Washington (Platts)--27Feb2013/1218 pm EST/1718 GMT

Coal-fired power generation in the US is on the road to elimination, and should be replaced with natural gas-fired plants and renewable power, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday.

"Even though the coal industry doesn't totally know it yet, or is ready to admit it, its day is done. It used to be said that coal is king, and regrettably coal remains king in nations like India and China," Bloomberg told a US Department of Energy-sponsored advanced energy conference near Washington.

"Here in the US, I am happy to say, the king is dead. Coal is a dead man walking," he said.

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Bloomberg has long been an opponent of the use of coal for power generation, arguing that the air pollution from the plants leads to increased rates of asthma and other health problems, and that carbon dioxide emissions are contributing to climate change.

"One-sixth of America's entire inventory of coal-fired plants is slated for retirement, that does mean that five-sixths is still there, we still have a lot of work to do," Bloomberg said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has implemented regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions that in effect mean no new coal-fired power plants can be built without carbon capture and storage technology, which so far has proved too expensive to use. The agency is now preparing similar regulation for existing plants.

"We are ready for the next round in this struggle, the long, regulatory trench warfare that will determine just how tightly and effectively the EPA clamps down on carbon pollution," Bloomberg said.

While Bloomberg is girding for a fight against the use of coal, the Energy Information Administration has estimated that coal will still account for as much as 35% of electricity generated for at least 30 years, down from the current 42% in 2010.

That change stems from increases in gas-fired generation and increased use of renewables such as wind and solar, according to EIA.

Bloomberg said gas was a relatively clean alternative, and that it would be necessary to support increased renewable generation. But he said that hydraulic fracturing, which has facilitated the boom in US gas production needs to be regulated.

"Natural gas really does have the potential to benefit us for decades to come, but only if drilling is done right, in a fashion that does not affect the environment," he said.

--Derek Sands, derek_sands@platts.com
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com

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