One of the oldest known human settlements is about to be flooded by a dam

Re:One of the oldest known human settlements is about to be ... by beerandt on Friday October 04, 2019 @02:38PM (#21160563)

From an unregulated, no subsidies, no externalities perspective, coal is still cheapest. It's no longer so because of regulation, or market uncertainty of future regulation.

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Re:One of the oldest known human settlements is about to be ... by beat on Friday October 04, 2019 @05:07PM (#21161907)

In the US, it's not the cheapest by a long shot, even excluding subsidies and externalities.

I'd be perfectly happy to see new coal plant construction banned from a regulatory perspective, but right now there are ZERO new coal plants being built in the US. The rest of the world will not be far behind.

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Re:One of the oldest known human settlements is about to be ... by beerandt on Friday October 04, 2019 @07:24PM (#21162747)

Emissions controls counts as a regulation. That on it's own is a substantial cost. I think you're using a narrow definition of the word regulation.

Not knowing what the next administration is going to change adds cost of uncertainty.

If it weren't due to regulation, that would mean it's due to technology or raw cost. Both of which are ruled out by the fact that the US is the third largest coal exporter in the world, and exports have increased in the last 3 years.

If our coal weren't cheap, it wouldn't be worth exporting. If coal power plants weren't cheap, developing countries would be switching to the cheaper technology.

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