It's been awhile since the signs proclaiming "Friends of Coal" began popping up. The signs displayed anger, fear and protection and were stuck alongside the yards of neighbors and friends of miners and businesses tied to the industry.
The Obama Administration's "Clean Power Plan" in June 2014 set mandatory carbon dioxide "goals" for each state's electrical system, which would fundamentally change how electricity is generated, distributed and consumed in America. The decades old "war on coal" was again in the combat zone.
The history of coal lies deeply entangled in the heart of the American story, with it first discovered locally along the banks of the Wabash River in the 1700s. Coal has powered U.S. industry, railroads, and politics for decades. After hundreds of years of extracting coal underground, it became surface produced.
But the long-time battle for cleaner energy than that used by our forefathers again has thousands of Hoosier jobs and low-cost energy for families and manufacturers at risk. New layoffs in area surface mines are beginning to affect the local economy. The most recent layoffs were more than 120 miners employed at Sunrise Coal, located on the Carlisle Reserve in Carlisle. Sunrise had reduced about 205 full-time employees since the start of summer. And, United Minerals laid off about 30 staff a month or so prior.
Former Sunrise coal miner, Allen Allbright, of Switz City, was one of the many who was laid off on July 27 after 10 years of going to work in the mines. Mining has been Allbright's trade since he graduated from North Daviess.
He and his past co-workers received a letter in the mail just last week about a job fair they could attend at WorkOne in Vincennes, where they could learn about new jobs and skills they might need to be employable.
"I never thought I’d be laid off. It (the coal industry) has changed dramatically — as far as sales. The power plants aren’t buying as much coal and that’s fine, but you’re putting thousands of people out of a job," said Allbright. "I didn't go to the job fair, but a few of my buddies did. They ended up walking out because the pay rates at these jobs were $10 an hour. That's a slap in the face. I've been making $27 an hour since high school and they want to offer us a job like that."
C&M Giant Tire salesman and safety director Mike Arbaugh of Washington has been working in the coal industry for 19 years. Arbaugh said that he hasn't seen the coal industry in its present state, with its main competition now in natural gas.
Natural gas is on the rise and makes up 31 percent of America's electricity, topping coal for the first time earlier this year. Scientists discovered a new way of extracting natural gas from the Earth called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” which uses a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals to create cracks in natural gas-rich shale and force out the gas. This method has been very effective, but it’s also controversial because of its environmental concerns.
"Natural gas has fracking now where they can go different places they weren’t able to before and it's more widespread," said Arbaugh.
In the second half of the 20th Century, the demand for coal nationally began to fall. Trains switched from coal to diesel fuel, and homes were converted to oil or gas furnaces. Then, in the 1970s, the federal government began the "war on coal," for air quality reasons, which required plants to reduce emissions.
Wind energy has been on the upswing as well, making wind another competitor for the production of power.
"I think wind energy could help, but I don’t think we can rely on it. We don’t know how long it will take to run, plus the money it takes to build and erect them," Arbaugh said.
Wind energy is the least popular, but the most environmentally friendly, and makes up about .5% the world’s energy consumption. Wind power has become a large contributor for energy in places like Denmark, Scotland, and U.S. states like South Dakota and Minnesota.
Another complaint put on the table by government officials and environmentalists about mining coal is that land is destroyed and left behind for reclamation, but never to be as rich as it once was.
But Arbaugh's outlook on the coal industry has a positive ring to it.
"The mining alone is more technologically advanced. The safety, equipment, and communication gets better every day. We are evolving, if you will. We are rolling with the punches," said Arbaugh. "If nothing else, we still need the carbon from coal to make steel."
MacAllister's parts counter salesman Dave Fry has been working in the industry for 36 years. Fry remarked that right now, the coal industry is hurting everyone. Anything to do with coal and its suppliers, is hurting, Fry said.
"Back in the mid-80’s they went through this before. The competitors and government have become very involved now," said Fry. "The flat coal has been here since the age of time. The administration right now, they cut off exporting the coal and that has killed Peabody. Peabody Coal isn’t repairing machines, they are parking them. If they aren’t buying anything from us, then we aren’t doing business."
Much of the local economy is tied to coal, either directly or indirectly. MacAllister's employs 115, while power plants, like Indianapolis Power & Light, Rockport and Duke Energy, employ hundreds more. IP&L recently announced it will refuel its Harding Street generating unit from coal to natural gas, and personnel there will be reduced as well.
Local companies like C&M Giant Tire and MacAllister's Machinery, which have contracted services to maintain equipment and machinery throughout the mines in Southern Indiana, have had to scale back on new hires and job opportunities.
"If the coal mines aren’t stripping coal, then the self-components won’t be there either," said Fry, "It will take another two years to recover (the coal industry), if it ever recovers."
Buschon and Pence support coal
Congressman Larry Buschon (R-Eighth District), a heart doctor from Evansville, said an op-ed piece last fall that his father was a coal miner, and that coal put food on his table as a child, and afforded him the ability to pursue higher education, as well as a career in medicine. Buschon says recent growth in the Wabash Valley is a direct result of abundant affordable energy.
"We certainly know it is in spite of the president's policies which often undermine the very assets that make us competitive. Eighty-five percent of our energy in Indiana is coal-generated; we are one of the top 10 coal-producing states in the country, and all of that coal is mined in the Eighth District," Buschon wrote.
"Unfortunately, the proposed regulations on power plans championed by President Obama and his EPA are putting our coal and manufacturing industries at risk."
Gov. Mike Pence has also voiced his opposition to the Clean Power Plan, saying it will hurt the state's economy.
Earlier this summer Pence sent a letter to Obama saying that Indiana would not comply with the Clean Power Plan unless the final plan was "demonstrably and significantly improved."
Since the new plan came out earlier this month, Pence says his administration is "carefully reviewing the final rule to determine is the Obama administration was listening."
Pence has also said he plans to "vigorously challenge the legality of this rule in the federal courts."
The Associated contributed to this story.