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40-Year Low Projected, Collapse of Industry Underscores Need for State to Transition From Coal
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663 jnichols@wildearthguardians.org

Denver—With the latestreports showing Colorado coal production is on track to hit a 40-year low,WildEarth Guardians is stepping up its call on the Obama Administration to helpthe state transition away from fossil fuels.

“Colorado’s coal industry is a dead manwalking,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy ProgramDirector. “It’s time for ‘JustTransition,’ meaning we need to immediately get behind initiatives that providethe resources and tools for miners and communities to move on.”

According to the latest data from the Colorado Division ofReclamation Mining and Safety, mines produced 3.85million tons of coal in the first four months of 2016, comparedto 6.51million tons in the same period in 2015.

The drop comes on topof the industry’s slide in 2015, when coal mining was atits lowestlevel since 1994. If the first-quarter production ratescontinue throughout 2016, Colorado would produce around 12 milliontons of coal. That would be the lowestlevel of production in the state since the late 1970s.

All Colorado mines have reporteddecreased production so far in 2016.

Industry’s collapse comes as the U.S.Department of the Interior is moving to reform federal coal management andplans to hold a public hearing in Grand Junctionon June 23. WildEarth Guardians,which has called for an end to the federal coal program and for fossil fuels tobe kept in the ground, is calling on the Administration tomake “Just Transition” its number one priority.

“For our climate, we have to start keeping ourcoal in the ground,” said Nichols. “Butkeeping coal in the ground doesn’t mean we turn our back on the need to helpcoal-dependent communities, like Craig, Colorado or the state’s North ForkValley, develop more prosperous and sustainable economies.”

The total number of miners employed statewidealso fell by about 16%, from 1,506 in April 2015 to 1,263 in March 2016. April figures do not include yesterday’s announcement that Arch Coal,which filed for bankruptcy in January this year, was laying off 80 miners from itsWest Elk mine.

The number of coal miners in Colorado is now lessthan a third the number of employees working in the state for just one windturbine manufacturer, Vestas. Recent news reports indicate Vestas employsnearly 4,000 people at its manufacturing facilities in thestate.

It was recently announced that Vestas will build the turbines for Colorado’slargest wind farm as part of Xcel Energy’s plan to add up to 1,000 megawatts ofrenewable energy in the state.

Colorado coal mine production datacan be found online here >>

Data displaying coal mined inColorado between 1960 and 2010 is available here >>