Trump admin tries again to revive dying coal industry

特朗普政府再次尝试复兴垂死的煤炭工业

On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced his administration’s latest attempt to prop up the US coal industry during an incoherent press event that randomly oscillated between energy issues and Trump’s fixation with building and renovating monuments in DC. The energy portion of the events was also frequently disconnected from reality.

周四，唐纳德·特朗普总统在一次语无伦次的媒体发布会上宣布了其政府旨在支撑美国煤炭工业的最新举措。发布会的内容在能源议题与特朗普对华盛顿特区纪念碑建设及翻新的执念之间随意切换。其中关于能源的部分也经常脱离现实。

“Today we’re taking historic action to bring down the price of energy and the cost of living for all Americans with the power of clean, beautiful coal,” said Trump, apparently unaware that coal is one of the most expensive means of generating electricity in the US. With wind and solar power getting cheaper, coal has become the second-most expensive way of producing electricity, trailing only the cost of building a new nuclear plant.

“今天，我们正在采取历史性的行动，利用清洁、美丽的煤炭能源，为所有美国人降低能源价格和生活成本，”特朗普说道。他显然没有意识到，煤炭是美国发电成本最高的方式之一。随着风能和太阳能发电成本的降低，煤炭已成为发电成本第二高的方式，仅次于新建核电站的成本。

As a result, no new coal plants have been completed in over a decade, and coal has gone from powering over half the electrical grid to producing only about 15 percent of the nation’s electricity. That’s before the indirect costs of coal use are considered. It produces the most greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy, releases dangerous particulates and chemicals into the atmosphere, and leaves behind ash that has high levels of toxic metals. That’s reality, but the White House is clearly not inhabiting it.

因此，过去十多年里美国没有新建成一座煤电厂，煤炭在电网中的占比也从曾经的一半以上降至仅占全国电力的约15%。这还是在未考虑煤炭使用间接成本的情况下。煤炭每单位能源产生的温室气体排放量最高，会向大气中释放危险的颗粒物和化学物质，并留下含有高浓度有毒金属的灰烬。这就是现实，但白宫显然并未身处其中。

“If you look at some of the real great failures, countries, they’re usually wind,” he proclaimed. “It keeps blowing, blowing, blowing and puts you right out of business. Very expensive. The most expensive energy there is.” He also suggested that China, which produces roughly half the wind energy in the world, isn’t actually using it: “About the only time they build [wind turbines] is to sell them to stupid people in the United States.”

“如果你看看一些真正巨大的失败，那些国家，通常都是因为风能，”他宣称。“风一直在吹、吹、吹，让你直接破产。非常昂贵。这是最昂贵的能源。”他还暗示，生产了全球约一半风能的中国实际上并没有在使用它：“他们建造（风力涡轮机）几乎只是为了卖给美国那些愚蠢的人。”

Despite the economic issues with coal, Trump claimed that his new effort to stall its decline will save $50 billion in electricity costs. The source of that figure wasn’t specified. The $700 million would be spent under the Defense Production Act, which allows the president to protect industries deemed critical to national defense. An amendment to the act, passed in 1980, added energy to the list of industries where the president can intervene.

尽管煤炭存在经济问题，特朗普仍声称他旨在延缓煤炭衰退的新举措将节省500亿美元的电费。这一数字的来源并未说明。这7亿美元将根据《国防生产法》支出，该法案允许总统保护被认为对国防至关重要的行业。1980年通过的一项修正案将能源列入了总统可以干预的行业名单。

A New York Times report indicates that much of the money for this comes from a fund Congress created to foster carbon capture development. Much of the money will go toward updating 14 coal plants that might otherwise be shuttered. That’s in addition to the plants that the government has simply ordered utilities to keep open. In addition, funds would go toward the construction of new coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia, which would be the first new plants built in the US since 2013.

《纽约时报》的一篇报道指出，这笔资金大部分来自国会为促进碳捕集技术发展而设立的基金。大部分资金将用于升级14座原本可能被关闭的煤电厂。这还不包括政府直接命令公用事业公司保持运营的电厂。此外，资金还将用于在阿拉斯加州和西弗吉尼亚州建设新的煤电厂，这将是自2013年以来美国首次新建此类电厂。

The Department of Energy funding would be coupled with private investments. But these represent a significant risk. The rapid pace of renewable energy growth is likely to continue, and the price of energy from coal will likely rise as soon as the EPA returns to enforcing existing regulations, something that may happen before construction of the new plants is even complete. So to the extent that this effort succeeds, there’s a reasonable chance it will produce stranded assets.

能源部的资金将与私人投资相结合。但这代表着巨大的风险。可再生能源的快速增长趋势可能会持续，一旦美国环保署（EPA）恢复执行现有法规，煤炭能源的价格很可能会上涨，而这种情况可能在新电厂建成之前就会发生。因此，即便这项努力取得成功，它也很可能会产生搁浅资产。