Friedens, Pennsylvania - June 7, 2017
1. Wide of coal pit, US flag draped over wall
2. Various of lifter moving concrete blocks
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Shawn Petree, new mine superintendent:
"Hopefully the industry stays on the up rise here, all the guys that work here appreciate having the opportunity to have a job, number one, and everybody's kind of excited to open a new one (coal mine) up."
4. Petree getting onto a vehicle
5. Various of Dethlefsen
6. SOUNDBITE (English) George Dethlefsen, Corsa CEO:
"The metallurgical industry that sells into the steel market is experiencing a period of very high prices, and has been over the last seven or eight months, so the decision for us to open this mine is an economic decision."
7. Tight of coal with Dethlefsen in background
8. Mine worker
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Pistorius, professor of steelmaking research at Carnegie Mellon:
"The metallurgical coal, as it's called, is a particularly niche market which is really just mined for iron making, to make coke, so it really is a separate product entirely."
10. Dethlefsen talking to worker
11. SOUNDBITE (English) George Dethlefsen, Corsa CEO:
"The war on coal is over, creating a climate of pro-business and pro-steel, whether that's the trade tariffs, or whether that's just fostering economic growth through tax cuts or infrastructure spending, all of those things effect our future outlook for prices."
12. Various of mining equipment
13. Neil Donahue, professor of chemistry, engineering, and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Neil Donahue, professor of chemistry, engineering, and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University:
"The mine has to do with making steel, so it has some significance to the steel industry – it has nothing to do with the bigger questions about coal. Almost all coal – the enormous majority of coal – is burned for electricity."
15. Donahue speaking to man
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Neil Donahue, professor of chemistry, engineering, and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University:
"I think people should be extraordinarily skeptical that the president can snap his fingers and make king coal, king coal again. I think in the short term, reducing, essentially allowing coal mines and coal power industries to pollute without paying us the due share of the cost of that pollution – sure, that'll help them out. I'm suspicious that it won't help them out to the point where they suddenly become competitive against natural gas."
17. Various of mine workers
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Matt Owens, mine safety coordinator:
"There was some doubt, I won't lie, we doubted if we were going to have jobs or if the company was going to make it, but they did."
19. Various of workers putting down concrete blocks
20. Various of mine
A new coal mine that President Donald Trump mentioned in announcing plans to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord has officially opened in Pennsylvania.
The Acosta Mine will supply coal used in making steel and is expected to generate up to 100 full-time jobs. It's located in Friedens, about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
A Thursday celebration marked its opening.
Corsa Coal Corp. says it decided in August to open the mine after a steel industry boom drove up prices for metallurgical coal. Pennsylvania awarded a $3 million grant for the project.
George Dethlefsen, Corsa CEO, says even though the mine is not for conventional coal, it still give the industry hope there is a bright future for coal.
"The war on coal is over, creating a climate of pro-business and pro-steel, whether that's the trade tariffs, or whether that's just fostering economic growth through tax cuts or infrastructure spending, all of those things affect our future outlook for prices," said Dethlefsen.
Neil Donahue, professor at Carnegie Mellon University, doesn't think the mine opening signals a big change for the industry.
"The mine has to do with making steel, so it has some significance to the steel industry – it has nothing to do with the bigger questions about coal. Almost all coal – the enormous majority of coal – is burned for electricity," said Donahue.
Donahue thinks that no matter how pro-coal the current administration is, the fact remains that coal is more expensive than some of the alternatives.
"I think people should be extraordinarily skeptical that the president can snap his fingers and make King Coal, King Coal again. I think in the short term, allowing coal mines and coal power industries to pollute without paying us the due cost of that pollution – sure, that'll helped out. I'm suspicious that it'll help them out to the point where they suddenly become competitive against natural gas," said Donahue.
No matter what the mine says about the broader future for coal in the U.S., the workers in the Acosta Mine say the opening makes them more optimistic about the future of their profession.
"There was some doubt, I won't lie, we doubted if we were going to have jobs or if the company was going to make it, but they did," said Matt Owens, one of the mine's safety coordinators.
