 states. In 2016, 2/3 of electric utilities supported the plan. The 460-page rule (RIN 2060–AR33) titled "Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units" was published in the Federal Register on October 23, 2015. In October 2015, Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia introduced Senate Joint Resolution 24 (S. J. Res. 24),

7500-593: The litigation in support of the EPA's plan. On February 9, 2016, the United States Supreme Court ordered the EPA to halt enforcement of the plan until a lower court rules in the lawsuit against the plan. The 5–4 vote was the first time the Supreme Court had ever stayed a regulation before a judgment by the lower Court of Appeals. As of July 2016, several states – including Republican-held ones such as Wyoming , South Carolina , Virginia , Arizona , Idaho , and New Jersey – are moving forward to meet

7600-453: The morphology and some properties of the original plant. In many coals, individual macerals can be identified visually. Some macerals include: In coalification huminite is replaced by vitreous (shiny) vitrinite . Maturation of bituminous coal is characterized by bitumenization , in which part of the coal is converted to bitumen , a hydrocarbon-rich gel. Maturation to anthracite is characterized by debitumenization (from demethanation) and

7700-405: The most important distinction is between thermal coal (also known as steam coal), which is burnt to generate electricity via steam; and metallurgical coal (also known as coking coal), which is burnt at high temperature to make steel . Hilt's law is a geological observation that (within a small area) the deeper the coal is found, the higher its rank (or grade). It applies if the thermal gradient

7800-505: The most, followed by Russia . The word originally took the form col in Old English , from reconstructed Proto-Germanic * kula ( n ), from Proto-Indo-European root * g ( e ) u-lo- "live coal". Germanic cognates include the Old Frisian kole , Middle Dutch cole , Dutch kool , Old High German chol , German Kohle and Old Norse kol . Irish gual

7900-407: The nature of Carboniferous forests, which included lycophyte trees whose determinate growth meant that carbon was not tied up in heartwood of living trees for long periods. One theory suggested that about 360 million years ago, some plants evolved the ability to produce lignin , a complex polymer that made their cellulose stems much harder and more woody. The ability to produce lignin led to

8000-455: The number of double bonds between carbon). As carbonization proceeds, aliphatic compounds convert to aromatic compounds . Similarly, aromatic rings fuse into polyaromatic compounds (linked rings of carbon atoms). The structure increasingly resembles graphene , the structural element of graphite. Chemical changes are accompanied by physical changes, such as decrease in average pore size. The macerals are coalified plant parts that retain

8100-566: The plan in a speech given at the White House on August 3, 2015. In his announcement, Obama stated that the plan includes the first standards on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants ever proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. He also called the plan "the single most important step that America has ever made in the fight against global climate change." Obama called his plan "a moral obligation" and made reference to

8200-456: The pre-combustion treatment, turbine technology (e.g. supercritical steam generator ) and the age of the plant. A few integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants have been built, which burn coal more efficiently. Instead of pulverizing the coal and burning it directly as fuel in the steam-generating boiler, the coal is gasified to create syngas , which is burned in a gas turbine to produce electricity (just like natural gas

8300-427: The reacting groups are attached. Dehydration and decarboxylation take place early in coalification, while demethanation begins only after the coal has already reached bituminous rank. The effect of decarboxylation is to reduce the percentage of oxygen, while demethanation reduces the percentage of hydrogen. Dehydration does both, and (together with demethanation) reduces the saturation of the carbon backbone (increasing

8400-419: The repeal of the Clean Power Plan, the United States will not be able to meet the greenhouse gas emission standards agreed to under the Paris Agreement , and in turn, will have to withdraw from the agreement. Without it, the United States is projected to fall over 20% short of its pledge. Because the Clean Power Plan was a significant part of how the United States intended to meet the emission targets it set for

8500-574: The resolution was "an extreme measure...threatening our health and our future." The votes on the resolution were considered key votes by the League and Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Congressional scorecards. AFP said the Clean Power Plan would have a "devastating effect on the economy" and that the resolution would send a "clear signal to the Paris climate negotiators that President Obama's expansive green energy agenda does not have support on Capitol Hill." In

8600-548: The solar sector, wind sector, and energy efficient sector. While some are skeptical of the Clean Power Plan because of its job loss in the industrial sector, the EPA has made clear that in order for the Clean Energy Plan to be effective community engagement is essential, particularly low income, minority and tribal communities. To ensure opportunities in communities, the EPA is requiring all states demonstrate how they are actively engaging with communities. The EPA has created

8700-399: The sulfur and most of the nitrogen is incorporated into the organic fraction in the form of organosulfur compounds and organonitrogen compounds . This sulfur and nitrogen are strongly bound within the hydrocarbon matrix. These elements are released as SO 2 and NO x upon combustion. They cannot be removed, economically at least, otherwise. Some coals contain inorganic sulfur, mainly in

8800-483: The temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In order to enact the plan, 194 UNFCCC member nations have signed the treaty, 172 of which have ratified it. The poorest, most underdeveloped nations emit the lowest levels of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses. According to the World Bank , greenhouse gas emissions from large nations such as the U.S. and China disproportionately affect developing nations that don't have

8900-849: The use of renewable energy and promoting energy conservation. White House officials also hoped the plan would help persuade other countries that emit large amounts of carbon dioxide to officially pledge to reduce their emissions at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference . Although the plan did not go into effect, its emissions reduction goal was met 11 years early in 2019 due to increasing energy efficiency, construction of wind and solar power, and changes in energy market prices that resulted in shifting from coal to natural gas. The plan would have required each state to meet specific standards with respect to reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and to submit emissions reductions plans by September 2016. States could coordinate with other states to develop multi-state plans. The EPA divided

9000-415: The world's coal-generated electricity. Efforts around the world to reduce the use of coal have led some regions to switch to natural gas and renewable energy . In 2018 coal-fired power station capacity factor averaged 51%, that is they operated for about half their available operating hours. Coke is a solid carbonaceous residue that is used in manufacturing steel and other iron-containing products. Coke

9100-466: Was "the biggest step" the United States had "ever taken to address climate change." The Clean Power Plan was one of the first major initiatives in the world to curb internal greenhouse gas emissions . The Paris Agreement was agreed upon in October 2016 and entered into force in November 2016. It aims to keep global temperature rise this century "well below" 2 degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit

9200-574: Was based on the trading of this commodity. Coal continues to arrive on beaches around the world from both natural erosion of exposed coal seams and windswept spills from cargo ships. Many homes in such areas gather this coal as a significant, and sometimes primary, source of home heating fuel. Coal consists mainly of a black mixture of diverse organic compounds and polymers. Of course, several kinds of coals exist, with variable dark colors and variable compositions. Young coals (brown coal, lignite) are not black. The two main black coals are bituminous, which

9300-504: Was carried to London by sea. In 1257–1259, coal from Newcastle upon Tyne was shipped to London for the smiths and lime -burners building Westminster Abbey . Seacoal Lane and Newcastle Lane, where coal was unloaded at wharves along the River Fleet , still exist. These easily accessible sources had largely become exhausted (or could not meet the growing demand) by the 13th century, when underground extraction by shaft mining or adits

9400-602: Was developed in the Soviet Union , or in an MHD topping cycle . However these are not widely used due to lack of profit. In 2017 38% of the world's electricity came from coal, the same percentage as 30 years previously. In 2018 global installed capacity was 2 TW (of which 1TW is in China) which was 30% of total electricity generation capacity. The most dependent major country is South Africa, with over 80% of its electricity generated by coal; but China alone generates more than half of

9500-408: Was developed. The alternative name was "pitcoal", because it came from mines. Cooking and home heating with coal (in addition to firewood or instead of it) has been done in various times and places throughout human history, especially in times and places where ground-surface coal was available and firewood was scarce, but a widespread reliance on coal for home hearths probably never existed until such

9600-744: Was done in the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan was no longer in place, but if it had been, the ruling would have struck it down. In 2024, the Biden Administration issued a suite of rules called the Greenhouse Gas Standards and Guidelines for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants, sometimes called the "Clean Power Plan 2.0", to replace the Clean Power Plan and ACE. The final version of the plan aimed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electrical power generation by 32 percent by 2030 relative to 2005 levels. The plan focused on reducing emissions from coal -burning power plants and increasing

9700-490: Was during the Late Paleozoic icehouse , a time of global glaciation . However, the drop in global sea level accompanying the glaciation exposed continental shelves that had previously been submerged, and to these were added wide river deltas produced by increased erosion due to the drop in base level . These widespread areas of wetlands provided ideal conditions for coal formation. The rapid formation of coal ended with

9800-571: Was live-streamed from the West Virginia capitol building, where it was held. In May 2019, Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced plans to change the way the EPA calculates health risks of air pollution, resulting in the reporting of far fewer health-related deaths and making it easier to roll back the Clean Power Plan. The Trump administration has argued that the Obama administration over-estimated

9900-550: Was once known as "steam coal" as it was widely used as a fuel for steam locomotives . In this specialized use, it is sometimes known as "sea coal" in the United States. Small "steam coal", also called dry small steam nuts (DSSN), was used as a fuel for domestic water heating . Coal played an important role in industry in the 19th and 20th century. The predecessor of the European Union , the European Coal and Steel Community ,

10000-430: Was used for electricity generation. Coal burnt in coal power stations to generate electricity is called thermal coal . It is usually pulverized and then burned in a furnace with a boiler . The furnace heat converts boiler water to steam , which is then used to spin turbines which turn generators and create electricity. The thermodynamic efficiency of this process varies between about 25% and 50% depending on

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