CoalZoom’s Reid, One of Six, Inducted into West Virginia Coal Hall of Fame
“I am deeply honored to receive this award this evening. It is most gratifying to know that some of the things we have achieved are considered to have contributed to both the coal industry of West Virginia, as well as to out great American coal mining industry”, said Bill Reid, founder, President & CEO, Coal News Inc., the publisher of CoalZoom, that has 8,000 visitors every day.
“Some of you”, continued Reid, “may be familiar with the saying, that the three most important things in life are: Honesty, Kindness and Hard Work, and all of you in this room have these qualities. I’m so proud that for a small part of our lives, our paths have come together; I promise you that for the rest of my life, I will continue, at every opportunity, to promote our great American coal industry and the very fine people in it.”
Bill Reid
Reid has had two careers serving coal and during the first one, he was President of American Longwall in Abingdon, VA, for sixteen years, driving the company from 5 to 250 employees. For a decade, American Longwall face conveyors carried more than half of America’s longwall coal production of 198 million tons annually, while transporting 75% of West Virginia’s longwall output of 55 million tons a year.
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Coal Is Back — and Japan Is Driving the Rally
Japan’s heavy dependence on imported energy is being put through a real-time stress test. The crisis triggered by the war in Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has exposed the structural vulnerabilities in one of the world’s largest energy importers. With roughly 90% of its crude oil sourced from the Middle East, Tokyo has already moved to release around 80 million barrels from its strategic petroleum reserves – equivalent to roughly 26 days of domestic oil demand. This should be sufficient to stabilize the immediate fuel balance, particularly as Japan covers nearly 100% of its gasoline and around 95% of its diesel demand through domestic refining. Yet the oil reserve drawdown addresses only part of the problem. The broader energy system – electricity and heat generation in particular – remains exposed to the ripple effects of the crisis.
Japan’s natural gas balance is no less dependent on imports. Around 98% of domestic gas demand is met by LNG imports, although overall consumption has been declining in recent years due to slower economic growth, the expansion of renewables, and the gradual restart of nuclear power. In 2025 Japan imported 66.3 Mt of LNG, down 1.5% year-on-year, retaining its position as the world’s second-largest buyer after China. Roughly 6% of this supply transits the Strait of Hormuz (from Qatar and the UAE) while the majority comes from Australia (26 Mt), Malaysia (10 Mt), Russia (5.8 Mt, supported by Japan’s sanctions exemption for Sakhalin-II in which Mitsui and Mitsubishi hold a 22.5% stake), and the United States (4.5 Mt). The disruption of Gulf-origin LNG volumes is therefore manageable in physical terms and is unlikely to materially alter Japan’s overall supply balance.
Australia remains Japan’s largest LNG supplier, but the relationship is now evolving under pressure. As Canberra faces acute shortages of refined fuels, the two countries have entered discussions on potential LNG-for-products swap arrangements, whereby Japan could supply gasoline and diesel in exchange for continued LNG flows. At the same time, Tokyo has cautioned Australia against imposing a windfall tax on LNG exports – an option the Albanese government has been considering amid soaring commodity prices. Given the intensifying domestic fuel shortages in Australia, it appears increasingly likely that such populist taxation measures will be kept for less critical times in favour of preserving supply security and bilateral cooperation.
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Proposed Coal Exchange Could Unlock Up to 250 Million Tons of Coal
Campbell County, Wyoming commissioners are supportive of a proposed exchange of coal between a private landowner and the state of Wyoming.
At the county commission meeting last week, McKenna Sorenson and Charles Sorenson, agents representing the Hall Ranch in northern Campbell County, presented a proposal that, in theory, would bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue to the state.
The Hall Ranch has 130 million tons of privately owned coal that cannot be mined after a ruling by the federal government in the 1970s.
Hall Ranch
“The EPA said it shouldn’t be mined because of the water table around it,” McKenna Sorenson said. “It was too good of overlying land to be mined…when you reclaim it, it wouldn’t come back the same way as other places.”
The Hall Ranch has been in litigation with the federal government over this coal since the late 2000s.
“What we realized is there’s so much coal here in Campbell County that’s been stranded in the school sections that our (private) coal would be able to be exchanged with the federal coal that would be able to unlock those school sections,” she said.
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The Global Pivot to Coal Is About More Than Electricity
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is not only reshaping energy trade flows today but it’s also beginning to transform the marketplace for years to come.
Qatar, the world’s second largest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG), is saying damage done to its LNG facilities means it could be five years before its exports are back to full capacity. With some 70%of Qatari LNG exported to Asia, the impact on Asian economies and energy security is dramatic.
Asian nations have already turned to coal for power generation to reduce demand on sky-high gas prices. From India to South Korea, the embrace of coal as an energy affordability and security safety net is only picking up steam. Two natural gas shocks in five years are more than enough to leave a lasting impact on energy policy making.
While the global LNG market has grown steadily over the past decade, could that momentum begin to come to a screeching halt? Rebuilding trust in the LNG marketplace is going to take time. For nations now reeling from soaring prices, a push to hedge against overreliance on a deeply volatile global gas market is all but a certainty.
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Iran War’s Gas Supply Shock Pushes Top Consumers Back to Coal
A deepening conflict in the Persian Gulf has upended oil and gas markets. It may also have provided coal — the dirtiest fossil fuel — with its most significant boost in years.
Climate negotiators have been trying for decades to consign coal to history. That task was already challenging before last month, thanks to expanding energy demand in Asia, a growing focus on domestic self-reliance and faltering programs to wean emerging economies onto greener power.
Now, however, a second gas supply crunch in just over four years is pushing countries across Europe and Asia to fall back on the black stuff, perceived as a readily available alternative. Add in US political support, and coal’s long goodbye begins to look even more protracted, a reversal that threatens to undo years of progress on curbing harmful emissions.
Japan, one of the world’s largest gas importers, on Friday said it would expand the use of less-efficient coal power plants, as it tries to diversify its generation capabilities. In Bangladesh and India, coal plants are already shouldering the burden of shortfalls elsewhere.
Even in Europe, where plenty of dirty power has been phased out, the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic could all see more coal use if gas prices remain high. Germany is considering reactivating mothballed coal-fired plants as a way to curb electricity prices.
“We are now seeing a second, very large energy supply shock,” said Samantha Dart, global co-head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “If you’re sitting in Asia, going through this again, it’s possible you change your strategy long term — rely more on coal for longer, build out your renewables faster and reduce your exposure to natural gas.”
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