(The Associated Press circulated the following article on January 9.)
GILLETTE, Wyo. — Railroads are trying to keep up with the increasing demand for coal shipped out of Wyoming, an industry official says.
As of Dec. 24, Wyoming produced an estimated 399.2 million tons of coal last year, including about 385.5 million in the Powder River Basin of northeast Wyoming alone, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States will demand an additional 100 million tons of coal annually from the Powder River Basin by 2010.
Coal production increased slightly in the Powder River Basin in 2005 even though railroads were unable to fully restore capacity on a triple-track line that was damaged in the spring.
Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe were able to ship about 85 percent of scheduled coal trains on Wyoming’s main coal export route in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.
The disruption of coal exports out of the Powder River Basin may contribute to higher heating costs this winter.
The railroads will have to make significant progress on restoring and boosting shipping capacity on the joint line in order to meet what is expected to be unprecedented demand for Powder River Basin coal in 2006, Thomas Canter, executive director of the National Coal Transportation Association, said.
“We’ll be very fortunate if we can ship 345 to 350 million tons for 2006,” Canter said of the southern rail route.
One project to boost coal shipments is the proposal by Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad to ship Wyoming coal east through South Dakota and Minnesota.
If constructed, the DM&E project would be the largest railroad construction project in the United States in 100 years. Plans include building 280 miles of new line into Wyoming’s Powder River Basin coal region, upgrading 150 miles of track from Wall, S.D., to Colony, Wyo., and rebuilding about 600 miles of track through South Dakota and Minnesota.
The project has been meeting resistance from several communities along the proposed track.