Video: Coal is Hot in Ackerman

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ACKERMAN, Miss. (WCBI) — In the last three years, segments of the coal industry have taken a hit from almost every direction, causing prices to drop and jobs to go away. In West Alabama, hundreds of jobs have been lost. But in Northeast Mississippi, one coal operation has dodged the bullet, and it hopes a new Republican-led Congress will make things a little better.

Drivers of huge mining truck at Red Hills Mine in Ackerman are busy as bees. On the move 24/7, hauling lignite coal that’s sold to TVA and other electricity generators.

“The coal is fed directly from the mine to the power plant without any railroads in between. So it’s a direct feed operation. We mine approximately 3.8 million tons of coal a year here,” said David P. Liffrig, GM North American Coal Corporation.

But as big as the operation is, it hasn’t made a dent in the huge Wilcox Coal Formation that stretches from southern Tennessee south to Winston County in Mississippi and east into Alabama. The kind of coal used to make steel has suffered because of a global glut. Low natural gas prices also have created competition for Red Hills. But long-term contracts and its lignite product have missed some of the price pressures.

“Our contracts are 30 plus years. And we can provide fuel at a known price for 30 plus years to the power plants. And so there is no surprises in terms of the fuel costs,” said David Liffrig.

But the plant’s 209 workers have not been immune to efforts by President Obama to reduce carbon emissions from coal-burning electric plants. With a good safety and environmental record, Red Hills says government regulations are a little too intrusive. The coal industry says the government’s “war on coal” has cost billions each year in lost jobs and expensive equipment.

“It’s less than one percent of the global C-O2 that’s out there at a cost of about eight and a half billion dollars annually. That has a huge impact in terms of people on fixed incomes,” said David Liffrig.

But with a new Congress in January, Red Hills and the industry hope for less regulation and a more consistent national strategy.

“So what I would expect out of congress and would hope to see is a very comprehensive plan that says hey, this is what we should be doing as a nation in terms of developing our energy resources,” said David Liffrig.

Meanwhile, Red Hills says it’ll keep mining and then reclaiming the land for the next generation.

Red Hills is researching other uses for lignite such as coal gasification like the plant being built in Kemper County and liquification which turns it into synthetic natural gases to power the plant.