Scott Campbell

(from Blithering Bunny)

EU Serf sends us this report:

Kyoto Week, Blame Bush

With the expensive and badly conceived Kyoto treaty the major news of the week, the BBC has been running full steam to blame everything on Bush.

This morning whilst getting my daily dose of Bush-hating bias, BBC World News ran a story on the coal industry in the USA. In summary the story was something like this:

Coal industry chiefs are gathering at a trade show in Las Vegas, where equipment manufacturers are recording a boom in sales. The reason is that the coal industry is doing well, with high demand and prices. By talking about the Bush White House we are lead to believe that somehow the administration is the reason for this bonanza. In fact, the story wraps up with the line:

With President Bush in the White House for another 4 years, the coal industry is looking forward to more good times ahead.

This is a gross misrepresentation of the situation as five minutes of googling proved to me.

1) Coal prices have been rising worldwide, on the back of demand from China and other developing countries:

Prices for thermal coal used to fuel power plants are expected to reach new highs in 2005, buoyed by continued international economic growth and surging demand for electricity…

The Asia-Pacific region is the largest market, representing 4% of world trade, and is growing 10% annually because of increasing demand from developing countries, including China.

This has nothing to do with the US Government and everything to doing with world markets.

“World thermal coal prices will still remain high in historic terms next year”, at $50 to $55 per metric ton.

To put that into perspective, $50 a barrel of oil is equivalent to $350 per ton. With rising energy prices in general it is hardly surprising that coal prices are rising.

2) Unlike Europeans, the USA is not subsidizing its coal industry. The only bone of contention for US environmentalists is US government-backed research.

Coal production and subsidies have fallen across the EU in recent years, but remain relatively high in Germany, with Euro 2.2bn in support earmarked for 2004, for example…

Domestic coal prices in Germany have been more than three times the import price.

European countries, despite their green credentials are actually subsidizing production of this dirty fuel. Meanwhile, what is the US doing?

The budget includes $447 million for the president’s Coal Research Initiative, a $69 million increase over 2004 levels.

Investing in clean coal research, the bastards. I don’t know if this is a hidden subsidy or not but note the difference in scale of the payments.

3) European companies are investing heavily in the American coal industry:

Most of the foreign investment in U.S. coal has been from Europe.

So clean green Europeans are also benefiting.

4) Surely rising coal prices are a good thing. They create incentives for new energy-efficient technology, renewable energy and better conservation.

In their rush to blame Bush, the BBC gives a totally unprofessional, biased and ignorant piece on an industry they obviously do not understand.