Miners like Phillip Powell, 38 years old, of Wharton, have been swept up by the collapse. 'A lot of guys that I worked with are scared of losing everything they own,' said Mr. Powell, who was laid off in March from a section foreman job at a Patriot metallurgical coal mine. Mr. Powell said he sees no chance of finding another job that would come anywhere close to paying the $108,000 he earned last year. After 17 years in mining, he plans to go back to college to get certified to teach physical education.
来自西弗吉尼亚州霍顿市(Wharton)的38岁矿工鲍威尔(Phillip Powell)是减产潮的受害者之一。他说,很多跟我一块工作的人都害怕失去自己拥有的一切。鲍威尔原来在Patriot公司的一座焦煤矿当领工,今年3月份被裁。他觉得自己再也找不到一份接近去年10.8万美元收入的工作了。在采矿业干了17年之后,他打算回大学拿一份教体育的文凭。
Appalachian coal industry executives had been counting on metallurgical or 'met' coal─which is sold at a premium to steelmakers─to offset the dwindling market for lower-grade thermal coal used by power plants. The thermal coal market has been weakening because utilities are buying cleaner-burning natural gas instead. Natural-gas prices have plummeted as energy companies used hydraulic fracturing to extract gas from vast shale formations.
过去,阿巴拉契亚地区的煤矿业管理人员依靠焦煤来弥补不断缩小的动力煤市场,动力煤等级较低,用于发电厂发电,而焦煤则可以更高的价格卖给钢铁厂商。由于公用事业公司开始转而购买燃烧起来更清洁的天然气,动力煤市场一直在走软。随着能源公司利用水力压裂法从巨大的页岩层中提取天然气,天然气价格大幅下跌。
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