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that deal was revised several times, lowering the scheduled amounts. Landree produced only about 21,000 tons in 2013 before it was idled. Peabody Intervenes in Case before Minnesota PUC Peabody Energy is seeking to intervene in a highly charged case before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) about the social and environmental costs of carbon dioxide released from coal-burning power plants. It has been two decades since state regulators attempted to gauge carbon's societal impact. In December, the PUC decided to take another look at what is arguably the most controversial issue affecting coal plants in the United States. Environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club and its national Beyond Coal Campaign, said the state needs to update its emission control rules, a move they hope would force Minnesota electric util- ities to retire aging coal plants and turn away from coal as a major generation fuel. Utilities and coal supporters are pushing back, touting the need to keep coal in the state's generation mix even as Minnesota utility portfo- lios increasingly diversify to incorporate more renewable energy resources, particularly wind. Now, Peabody, the world's largest private-sector coal company, wants to enter the fray. The St. Louis-based company is hardly a disin- terested observer, having supplied, through its Peabody COALSALES subsidiary, approximately 1.5 million tons of low-sulfur Powder River Basin coal to Minnesota power plants in 2013. According to Peabody's intervention petition, the coal was sold to three plants owned by Northern States Power — Sherburne County, Black Dog and Allen S. King, as well as Allete's Clay Boswell and Laskin Energy Center plants. Peabody attorneys recalled company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce's keynote address at the 21 st World Energy Congress in Montreal in 2010. Boyce outlined a multi-step plan to elimi- nate energy poverty and inequality "by unlocking the power of coal to advance energy security, generate economic stimulus and create envi- ronmental solutions," they said. Referred to as the "Peabody plan," the initiative calls for creating energy access for all people by 2050; replacing 1,000 gigawatts of tradi- tional coal plants with supercritical and ultra-supercritical plants, which are efficient and carbon-ready; developing within 20 years at least 100 major projects around the world to capture, store and use carbon diox- ide from coal-based plants; deploying significant coal-to-gas, coal-to- chemicals and coal-to-liquids projects around the world over the next 10 years; and commercializing and deploying next-generation clean coal technologies to achieve continued environmental improvement and ultimately near-zero emissions. More recently, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) issued a report in January that said the benefits of fossil-fuel energy to society far outweigh the social costs of carbon by a magnitude of 50 to 500 times. "It is without question or debate that our national and global soci- eties have benefited from fossil fuels. And those benefits will continue to be realized from coast to coast and around the globe for generations to come," ACCCE President and CEO Mike Duncan said. We Sells Presque Isle Power Plant We Energies is selling the only baseload power plant in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the 431-megawatt Presque Isle generating station in Marquette, which burns low-sulfur Powder River Basin coal. The Milwaukee, Wis.-based utility expected to receive responses in March to a formal request for proposals issued in February for the five- unit plant, whose oldest unit went into commercial operation in 1975. We Energies intends to wrap up additional due diligence by May 2 and complete negotiations of final offers by August 1. Then, it will seek sale approval from state regulatory commissions and close on a deal by March 20, 2015. Any potential buyer of Presque Isle must consent to several We Energies conditions. They include a commitment to continue operating the facility and to retain the current workforce for a minimum of 18 months. The eventual purchaser also must assume any long-term con- tracts, including coal supply agreements, in effect once the transaction closes and agree to take over all historic and future liabilities related to the plant. Presque Isle essentially is guaranteed to remain open until February 1, 2015. That is when a one-year system support resource (SSR) agree- ment between We Energies and the Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) is scheduled to expire. MISO is a regional electric grid operator based in Carmel, Ind. We Energies spokeswoman Cathy Schulze said she did not know what will happen if an agreement to sell Presque Isle is not in the works by the time the SSR ends. MISO said the plant must run to support relia- bility in the region, so it is possible the SSR could be extended. MISO asked We Energies to keep the plant in operation after the util- ity had sought permission to close it when a joint venture arrangement with Wolverine Power Cooperative, a generation and transmission co- op with headquarters in Cadillac, Mich., fell through late last year. Wolverine had offered to spend about $140 million to install pollution controls to allow Presque Isle to comply with new federal Environmental Protection Agency rules in return for a one-third ownership stake, about 145 megawatts, in the plant. Presque Isle currently burns about 1.4 million tons of PRB coal annually. Atlantic Coal beefs up mobile fleet UK-based producer Atlantic Coal, a fixture in the anthracite region of eastern Pennsylvania, said that it has purchased new equipment to sig- nificantly increase its production in the region. The AIM-listed open- cast miner confirmed it has ordered six Komatsu Model HD785-7100-ton haul trucks and two CAT D9 dozers. This equipment purchase is expected to enable the company to continue to increase the run-of-mine production profile at its Stockton colliery, a producing open-cast anthracite operation in Schuylkill County. The purchase of the equipment is to be funded through a lease pur- chase agreement at a total cost of $8.5 million over six years. "We antici- pate that the acquisition of the new equipment will assist with our operational efficiency and enable us to meet our production goals for the immediate future," managing director Steve Best said. "This should allow us to increase our production of ROM coal to the wash plant and maximize the 1.8 million tons defined anthracite reserves at Stockton [announced June 11, 2013]." "We look forward to providing further updates on our progress at Stockton and our Pott and Bannon project, together with our wider strategy to increase our presence in the U.S. anthracite industry, at the appropriate time." Atlantic said that the 1.8-million-ton revised estimate is subject to completion of drilling to confirm the extent of prior by-passed coal on the south wall of the mine and development of an updated mine plan for recovery of remaining coal. n e w s c o n t i n u e d March 2014 www.coalage.com 23 CA_pg04-23_V2_CA_pg06-23 3/12/14 12:24 PM Page 23