Zack Quaintance
Daily Egyptian
For years the physical plant has depended on coal, but that's about to change.
The price of coal, which held steady for many years, increased 36
percent for fiscal year 2006, said Phil Gatton, director of the
physical plant. The news came as a surprise to Gatton.
"It's one cost that we've seen that's been pretty stable," Gatton said.
"The University has a long history of stable coal costs."
Coal boilers provide the University with all almost all of its power.
Last month when renewing the coal contract, Gatton was told the
University's bill would increase by about $35,000. The soaring cost of
coal coincides with rising energy prices, said John Mead, director of
the University's coal research center.
"In terms of what we're seeing on campus, I guess overall, it is really
a reflection of the energy market across the country, and really across
the world," Mead said.
Due to high natural gas and oil prices, many factories and power plants
have reverted to using coal, which has caused prices to increase, Mead
said. Regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency also
increase the price of coal in Southern Illinois. Most coal mined
in the area is high in sulfur and release pollutants when burned, so
local coal often cannot be used.
To find environmentally sound coal, power plants buy from vendors as
far away as Wyoming, one of the country's largest coal producers, Mead
said. With gasoline prices approaching a record high, the cost of
transporting it from Wyoming to Illinois is higher than the cost of the
coal.
For fiscal year 2005, the cost of University utilities increased more
than $900,000 from 2004, Gatton said, and the increase in coal costs
will be an additional burden. He is now faced with stretching the flat
budget to absorb this blow while not decreasing or neglecting the
services his staff provides.
"When you start seeing an increase of $1 million in any one area, obviously that will have an impact," Gatton said.
While Gatton is unable to foresee all of the problems that will be
caused by the stress on the budget, he said the physical plant was
committed to doing quality work.
SIUC is not the only college that will struggle due to the increased energy costs.
Bob Hannah, director of utilities at University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, said the U of I also uses coal to power much of their
campus, and they've also been effected by the increase in the past few
years. As coal prices rise, other costs do as well, Hannah said.
"To us, coal is the basis of how we depend on electricity, economically speaking," Hannah said.
Reporter Zack Quaintance can be reached at
zack_quaintance@dailyegyptian.com.
