Chinese overproduction behind price drops and job losses

BY BRIAN SPEGELE AND JOHN W MILLER  MAY 09 2016, 11:56

Oversupply. Picture: ISTOCK

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NEW YORK — China is doubling down on efforts to keep unprofitable factories afloat despite for years pledging to curb excess capacity, adding to a glut of basic materials flooding the global economy.

The country’s overproduction of steel, aluminium, diesel and other industrial goods has driven down prices and crippled competitors, leading to thousands of lost jobs in the US and elsewhere.

China’s continuing aid for unneeded factories is triggering a sharp rise in trade disputes and protectionist sentiment, especially in the US, where trade has emerged as one of the pivotal issues in the US presidential election.

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Chinese public companies, Chinese government support includes billions of dollars in cash assistance, subsidised electricity and other benefits to companies.

Recipients include steel makers, coal miners, solar-panel manufacturers, and other producers of other goods including copper and chemicals.

One beneficiary, Aluminium of China, or Chalco, said in October one of its units would shut down a roughly 500,000 tonne per year smelter in the far-western Gansu region as it struggled to make profits.

Executives prepped for thousands of layoffs.

Then Gansu officials slashed the plant’s electricity bill by 30%, employees say, and the factory was saved.

Although a portion of capacity was taken offline, most is operational.

"We’re in full production now with 380,000 tons of capacity," said Fei Zhongchang, a company sales manager.

Chalco’s press office and local government officials did not respond to requests for further comment.

In Europe, workers have joined protests against Chinese steel imports.

Australia has investigated dumping of products including solar panels and steel and India has raised import taxes on steel after a surge of cheap Chinese goods.

The US launched seven new investigations into alleged dumping or government subsidies involving Chinese goods in the first three months of this year, more than the same period of any other year dating back to at least 2003, government data show.

Earlier this year, the US Commerce Department slapped preliminary import duties of 266% on imported Chinese cold-rolled steel.

The decision came after US Steel lost $1.5bn last year, closed its last blast furnace in the south and laid off thousands of workers, blaming China.

Late last month, US Steel filed a trade complaint against China at the International Trade Commission, alleging price fixing, trans-shipment via third countries to avoid duties and cyber-espionage to loot technology off US Steel computers.

China’s Commerce Ministry has urged US authorities to reject the complaint, and said allegations of intellectual property infringement "are completely without factual basis".

China says it is not guilty of dumping — or selling a product at a loss in order to gain market share— and calls US and EU measures and investigations forms of protectionism.

It says it has mothballed factories and intends to cut more, with plans to lay off up to 1.8-million steel and coal workers.

Officials say it is natural for complaints against China to increase as the country takes on a large share of global trade.

"As the largest trader in goods, it’s quite understandable for us to have so many complaints," China’s Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said recently. "We need to take it as it comes and live with it."

One way of tracking China’s support is by looking at subsidies reported in corporate filings on the country’s two main stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

According to a Journal analysis of nearly 3,000 domestic-listed Chinese companies in 2015, reported government aid rose to more than 119 billion yuan, (more than $18bn), last year compared with about 92 billion yuan in 2014.

Reported subsidies have risen roughly 50% since 2013, based on figures from Shanghai data provider Wind Information. Under Chinese accounting standards, such aid can be cash or other perks like subsidised power or land, but does not include some other support, such as capital injections from the government as an equity shareholder.

Recipients include an ethanol producer that said it was promised as much as 40-million yuan ($6.1 m) in subsidies in the first three months this year because of "grave operating circumstances.

"A producer of titanium dioxide —which is used in products such as paint and sunscreen — won about 28-million yuan ($4.3m) in cash assistance as it seeks to expand in the North America and elsewhere.

Another company, Yunnan Aluminium, obtained nearly 500-million yuan ($77m) in subsidies since late 2015, securities filings show.

In the first half of 2015, the company says its production of alumina — the starting material for smelting aluminium metal — jumped 40%, even as revenue sank amid weakening prices.

Company representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

An official at the provincial Department of Finance, which administered much of the cash aid, said it acted to protect Yunnan Aluminium’s 10,000 jobs.

"The government’s aim is to help maintain social stability," the official said.

Other countries, including the US, offer substantial support for struggling industries.

Experts cite differences in China, which they say is less open about its use of subsidies and more inclined to use them to promote exports. China has repeatedly said it would shutter unneeded factories, without following through.

The need for capacity cuts in China has long been apparent. More than 40% of its major steel companies were losing money in the first half of 2015, according to the China Iron and Steel Association. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which oversees the steel industry, told the Journal in 2014 that authorities were already "in the process of implementing" capacity reductions. Since then, Chinese crude steel production has fallen 2% year-on-year in 2015 to about 804-million metric tonnes.

But industry experts in China, the US and Europe say a further 200-million metric tonnes of capacity — or about 25% of China’s production — needs to be cut to restore market balance. China’s steel exports jumped around 20% last year to 112-million metric tonnes, according to customs data.

A 63-page "investigation initiation checklist," filed last year by US Steel, Nucor and the United Steelworkers’ union to demand import tariffs on rolled steel, found 44 separate subsidy programmes, including seven that give Chinese steel makers cheap or free land, iron ore, coal, and power; eight that offer discount loans; 15 tax breaks; and 11 programmes that give companies money directly.

Some of the programmes date back years, but others were active in the past 12 months, including subsidised export loans, the document showed.

"It’s the whole range of practices that keep these zombie companies alive," said Roger Schagrin, a lawyer for US steel makers.

At the time, a spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry said restrictions on Chinese steel would not solve the global overcapacity problem, and encouraged Chinese steel companies to defend their rights.

Other Chinese products rattling markets include diesel fuel, with Chinese exports rising nearly 80% in 2015 over 2014, according to customs data.

China has loosened restrictions to let private refiners export fuel for the first time, given weak domestic demand.

While US energy companies shed staff, China’s by and large have not.

Refining giant China Petroleum & Chemical, whose net profit fell by 30% in 2015, told the Journal no employees have been laid off since late 2014 when oil prices began to fall, and that it had "no plan for any future layoffs".

The company, also known as Sinopec, employs about 351,000 people.

China’s aluminium production, meanwhile, rose to 32-million tonnes in 2015, double the level in 2005. Exports soared to 6.7-million tonnes from 2.6-million during the same period, helping push global prices down 40% in the past five years.

The number of smelters in the US has fallen to four from 23 in 2000, destroying thousands of jobs.

Tensions over lost jobs reflect wider frustrations that China has not lived up to all the promises it made when it joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001.

According to data collected by the WTO, China accounted for around 25% of all anti-dumping measures reported between 1995 and 2014, more than any other nation.

The US was the target in about 5% of measures, the data show.

15 coal miners abducted in N. Afghanistan

15 coal miners abducted in N. Afghanistan

A group of unidentified armed men abducted 15 coal miners from Karkar area of the northern Baghlan province and took them to unknown locations, a local official, Mohammad Marouf Sarwari said Monday.
"A group of unknown armed people stormed the office of coal miners in Karkar area outside provincial capital the Pul-e-Khumri city on Sunday and after destroying office items including several computers took 15 miners and staff to unknown locations," Sarwari told reporters here.
The abductors also took away 11 vehicles after overpowering the guards of the office, the official added. There is no foreigner among the kidnapped people, he said.
Spokesman for Baghlan provincial government Mahmoud Hakmal confirmed the incident and without providing further details, said "Efforts and search operations are underway to locate and ensure safe release of the abductees."

 

Media Gets Things Wrong: California Has Too Much Nuclear & Coal

Originally published on EnergyTransition.de.
By Craig Morris

“Texas and California have too much renewable energy,” writes Technology Review. “California has too much solar power,” Vox.com chimes in. Nonsense, says Craig Morris, a political arrangement is being passed off as a technical issue. Stop protecting nuclear and coal; get rid of baseload.

Is there too much wind and solar power in California? (Photo by Tony Webster, modified, CC BY 3.0)

---

In Germany, renewable power now regularly cuts into medium-load conventional plants and sometimes even offsets baseload capacity. The result can be negative power prices. Easter weekend is a case in point.

Here, we see that peak power demand (around 60 GW from Monday to Thursday) dipped to 40 GW from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. When wind and solar power production picked up on the weekend, conventional generators were pushed down to 10 GW in terms of demand; around 10 GW of exports (the purple area below the baseline) rescued these plants, whose actual must-run level is closer to 20 GW. Power prices (the red and blue lines) plummeted and briefly went negative. During those hours, conventional plants were paying buyers to take power off their hands.

Why would they do that? It has to do with the must-run level. Think of your car. When you turn it on, the tachometer probably reads around 800 rpm. That’s your car’s must-run level. Hit the gas, and it goes up to 2,000–3,000. But if, for some reason, you wanted your engine to drop down to 600 rpm, you’d be out of luck; without revamps, it won’t work. Coal and nuclear plants have a relatively high must-run level.

The US grid could accommodate 19 times more photovoltaics before it reaches the German level.

Look at the California data, and we see that the complaints cannot be technical in nature. “On March 27… some solar farms had to shut down because there was more power on the grid than Californians were using,” writes KQED Science. But compare the German chart above to the California chart below, and you may notice some differences.

Let’s take a look at the “residual load” (demand minus renewables) in the chart from the bottom:

• Nuclear power does not react to demand at all.
• Natural gas, which ramps the best, moves from around 4 GW to 6 GW; it can easily do more from a technical standpoint.
• Likewise, hydropower remarkably moves very little, ranging only from roughly 5 GW to 6 GW. Europe aims to use hydropower in Norway and Switzerland as a “battery” to store renewables; when a lot of wind and solar are generated, hydropower production in these two countries would slow down – and pick up again as need be.
• Imports react the most at between 5 GW and 9 GW.

At Vox, David Roberts concludes that California “needs another grid to share with.” The chart shows the opposite. If California had more wind and solar, imports could drop, so less (!) interstate grid lines would be needed. California mainly imports coal power, and imports made up 27 percent of the state’s power supply in 2015 (PDF). More green power in California means lower demand for coal power.

Clearly, California is curtailing renewable power before its conventional fleet has reached the must-run level, a technical limit. I suspect renewable power is being curtailed when themarket value drops below 1.0, meaning that conventional power becomes cheaper on the spot market than renewables (the expenses are called “system costs”). Shedding green electricity at a market value below 1.0 is a political decision, not a technical necessity. Germany has made a political decision to go 80 percent renewable for power by 2050, and the Germans understand that this transition will entail such system costs and ruin the profitability of coal and nuclear – in fact, that’s the goal.

Bernard Chabot’s calculation of demand and the residual load (demand minus renewables) for 2020 in California. His conclusion: “There is ample room for much more wind and solar production in California without risks of RE oversupply or urgent needs for RE curtailments, storage, or exports.” Note that a study by Eric Martinot from November listed numerous options in addition to grid expansion. (Source)

Originally produced in 2010 by Prof. Volker Quaschning, this chart shows that the Germans have long understood that the residual capacity for wind and solar will need to be as flexible as possible.

No one doubts the general analysis in these articles from the US:

• wind and solar will always require backup generation capacity at the full level of peak demand;
• gas turbines are technically optimal for that purpose;
• storage will eventually be needed; and
• grid expansions help.

But the specifics from California show that Americans overlook the need to shut down baseload. Roberts mentions how Denmark uses the grid to manage excess wind power without mentioning that France needs exports to keep its baseload nuclear fleet fromramping down at low levels of demand. IRENA pointed out in 2014 (PDF) that the early retirement of baseload plants precedes storage. Get rid of baseload, and you reduce must-run capacity, making space for wind and solar.

So does California have too much solar or too much baseload? The answer is political, not technical. If you want solar and wind, call for an end to baseload.

Craig Morris (@PPchef) is the lead author of German Energy Transition. He directsPetite Planèteand writes every workday for Renewables International.

RAVINDRANATH TAGORE

भारत की अनेक संस्कृतियाँ ,भाषाएं ,रीति -रिवाज ,पंथ ,दर्शन हमारी शोभा है। हमारी क्षेत्रीय विविधता में एकता का एक गौरवपूर्ण अतीत एवं उज्वल भविष्य  है। हमें साहित्य का जो पुरस्कार(नोबेल ) मिला ,वह बंगला लेखक रविंद्रनाथ टैगोर ने दिया। बंगला कैलेंडर के अनुसार आज उनकी जयन्ती है। कल कोई अन्य क्षेत्रीय -भाषा हमें  नोबेल पुरष्कार दिल दे।  क्षेत्रीय -विविधता पर हमें गर्व होना चाहिए। क्षेत्रीयता को कभी टकराहट का कारण नहीं बनने देना चाहिए।
रविंद्रनाथ टैगोर को नमन करते हुवे  उनकी एक कहानी प्रस्तुत की जा रही है. रविंद्रनाथ टैगोर के साहित्य  की प्रमुख विशेषता है प्रत्येक युग में उसकी समसामयिकता।
                                      तोता-कहानी | रबीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर की कहानी (बाल-साहित्य )


एक था तोता । वह बड़ा मूर्ख था। गाता तो था, पर शास्त्र नही पढ़ता था । उछलता था, फुदकता था, उडता था, पर यह नहीं जानता था कि क़ायदा-क़ानून किसे कहते हैं ।
राजा बोले, ''ऐसा तोता किस काम का? इससे लाभ तो कोई नहीं, हानि जरूर है । जंगल के फल खा जाता है, जिससे राजा-मण्डी के फल-ब़ाजार में टोटा पड़ जाता है ।''

मंत्री को बुलाकर कहा, ''इस तोते को शिक्षा दो!''

२
तोते को शिक्षा देने का काम राजा के भानजे को मिला ।
पण्डितों की बैठक हुई । विषय था, ''उक्त जीव की अविद्या का कारण क्या है?'' बड़ा गहरा विचार हुआ ।
सिद्धान्त ठहरा : तोता अपना घोंसला साधारण खर-पात से बनाता है । ऐसे आवास में विद्या नहीं आती । इसलिए सबसे पहले तो यह आवश्यक है कि इसके लिए कोई बढ़िया-सा पिंजरा बना दिया जाय ।

राज-पण्डितों को दक्षिणा मिली और वे प्रसन्न होकर अपने-अपने घर गये ।

३

सुनार बुलाया गया । वह सोने का पिंजरा तैयार करने में जुट पड़ा । पिंजरा ऐसा अनोखा बना कि उसे देखने के लिए देश-विदेश के लोग टूट पडे । कोई कहता, ''शिक्षा की तो इति हो गयी ।'' कोई कहता, ''शिक्षा न भी हो तो क्या, पिंजरा तो बना । इस तोते का भी क्या नसीब है!''
सुनार को थैलियाँ भर-भरकर इनाम मिला । वह उसी घड़ी अपने घर की ओर रवाना हो गया ।

पण्डितजी तोते को विद्या पढ़ाने बैठे । नस लेकर बोले, ''यह काम थोड़ी पोथियों का नहीं है ।''

राजा के भानजे ने सुना । उन्होंने उसी समय पोथी लिखनेवालों को बुलवाया । पोथियों की नकल होने लगी । नक़लों के और नक़लों की नक़लों के पहाड़ लग गये । जिसने, भी देखा, उसने यही कहा कि, ''शाबाश! इतनी विद्या के धरने को जगह भी नहीं रहेगी!''

नक़लनवीसों को लद्दू बैलों पर लाद-लादकर इनाम दिये गए । वे अपने-अपने घर की ओर दौड़ पड़े । उनकी दुनिया में तंगी का नाम-निशान भी बाकी न रहा ।
दामी पिंजरे की देख-रेख में राजा के भानजे बहुत व्यस्त रहने लगे । इतने व्यस्त कि व्यस्तता की कोई सीमा न रही । मरम्मत के काम भी लगे ही रहते । फिर झाडू-पोंछ और पालिश की धूम भी मची ही रहती थी । जो ही देखता, यही कहता कि ''उन्नति हो रही है।''
इन कामों पर अनेक-अनेक लोग लगाये गये और उनके कामों की देख-रेख करने पर और भी अनेक-अनेक लोग लगे । सब महीने-महीने मोटे-मोटे वेतन ले-लेकर बड़े-बड़े सन्दूक भरने लगे ।

वे और उनके चचेरे-ममेरे-मौसेरे भाई-बंद बड़े प्रसन्न हुए और बड़े-बड़े कोठों-बालाखानों में मोटे-मोटे गद्दे बिछाकर बैठ गये ।


४
संसार में और-और अभाव तो अनेक हैं, पर निन्दकों की कोई कमी नहीं है। एक ढूँढो हजार मिलते हैं । वे बोले, ''पिंजरे की तो उन्नति हो रही है, पर तोते की खोज-खबर लेने वाला कोई नहीं है!

बात राजा के कानों में पड़ी । उन्होंने भानजे को बुलाया और कहा, ''क्यों भानजे साहब, यह कैसी बात सुनाई पड़ रही है? ''

भानजे ने कहा, ''महाराज, अगर सच-सच बात सुनना चाहते हों तो सुनारों को बुलाइये, पण्डितों को बुलाइये, नक़लनवीसों को बुलाइये, मरम्मत करनेवालों को और मरम्मत की देखभाल करने वालों को बुलाइये । निन्दकों को हलवे-मॉड़े मे हिस्सा नहीं मिलता, इसीलिए वे ऐसी ओछी बात करते हैं ।''

जवाब सुनकर राजा नें पूरे मामले को भली-भाँति और साफ-साफ तौर से समझ लिया । भानजे के गले में तत्काल सोने के हार पहनाये गये ।
५
राजा का मन हुआ कि एक बार चलकर अपनी आँखों से यह देखें कि शिक्षा कैसे धूमधड़ाके से और कैसी बगटुट तेज़ी के साथ चल रही है । सो, एक दिन वह अपने मुसाहबों, मुँहलगों, मित्रों और मन्त्रियों के साथ आप ही शिक्षा-शाला में आ धमके ।

उनके पहुँचते ही ड्योढ़ी के पास शंख, घड़ियाल, ढोल, तासे, खुरदक, नगाड़े, तुरहियाँ, भेरियाँ, दमामें, काँसे, बाँसुरिया, झाल, करताल, मृदंग, जगझम्प आदि-आदि आप ही आप बज उठे ।

पण्डित गले फाड़-फाड़कर और बूटियां फड़का-फड़काकर मन्त्र-पाठ करने लगे । मिस्त्री, मजदूर, सुनार, नक़लनवीस, देख-भाल करने वाले और उन सभी के ममेरे, फुफेरे, चचेरे, मौसेरे भाई जय-जयकार करने लगे ।

भानजा बोला, ''महाराज, देख रहे हैं न?''

महाराज ने कहा, ''आश्चर्य! शब्द तो कोई कम नहीं हो रहा!

भानजा बोला, ''शब्द ही क्यों, इसके पीछे अर्थ भी कोई कम नहीं!''

राजा प्रसन्न होकर लौट पड़े । ड्योड़ी को पार करके हाथी पर सवार होने ही वाले थे कि पासके झुरमुट में छिपा बैठा निन्दक बोल उठा, ''महाराज आपने तोते को देखा भी है?''

राजा चौंके। बोले, ''अरे हाँ! यह तो मैं बिलकुल भूल ही गया था! तोते को तो देखा ही नहीं! ''

लौटकर पण्डित से बोले, ''मुझे यह देखना है कि तोते को तुम पढ़ाते किस ढंग से हो ।''

पढ़ाने का ढंग उन्हें दिखाया गया । देखकर उनकी खुशी का ठिकाना न रहा । पढ़ाने का ढंग तोते की तुलना में इतना बड़ा था कि तोता दिखाई ही नहीं पड़ता था । राजा ने सोचा : अब तोते को देखने की जरूरत ही क्या है? उसे देखे बिना भी काम चल सकता है! राजा ने इतना तो अच्छी तरह समझ लिया कि बंदोबस्त में कहीं कोई भूल-चूक नहीं है । पिंजरे में दाना-पानी तो नही था, थी सिर्फ शिक्षा । यानी ढेर की ढेर पोथियों के ढेर के ढेर पन्ने फाड़-फाड़कर कलम की नोंक से तोते के मुँह में घुसेड़े जाते थे । गाना तो बन्द हो ही गया था, चीरने-चिल्लाने के लिए भी कोई गुंजायश नही छोड़ी गयी थी । तोते का मुँह ठसाठस भरकर बिलकुल बन्द हो गया
था । देखनेवाले के रोंगटे खड़े हो जाते ।

अब दुबारा जब राजा हाथी पर चढ़ने लगे तो उन्होंने कान-उमेठू सरदार को ताकीद कर दी कि ''निन्दक के कान अच्छी तरह उमेठ देना!''
६

तोता दिन पर दिन भद्र रीति के अनुसार अधमरा होता गया। अभिभावकों ने समझा कि प्रगति काफी आशाजनक हो रही है । फिर भी पक्षी-स्वभाव के एक स्वाभाविक दोष से तोते का पिंड अब भी छूट नहीं पाया था । सुबह होते ही वह उजाले की ओर टुकुर-टुकुर निहारने लगता था और बड़ी ही अन्याय-भरी रीति से अपने डैने फड़फड़ाने लगता था । इतना ही नहीं, किसी-किसी दिन तो ऐसा भी
देखा गया कि वह अपनी रोगी चोंचों से पिंजरे की सलाखें काटने में
जुटा हुआ है ।

कोतवाल गरजा, ''यह कैसी बेअदबी है !''

फौरन लुहार हाजिर हुआ । आग, भाथी और हथौडा लेकर ।

वह धम्माधम्म लोहा-पिटाई हुई कि कुछ न पूछिये! लोहे की सांकल तैयार की गई और तोते के डैने भी काट दिये गए ।

राजा के सम्बन्धियों ने हाँड़ी-जैसे मुँह लटका कर और सिर हिलाकर कहा, ''इस राज्य के पक्षी सिर्फ बेवकूफ ही नही, नमक- हराम भी हैं ।''

और तब, पण्डितों ने एक हाथ में कलम और दूसरे हाथ मे बरछा ले-लेकर वह कांड रचाया, जिसे शिक्षा कहते हैं ।

लुहार की लुहसार बेहद फैल गयी और लुहारिन के अंगों पर सोने के गहनें शोभने लगे और कोतवाल की चतुराई देखकर राजा ने उसे सिरोपा अता किया ।

७
तोता मर गया । कब मरा, इसका निश्चय कोई भी नहीं कर सकता ।

कमबख्त निन्दक ने अफवाह फैलायी कि ''तोता मर गया! ''

राजा ने भानजे को बुलवाया और कहा, ''भानजे साहब यह कैसी बात सुनी जा रही है? ''

भानजे ने कहा, ''महाराज, तोते की शिक्षा पूरी हो गई है!"

राजा ने पूछा, ''अब भी वह उछलता-फुदकता है? ''

भानजा बोला, अजी, राम कहिये! ''

८ 

''अब भी उड़ता है?''

''ना:, क़तई नहीं!''

''अब भी गाता है?''

''नहीं तो! ''

''दाना न मिलने पर अब भी चिल्लाता है?''

''ना!

राजा ने कहा, ''एक बार तोते को लाना तो सही, देखूंगा जरा!
तोता लाया गया । साथ में कोतवाल आये, प्यादे आये, घुड़सवार आये!
राजा ने तोते को चुटकी से दबाया । तोते ने न हाँ की, न हूँ की । हाँ, उसके पेट में पोथियों के सूखे पत्ते खड़खड़ाने जरूर लगे ।
बाहर नव-वसन्त की दक्षिणी बयार में नव-पल्लवों ने अपने निश्वासों से मुकुलित वन के आकाश को आकुल कर दिया ।

The world would be better off without coal. That's a hard but true fact.

CNN) —The world would be better off without coal. That's a hard but true fact.

Burning it creates pollution that kills thousands of people each year in the United States alone. And ending the use of coal -- as fast as possible -- is key to the fight against climate change.

These are points climate activists around the world are underscoring this week as members of the "Break Free" movement attempt to temporarily shut down coal mines and other fossil fuel projects.

But they're ideas Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are having a hard time articulating.

Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidency, was confronted on Monday by a former coal worker in West Virginia. Bo Copley pressed Clinton on her March statement that her clean energy plan would "put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business."

The exchange was gut-wrenching. Both because you have to feel for coal workers who are just trying to make a living. And also because Clinton royally mucked up the answer.

She failed to state clearly an uncomfortable truth, which is that coal companies must be put out of business. Jobs must be lost. But it's also our duty to each other as citizens to find new opportunities for coal country.

Instead, Clinton made it sound like she hopes coal is on the verge of a renaissance.

"I don't know how to explain it other than what I said was totally out of context for what I meant because I have been talking about helping coal country for a very long time," Clinton said. "It was a misstatement because what I was saying is the way things are going now, (coal miners) will continue to lose jobs. It didn't mean that we were going to do it. What I said is that is going to happen unless we take action to help and prevent it."

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has been even worse on this issue, saying, "We're going to bring those miners back to work. ... They are going to be proud again to be miners."

That's just ignoring reality.

I understand this is a delicate dance in an election year.

And I do sympathize with the concerns of coal country. Big coal companies are going bankrupt left and right, people are losing jobs they've had all their adult lives and things only are poised to get worse. We have a serious moral obligation to help these hard-hit communities transition. To be fair, Clinton has proposed some of the solutions. But neither candidate should pander to coal country with meaningless rhetoric. The era of coal is over, and politicians need to start calling it like it is.

Economics are part of the picture. The natural gas boom is part of the reason coal companies are going down the tubes. But the bigger story -- the one the candidates are less focused on -- is about public heath and climate change.

Consider two sets of facts:

1. Coal does employ many thousands of people but the harm caused by burning coal affects billions. There were less than 75,000 coal miners in the United States in 2014, the most recent year numbers are available, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Meanwhile, pollution from coal power plants caused an estimated 13,200 premature deaths in the United States in 2010, according to a 2010 report from the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit dedicated to improving air quality. The group attributed an additional 9,700 hospitalizations and more than 20,000 heart attacks to coal power that year alone. Globally, according to the World Health Organization, air pollution kills an estimated 3 million per year -- and it could cause 6.6 million premature deaths per year by 2050.

2. Coal is a major driver of climate change. At least 175 countries, including the United States, recently signed the Paris Agreement on climate change. That international treaty aims to prevent catastrophic warming, which places an unfair burden on the world's poor and unborn generations. In order to do that, the agreement says the world needs to be carbon neutral by the end of the century. That basically means no fossil fuels, especially coal. An article published in the journal Nature says 88% of the world's coal reserves must be left in the ground if we're going to meet international climate targets. For the United States the proportion is higher: 95%.

In other words: Continuing to burn coal is a moral outrage. World leaders recognize that. Yet Clinton and other American politicians continue to imply that we don't need to phase out coal.

That's simply not the case.

The "Break Free" campaigners get it, although they should do more to present alternatives. That movement of climate activists is aiming temporarily to shut down major mining projects around the world with a series of demonstrations from May 4 to 15. About 300 activists stood on and in front of coal mining equipment in Wales on Tuesday, for example, stopping the operation for a time, said Hoda Baraka, a spokesperson for 350.org, one group organizing the movement. Hundreds of kayakers on Sunday are planning to try to block a coal export terminal in Newcastle, Australia, she told me.

The climate demonstrations, which are organized by activists from 350.org as well as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth International and others, likely will not make a literal dent in fossil fuel consumption.

But they may well help us rethink our relationship to coal.

If we're serious about climate change, which we must be, we have to figure out a way to transition off fossil fuels rapidly. Wind, solar, nuclear and new technologies must continue to gain prominence.

Trump has continued to deny the realities of climate change. Clinton is speaking more forcefully on this issue, and does have plans to increase renewable energy use. Neither candidate is proposing what it will take -- including a price on carbon, likely in the form of a carbon tax -- to get this country completely off fossil fuels. Yet that's what reality and the science demand.

"Whatever remains of coal oil and gas," said Baraka, "needs to be kept in the ground."

Hopefully Clinton and Trump will be among those listening.

• Copyright 2016 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu

Coal mining news

Coal seam fires again spark wildfires near Healy, coal mine Associated Press |

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Underground fires in coal country near the interior Alaska community of Healy have again touched off wildfires on the surface, putting forest officials on alert to keep them from spreading to populated areas.Nine coal seam fires last year burned almost 800 acres, or about 1.25 square miles. Burning coal has lit four wildfires this year.

"It's sort of an annual rite of spring or early summer," said Tim Mowry, a spokesman for the Division of Forestry in Fairbanks. "When conditions are right — it's warm, it's dry, it's windy — they can sometimes come to the surface."
The largest wildfire has burned 640 acres, or about 1 square mile.
A 2010 research paper by University of Alaska Fairbanks and Division of Forestry researchers said spontaneous coal combustion is believed to be the primary natural cause of most coal seam fires. Lightning and forest fires cause others.
Coal has been mined near Healy since 1918. Usibelli Coal Mine has been in the area since 1943 and the underground fires are near its lease area 115 miles south of Fairbanks, mine spokeswoman Lorali Simon said by email.
"They maintain a consistent simmer, and if a big wind comes up, they can fan the flames and start a big forest fire," she said. In winter, Simon said, if there's a temperature inversion that acts like a cap to block normal air circulation, coal seam fires can smoke up valleys.
A coal seam fire was suspected in a 2009 wildfire that burned 254 square miles of boreal forest in 11 days, according to the UAF a research paper.
Wildfires started by burning coal seams come with an extra set of hazards for firefighters, Mowry said.
"You can't really do much with them," he said. "We don't want to send firefighters in there and have them fall into these coal seams. The ground could collapse around these things. It's not really safe to fight them on the ground."
They also emit harmful, noxious fumes.
"What we're left to do is monitor them from the air," Mowry said. "Or if we're going to take any suppression action on them, we're going to do that from the air by dropping, usually, water."
The good news is that areas near the underground fires have often burned before and there's not a concentration of highly flammable forest.
"We just try to keep them contained within these old burn scars so they don't get out and spread and threaten the community of Healy," Mowry said.

© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Marx-Who changed History

मार्क्स  ने कहा था कि बल -प्रयोग के बिना समाज का विकास हो नहीं सकता। इस काम में बल -प्रयोग एक क्रन्तिकारी भूमिका निभाता है। बल -प्रयोग नए  समाज को गर्भ में धारण करने वाले पुराने समाज के लिए दाई (नर्स ) का काम करता है।

मार्क्स के  बल -प्रयोग की अवधारणा को लेनिन एवं स्टालिन सही   से समझ नहीं पाये। लेनिन,स्टालिन यह अच्छी तरह से समझ नहीं पाए की गर्भ की तरह समाज एवं संपत्ति के विकास में भी समय लगता है।

नए शिशु के जन्म के समय प्रत्येक पिता ढाई (नर्से  )को अपने घर बुलाकर उसकी सेवाएं लेता है ,नए समाज के निर्माण में बल -प्रयोग की भूमिका भी एक दाई के अनुरूप होनी चाहिए , न कि एक बलात्कारी के अनुरूप। 

Coal mining news-

1 dead, 9 missing after Ukraine coal mine blast

May 04, 2016 - 1:48:38 pm

 

Kiev: One Ukrainian coal miner was killed and nine others were reported missing, feared dead, on Wednesday after a methane gas explosion in a mine shaft in the war-scarred pro-Russian separatist east.

The chief health official of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic said 20 workers were inside the mine when the blast occurred on Tuesday in an area some 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the Russian border.

"Four are in hospital getting treatment for burns. We recovered one body and nine are still under the rubble," Larisa Airapetyan told the official Lugansk separatists' news site.

"The chances of finding them alive are slim -- the gas accumulation is very high."

The former Soviet republic's industrial east has suffered from repeated deadly accidents in its loss-making and poorly-maintained coal mining sector.

Another methane gas build up in an accident-prone mine in the rebel-held city of Donetsk killed 32 people in March 2015. 

Mine safety has been damaged further by a two-year insurgency that has claimed the lives of more than 9,300 people and left few resources for required maintenance work.

Most clean village in India

भारत में है दुनिया का सबसे बेहतरीन और स्वच्छ गाँव
 



यह गाँव भारत के उत्तर पूर्व राज्य मेघालय;जिसे “बादलों का घर” कहा जाता है, में स्थित है l इसे बादलों का घर इसलिए कहा जाता है क्योकि यहाँ साल के बारह महीनों बारिश होती रहती है l भारत में सबसे अधिक वर्षा वाला प्रदेश भी मेघालय ही है l

मेघालय में स्थित इस आदर्श और अद्भुत गाँव को “मावलिननांग” नाम से जाना जाता है l इस गाँव को लोग “भगवान का अपना बगीचा”(God’s Own Garden) भी कहते है l
 यह गाँव मेघालय के राजधानी क्षेत्र शिलांग से थोड़े दूर स्थित “खासी हिल्स क्षेत्र” में है l यह गाँव न सिर्फ अपनी खूबसूरती और स्वच्छता के लिए मशहूर है बल्कि पूरे विश्व के पर्यटकों को यहाँ आने के लिए मजबूर करता है l


यह विषय संज्ञान में आने पर हैरानी होती है कि इस गाँव की इतनी साफ़ सफाई के लिए यहाँ के लोग सरकार पर निर्भर नही है बल्कि इस गाँव की ये खासियत कही जा सकती है कि लोग स्वयं ही गाँव की साफ़ सफाई करते है l

इस गाँव का प्रत्येक व्यक्ति सफाई के प्रति बेहद जागरूक है और सफाई को लेकर बहुत ही कड़े नियम अपनाये जाते है जिनका प्रत्येक गाँव वाला पालन करता है l यह गाँव न सिर्फ सफाई बल्कि शिक्षा क्षेत्र में भी अव्वल है l इस गाँव की साक्षरता 100 फीसदी है मतलब प्रत्येक गाँव वाला पढ़ा लिखा है lइस गाँव की सबसे अच्छी बात यह है कि यहाँ के ज्यादातर लोग बहुत से भाषाओ के जानकार है किन्तु रोजमर्रा की भाषा में आमतौर पर यहाँ के लोग अंग्रेजी प्रयोग में लाते है l

यहाँ के  लोगो का जीवन यापन के लिए मुख्य व्यवसाय सुपारी की खेती है  और यही सुपारी की खेती उनकी आजीविका का मुख्य स्त्रोत है l

इस गाँव की साफ़ सफाई का एक रहस्य यह भी है इस गाँव के लोग घर से निकलने वाले कचरे को यहाँ वहां नही फेकते बल्कि उसे बांस के बने डस्टबिन के एकत्रित करते है और फिर उसे खेती के लिए खाद के रूप में प्रयोग करते है पेड़ों की जड़ से बने इन पुलों की एक खासियत यह होती है कि ये समय के साथ साथ और भी मजबूत होते जाते है l ऐसे पुल पूरी दुनिया में केवल मेघालय में ही पाए जाते है l

 आप कुछ समय के लिए सुकून पाना चाहते है तो इस गाँव में कम से कम एक बार तो जरुर जाए और यहाँ की खूबसूरती और प्रकृति का आनंद लें ll

Coal mining news-

CIL slashes coal prices(miningweekly.com) - Faced with mounting stocks currently estimated at 58-million tonnes, producer Coal India Limited (CIL) has slashed the prices of high-grade coal by around 40%. A senior CIL official said that the reduction in prices had been put into effect from April on an experimental basis, but could be continued through the current 2016/17 fiscal year if lower prices proved successful in reducing existing stockpile and ensured higher offtake, particularly from the thermal power generation sector. Print Send to Friend 0 CIL had also scrapped the premium charged based on volumes delivered to incentivise large volume buyers to commit to higher offtake. For example, CIL used to charge a premium of 10% of the price for all deliveries above 90% of the contract with the buyer and the premium would increase to 20% of the price if deliveries ranged between 95% and 100% of the contract. MORE INSIGHT Government miners to initiate commercial coal mining in India CIL likely to face higher production target next year Coal of India’s stockpile expands further forcing cutbacks The reduction in base price and the waiver of premium deliveries, a remnant from days of supply shortage, were largely CIL’s reaction to rising production, high stocks at power plants and fall in offtake from the latter. On April 1, coal stocks at power plants were reported at 38-million tonnes. During 2015/16, CIL notched a production growth of 8.5% at 536-million tonnes and this enabled a reduction in imports of 34.26-million tonnes. The production target for the current year had been fixed at 540-million tonnes but it was implementing a phased lowering of production levels across some mines in response to a slowdown in offtake from the power sector.



http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/cil-slashes-coal-prices-2016-04-27

Coal mining news-

Govt invites applications for allotment of 8 coal mines

PTI | Apr 24, 2016, 12.15 PM IST

New Delhi, Apr 24 () Moving ahead with its decision to open up the coal sector, the government has invited applications from public sector entities for allocation of eight mines that have been identified for commercial mining.

These eight mines would be allotted to host states. Among these, two blocks are in Madhya Pradesh, while one each is in Odisha, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Telangana and Chhattisgarh, an official said.

The government came out with the notice inviting applications for the mines on April 21, the official said adding May 31 will be the last date for submission of applications and "June 1 will be the application opening date."

The Nominated Authority will make recommendations to the Centre for selection of allottees on June 8 and on June 10 the results would be published and intimation to allottees would be made, the official said.

July 15 would be the last date for furnishing of performance security and payment of fixed amount and first instalment of Upfront Amount while the allotment order would be issued on July 19.

The eight coal blocks to be allotted are Baitarni West in Odisha, Dahegaon/Makard hokra IV in Maharashtra, Dongeri Tal II and Marki Barka in Madhya Pradesh, Gourangdih ABC in West Bengal, Patal East in Jharkhand, Penagaddppa in Telangana and Shankarpur Bhatgaon II Extn in Chhattisgarh.

The decision to open up coal sector is in line with the government's target of doubling coal production to 1.5 billion tonnes by 2020. For Coal India, the target is 1 billion tonne.

Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal had earlier said the government will ensure that coal demand of states, PSUs and small players is fully met before opening the sector for commercial mining by private companies. SID ANU ABM

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