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The Eastern Interior region, as defined by the USGS, is a region of a large number of coal mines along the southern border of Illinois, the western border of Indiana, and the western tip of Kentucky.
In 2008, production in Indiana was 35.9 million tons (7th in the US, 3.06% of total US production), Illinois produced 32.9 million tons (8th in the US, 2.81% of total US production) and the western part of Kentucky produced 30.1 million tons. Kentucky as a whole produced 120.4 million tons and was behind only Wyoming and West Virginia in total production.
Images from the 1970s documenting Scott Clark’s family’s relationship with strip mining in Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois. Click here to see photoset.
On August 31, 2010
Brian W. Mason, a 25 year old truck driver with 16 weeks of mining experience was killed at the Freelandville Underground Mine when he lost control of the articulated truck that he was driving, went up an embankment, then crossed the back across the road and over the berm, plunging 72 feet down into the mining pit. After the fall, the driver was pinned in the cab, stopping three witnesses to the accident from helping him. After 35 minutes, rescuers were able to extract him from the cab and he was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Indianapolis, where he later died from his injuries.
While other drivers had reported that the truck involved in the accident would routinely require topping-off its brake fluid, the ultimate cause of the accident was determined to be the driver failing to maintain control of the vehicle.
Read the full report at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2010/FTL10c43.asp and the fatalgram at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2010/FAB10c43.asp
Web page by the US Energy Information Administration summarizing energy consumption, production and prices for the state of Kentucky.
Link at http://www.eia.doe.gov/state/state-energy-profiles.cfm?sid=KY
Web page by the US Energy Information Administration summarizing energy consumption, production and prices for the state of Indiana.
Link at http://www.eia.doe.gov/state/state-energy-profiles.cfm?sid=IN
Web page by the US Energy Information Administration summarizing energy consumption, production and prices for the state of Illinois.
Link at http://www.eia.doe.gov/state/state-energy-profiles.cfm?sid=IL
By: Roger Natte
For several years, Roger Natte, a local Fort Dodge Historian has been researching and compiling information for a work he has prepared on Coal Mining in Webster County. In 2001 Roger Natte contributed a portion of his research that is subject to Coalville for the Coalville Web page, that information is contained here below. A very special thank you to Roger Natte for this wonderful amount of information he has made possible for the people of Webster County, and graciously provided to our Coalville, Iowa Web page.
http://www.wccta.net/gallery/coalville/webstermines.html
By: Jeff Biggers
Award-winning journalist and cultural historian Jeff Biggers takes us on a journey into the secret history of coal mining in the American heartland. Set in the ruins of his family’s strip-mined homestead in the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, Biggers delivers a deeply personal portrait of the largely overlooked human and environmental costs of our nation’s dirty energy policy over the past two centuries. Reckoning at Eagle Creek digs deep into the tangled roots of the coal industry beginning with the policies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. It chronicles the removal of Native Americans, and the hidden story of legally sanctioned black slavery in the land of Lincoln. It uncovers a century of regulatory negligence, vividly describing the epic mining wars for union recognition and workplace safety, and the devastating environmental consequences of industrial strip-mining.
Read more at http://jeffrbiggers.com/
The Union Pacific railroad has detailed statistics and information about mines in its service region in southern Illinois.
Information includes mine histories, transport characteristics of the mine, and a detailed chemical analysis of the coal typical to the individual mine.
The Union Pacific Railroad has a page comparing and cataloging the quality of the coal at all the mines in the United States that it services. UP services mines in Colorado, Southern Illinois, the Southern Powder River Basin, Southern Wyoming and Utah. For each of these mines UP reports the Btu/lb as well as the percentages of Sulphur, Ash, Moisture, Volatile Matter and Fixed Carbon.
May 28, 2014
When the Obama administration began the push for restricting the pollution being released from coal plants, one of the nation’s heaviest coal polluters alleged that they would face devastating consequences as a result.
Three years later none of these allegations have occurred. Instead, the Homer City power plant is now a success story on how some of the dirtiest and oldest coal power plants can lower their pollution levels in accordance with the EPA rules. Not only will the plant in western Pennsylvania meet the new restrictions but also they will be doing this without increasing the electricity bills for their consumers.
Read article at http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/may/28/poster-child-coal-generator-embodies-pollution/
May 15, 2014
Another coal miner was killed on the job while working at the MC No.1 Mine in Franklin County, Illinois. The incident happened on Wednesday when the coal miner became trapped between a machine and a coal rib at the Sugar Camp Energy complex.
This is the second fatality at this complex in less than seven months and the sixth mine fatality in 2014 according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Read article at http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2014/05/15/another-illinois-miner-killed-on-the-job/
May 5, 2014
A “trench warfare” is beginning in at least 18 state capitals across the country between industry groups looking to prevent further regulations looking to curb greenhouse gas emissions and a new and formidable opponent in the renewable-energy interest lobby. Companies such as Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries and major coal companies such as Duke Energy and Peabody energy are joining together in attempts to preempt the EPA’s power plant rules.
Places such as Kansas, which have traditionally relied on fossil fuels as a key in economic stability, have recently become a battleground for wind proponents and renewable energy advocates. What were once bastions for coal interest lobbies and other fossil fuel advocates are now ripe battlegrounds for the clash of well-funded renewable energy and fossil fuel interest groups.
April 29, 2014
The Supreme Court today upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to place regulations on pollution caused from coal-fired power plants that are emitted from 27 Midwestern and Appalachian states. This is a major victory in reducing power plant pollution and highlights a decade long battle by the EPA to find a way to limit smog pollution that has been plaguing the eastern seaboard.
This ruling will require coal power plants to reduce their smokestack pollution in an effort to clean up air quality for downwind states. The EPA stated that this ruling would prevent more than 30,000 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of illness each year.
Read article at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/us/politics/supreme-court-backs-epa-coal-pollution-rules.html?_r=1
April 24, 2014
After the devastating February 2nd spill that released toxic sludge for over 70 miles on the Dan River, Duke Energy is under pressure to remove all coal ash that borders North Carolina’s rivers and lakes. Environmental groups are citing the need for Duke Energy to remove all of their coal ash to lined landfills in order to avoid the environmental degradation that occurred on the Dan River.
Duke Energy is alleging that this removal of coal ash would cost over $10 billion dollars and take decades to clean up. Furthermore, Duke Energy has stated that the majority of these costs for paying for coal ash clean up would come from its electricity customers.
Read article at http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/duke-moving-coal-ash-cost-10-billion-23430364
April 21, 2014
The Powder River Basin in 2013 listed the top nine coal producing mines in the United States. However, the amount of mines in the Powder River Basin situated in the top twenty five highest producing mines shrinked as compared to twenty years ago.
The decline in the amount of Powder River Basin mines being in the top twenty-five is the result of large mining projects taking hold in New Mexico, Texas, Indiana and Ohio. Nevertheless, the scale of coal production in the Powder River Basin’s Black Thunder mine and the North Antelope Rochelle mine are the largest producing coalmines with growths as high as 400% since 1994.
Read article at http://www.mining.com/web/largest-coal-mines-still-in-wyoming-but-us-is-diversifying/
April 18, 2014
Murray Energy Corporation stated Wednesday that the coal giant will no longer provide medical coverage for the over 1,200 retirees who worked for Consol Energy. Murray purchased Consol’s five West Virginia coal mines 16 months ago.
The termination of medical coverage will impact 1,200 former Consol Energy coal miners and 161 households in Pennsylvania alone. Murray Energy has cited this decision as a response to the struggling coal industry facing proposed regulatory reforms, legal actions and the growth of the Natural Gas industry.
Read article at http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2014/04/18/what-next-for-murray-energy/
April 17, 2014
Rainforest Action Group, BankTrack and the Sierra Club today released a report that Barclays and Citigroup are the top funders for dangerous coal practices. Barclays has been cited as the top funder of mountain top removal while Citigroup comes in as the top funder for power utilities that burn coal for electricity.
The report also highlighted that JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. have significantly reduced the amount of funding for mountaintop removal. This is an improvement for JPMorgan which last year was cited as being one of the top funders of coal related projects.
Read article at http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-17/barclays-and-citigroup-top-backers-of-u-dot-s-dot-coal-industry-s-worst
April 13, 2014
Forbes discusses the challenges faced by the coal industry in dealing with regulatory and legal battles that are likely to curtail expansion. With the boom in the natural gas industry, coal companies are facing decreased demand and the need to retrofit their operations to meet the upcoming carbon limits or shut down.
Companies such as Consol Energy are selling coalmines (5 by Consol) in order to become more active in the natural gas market. Additionally major players in the coal industry (American Electric, Duke, First Energy and Southern) are being forced to shut down coalmines because of natural gas competition, regulatory carbon limits and upcoming legal battles.
Read article at http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2014/04/13/coal-untouched-by-aprils-bloom/
April 10, 2014
National Geographic discusses the argument that clean coal is nothing more than a myth. The article discusses the idea of capturing the CO₂ and how long can these deposits actually store the carbon dioxide.
There is evidence from leading Geophysicists that often, the injection of the carbon dioxide is put into reservoirs with brittle rock. This leads to small earthquakes, which cause cracking in the overlying shale rock and leads to CO₂ leaking from the storage facilities.
Read article at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/04/coal/nijhuis-text
March 24, 2014
Arch Coal suffered a set back today when the United States Supreme Court declined to hear their challenge to the Obama administration’s blockage of an environmental permit for the Spruce No. 1 mining project in West Virginia.
The EPA in an unprecedented move vetoed a permit for Arch Coal despite the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers had given approval for the mine. The permit would have allowed Arch Coal to discharge coal associated waste into local waterways. The case will now be returned back to the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Read article at http://www.cnbc.com/id/101519586
See document at
February 4, 2014
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released findings related to coal leasing and the need for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to enhance the appraisal process. GAO found that the BLM consistently failed to explain the rationale for accepting bids for coal leasing on federal land that at least initially were far below the actual fair market value presale estimates.
The report stated that the state offices of the BLM did not allow independent review of these leasing agreements with coal companies. Additionally, GAO cited that the BLM failed to take advantage of an independent third party appraisal within the Department of the Interior (Office of Valuation of Services). Lastly, GAO was highly critical of the BLM’s failure to provide even limited information to the public on federal coal leasing.
Read article at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-140
See document at http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/659801.pdf
October 22, 2013
Michael Hendryx of West Virginia University recently released a report that highlights the severe emotional toll that the coal industry’s practice of mountaintop removal takes on the people living where these extraction tactics take place.
The study released showed that of 8,591 adults living in Central Appalachia, 17% of respondents in mountaintop removal mining areas suffered from major depression. This was compared with 10% of respondents diagnosed with major depression in non-mining areas.
See document at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/eco.2013.0029
July 6, 2013
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently identified an increase in black lung disease among Kentucky coal miners. In 1969, 40 percent of seasoned miners had black lung but with the passage of the 1969 mining act, the prevalence from 1995 to 1999 had dropped to 2 percent.
However NIOSH recently reported that from 2005 to 2009, 9 percent of Eastern Kentucky miners had developed black lung. Some of the reasons being attributed are shifts of 10 to 12 hours in the mines; poorly designed dust control regulations; more cutting through rock in thinner coal seams; and the coal industry’s failure to follow these regulations to protect coal miner safety.
Read article at http://www.kentucky.com/2013/07/06/2705218/after-decades-of-decline-black.html
See document at http://media.kentucky.com/smedia/2013/07/03/12/07/wrWFO.So.79.pdf
Reports from MSHA Office of Accountability reviews of MSHA inspectors in regions 3 and 4.
Reports from MSHA Office of Accountability reviews of MSHA inspectors in region 8.
Part 1 of 2: /documents/msha-internal-audits-region-8-2010
Part 2 of 2: /documents/msha-internal-audits-region-8-part-2-of-2-2010
Reports from MSHA Office of Accountability reviews of MSHA inspectors in region 10.
A list of the mines inspected and citations issued in the November 2010 push by MSHA to reinspect mines with a pattern of violations.
Coal mines included on the list were:
/documents/master-inspection-list-targeted-enforcement-nov-2010
List of the second group of mines notified that they are on the Potential Pattern of Violations list. Published November 11, 2010.
A public information booklet about coal mine subsistence, what it is, its effects and the concept of “planned” subsistence. Circular 573