St. Louis renews its status as a world energy nerve center
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Sunday, March 6, 2011 9:00 pm
Offices of Peabody Energy
What oil is to Houston, coal is becoming to St. Louis. For those that don't know, St. Louis has been a major player in the world's coal/energy industry.
And now, the so-called
"King of Coal", Chris Cline, has moved his
Foresight Energy firm - one of the country's largest coal mining firms - into 16,000 square feet of Metropolitan Square, which is St. Louis' largest and tallest office building. A public offering is being considered by Foresight Energy, which if it goes public likely would add another large public coal firm to St. Louis' energy portfolio.
In March,
Foresight Energy announced that it was moving its Palm Beach, Florida-based corporate headquarters from Florida to downtown St. Louis April 1st.
Already, St. Louis-based Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal producer. It claims to produce "coal products that fuel 10 percent of all U.S. and 2 percent of worldwide electricity generation," and considers itself a global leader in "clean-coal solutions" — partly through
an association with Washington University in St. Louis. (
Source)
With
Peabody Energy, a Fortune 500 firm, and other major St. Louis-based players such
Arch Coal Inc., the nation's second-largest coal producer, as well as
Armstrong Land Company,
Patriot Coal and now
Foresight Energy, which reserves are said to be valued between $3-$4-billion, St. Louis has renewed its status as a world energy nerve center.
Like oil and gas firms locating in Texas - particularly Houston - because of oil and gas resources, coal industry companies have located and are locating in St. Louis primarily due to the large
Illinois coal basin, which is one of the world's largest.
Articles
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St. Louis Business Journal: Foresight Energy To Move HQ to Met
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Foresight Energy Moves Headquarters
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Sourcewatch: Foresight Reserves LLC
And check out these large projects underway and proposed by St. Louis energy firms.
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$4-billion Prairie State Energy Campus
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Prairie State Energy Campus Construction Progress Photos
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FutureGen
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About FutureGen
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Morgan County Wins $1.3-billion FutureGen Clean Coal project
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