Published: February 10, 2017 |

[Click image to enlarge]

It’s been a long, coal’d winter for the Montana mines, which are seeing production stabilize as thermostats click on and stay on.

Montana coal mining was in rebound at the end of 2016 after falling behind a million tons a month for the first 10 months of the year.

Mines produced 2.8 million tons in December, the same amount mined in the final month of 2015, reports the Montana Coal Council. The leveling off follows a November in which more coal was mined than in the same month a year earlier.

As in November, cold weather was the big driver in year-end coal demand, the council reports. The National Weather Service reports that this winter will be one of the coldest of the past 20 years for the northern United States.

The federal Energy Information Administration has forecast a seasonal uptick in electricity generation at coal-fired power plants because of the colder winter temperatures and an increase in natural gas prices, which has been out-competing coal for more than a year.

As a whole, 2016 wasn’t good for Montana coal, with 32 million tons mined. Production during the year was 75 percent of what it was in 2015.

Nationally, mined coal was at 739 million tons, the least amount since 1978, according the EIA.

Source: (February 7, 2017) Billings Gazette

Be in-the-know when you’re on-the-go!