Over the past several decades, coal production in the United States has been increasing at a fairly consistent rate that far exceeds the rate of population growth. In 1983, the US population was around 230 million people, which is about 3.3 tons of coal for each person in the country. By 2009, US population grew to 307 million but with the skyrocketing coal production, the US produced 3.9 tons of coal per person.
According to the 2009 U.S. Coal Supply and Demand information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 93% of coal mined in the US is used domestically, and of that coal 94% is used in the production of electricity for the domestic market. Much of the coal-fired power plants are using decades old technology (some plants were build in 1950) that, because of grandfather clauses in Clean Air Act law, have only undergone minimal upgrades for their pollution control technology. When you hear "this isn't your grandparent's coal", chances are, it really is.
The burning of coal, no matter the age of the furnace or use of the heat, still has serious environmental effects. Burning coal releases much larger quantities of greenhouse gases than other energy alternatives including natural gas. The "coal combustion waste" (CCW) or "coal ash" produced by the burning of coal is a solid waste that must be disposed of carefully. Ironically, as pollution control mechanisms have improved to pull more and more toxins out of the coal smoke, those recovered toxins are stored in the CCW, concentrating increasing amounts of heavy metals like lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium in the CCW. Yet disposal methods for CCW are only lightly regulated by the EPA as evidenced by the recent Kingston Coal Ash Spill and Nebraska using coal ash to melt river ice on the North Platte.
This system is designed to give you an overview of where coal is being mined in the United States. All the data has been compiled through the tireless efforts of OpenSourceCoal.org who have taken the data directly from the Department of Energy. At each level you can see historical rates of production for the portion of the United States that you're looking at, and what fraction of that area's productions are contributed by each of the subregions. For example, on this page you can see production for the United States as a whole from 1983 to 2009, as well as what fraction of the 2009 production was contributed by each of the three major coal regions in the US (as defined by the Department of Energy).
To "zoom in" and see more information about a particular production region, click on one of the links at the bottom of page and you'll be taken to a new page with information about that specific region. The system will let you zoom in all the way down to production by the individual mines.
OSM is responsible for establishing a nationwide program to protect society and the environment from the adverse effects of surface coal mining operations, underwhich OSM is charged with balancing the nation’s need for continued domestic coal production with protection of the environment.
The Bureau, usually referred to simply as the Office of Surface Mining or OSM, was created in 1977 when Congress enacted the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. OSM works with State and Indian Tribes to assure that citizens and the environment are protected during coal mining and that the land is restored to beneficial use when mining is finished. OSM and its partners are also responsible for reclaiming and restoring lands and water degraded by mining operations before 1977.
Read more at http://www.osmre.gov/.
The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.
EPA’s purpose is to ensure that:
Learn more at http://epa.gov/
The mission of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is to administer the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act), as amended by the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act), and to enforce compliance with mandatory safety and health standards as a means to eliminate fatal accidents; to reduce the frequency and severity of nonfatal accidents; to minimize health hazards; and to promote improved safety and health conditions in the Nation’s mines.
Learn more at http://www.msha.gov/
The mission of Citizens Coal Council is to build and strengthen coalitions among people in the coalfields, empowering them to defend existing environmental regulations, promote better environmental policies and to protect people, air, land, and water from the harm caused by the whole coal cycle. From mining, processing, and burning of coal to the disposal of power plant waste, each step of the coal cycle pollutes air, water, and land thereby stripping citizens and communities of their quality of life.
The Citizens Coal Council serves several functions, including the provision of a central organization and office for the sharing and dissemination of relevant information to all member groups and individuals, the continuation of a coordinated voice for communication with legislatures and governmental agencies that regulate mining, processing and burning of coal, and the provision of active assistance to new and existing community groups.
Learn more at http://www.citizenscoalcouncil.org/
April 10, 2012
In 2011, U.S. coal exports reached their highest level since 1991, according to statistics from U.S. Department of Energy. Increasing demand in Europe and Asia are driving the energy resource abroad.
The statistics revealed that the nation exported 107 million tons of coal valued at $16 billion last year, which is double where it stood only five years prior.
According to the AP, U.S coal is going to,
The surge in Japan’s need for coal is seen as a result of its difficulties with its nuclear and electrical grid following last year’s earthquake and tsunami. Other top destinations for American coal were China, Brazil, Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands.
Read article at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=150359891
February 29, 2012
The Southern District of West Virginia Judge Irene Berger sentenced former Massey Energy security director, Hughie Elbert Stover, 60 to three years in prison on Feb.29 for lying to investigators and trying to destroy evidence in an on-going investigation of one the worst coal mining disasters in U.S. History.
Stover also received two years’ probation and was fined $20,000.
Seeking a 25-year sentence, prosecutors alleged Stover’s now two convicted felonies played a central role in the 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch mine. However, Judge Berger stated there was little evidence to support linking Stover’s crimes to the miner’s deaths.
The charges against Stover came after federal Mine Safety and Health Administration investigators disclosed his role in a Massey practice of warning workers of impending safety inspections, which played a major role in the mine disaster, according to investigators.
Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/201202290125
February 22, 2012
A superintendent for W. VA.’s Upper Big Branch mine was charged Wednesday, Feb. 22, with conspiring among others to violate mine safely laws and block federal regulators from enforcing safety requirements. The Upper Big Branch Mine is under investigation by federal prosecutors probing into the 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners.
Ex-superintendent Gary May, 43, could receive up to five years in prison if found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the government’s mine safety and heath enforcement efforts.
Specifically, May is charged with disabling methane gas detectors, falsifying safety records, and warning employees to conceal violations before future government inspections during the two years prior to the April 5, 2010 explosion.
Prosecutors believe mine safety and health laws were routinely violated by May and others because of the belief that following those laws would decrease production. May oversaw production of the southern portions of the Upper Big Branch mine after having started in 2008 as a mine foreman.
So far, May is the third person to be charged in the ongoing federal criminal investigation of the mine.
Read article at http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201202220038
February 13, 2012
U.S. coal production increased in 2011 by 0.4% from its 2010 level, driven mostly by exports as domestic coal-fired electricity fell due to the affordability of natural gas, according to the U.S.’s Energy Information Administration’s weekly coal report. Of the total coal consumed in 2011, about 93% was used in the electric power sector. Much of the coal that was not used by utilities was exported from U.S. seaports. Due to flooding in Australia, the world’s largest coal exporter, the U.S. increased coal exports in 2011 to India, Japan, and South Korea. United States exported a total of 107 million tons of coal in 2011, the most since 1991 and up 31% from 2010.
Western coal production declined 1.2% to 584 million tons in 2011 while the eastern Appalachian region increased its coal production by 0.6% for a total of 338 million tons. The increase in this region’s production is mainly due to expanding export markets for metallurgical coal which reached record levels in 2011, about 70 million tons. Production from the interior of the United States rose 6.4% to 166 million tons.
Read report at http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=4970
February 13, 2011
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will likely receive a slight budget cut from the Obama administration for the 2013 fiscal year, as the organization refocuses its resources on safety and health enforcement.
In its budget proposal Monday Feb. 14, the White House recommended reducing overall funding by $1 million for the Administration making their total budget $372 million for 2013. Under the proposal, MSHA would reduce spending for non-enforcement branches that focus on education and training, information resources and program administration. The agency would also cut spending on its newly combined office that handles penalty assessments and collections, special investigations that look for potential criminal violations and reviews of how well MSHA is doing its job. MSHA’s overall staffing would down to 2,336 from 2,365.
Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/montcoal/201202130135
December 6, 2011
Federal officials have announced a settlement with Alpha Resources over the company’s liability for the April 2010 explosion in the Upper Big Branch Coal Mine that killed 29 miners. Alpha will have to pay $200M in total covering safety improvements, payments to the families of victims, and other related items; in exchange Alpha will not have to plead guilty to any of the corporate charges and the federal government has agreed to never bring such charges against Alpha.
However, there is no such indemnity agreement covering individuals within the now-defunct Massey Energy organization which owned the mine at the time of the disaster. U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said resolution of issues with Alpha allows prosecutors to focus their resources on potential cases against such individuals. This is a dramatically different outcome than the result of the investigation following the fire at Massey’s Aracoma Mine which killed two miners in 2006; in that case, the settlement barred the government from pressing charges against the company or any of its employees.
Read article at http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201112060055
December 3, 2011
As federal investigator begin to wrap up their investigation into the causes of Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, one remaining question is how much Massey Energy board members knew about safety issues before the explosion. An explosion in the Upper Big Branch Mine killed 29 miners on April 5, 2010. Investigations since by multiple agencies as well as Massey have been working ever since to identify what caused the explosion and what could/should have been done before it to prevent it.
In the year before the explosion Massey administrators were warned by experts at least three times that the mine was not properly cleaning up the explosive coal dust that detonated in the explosion. But safety reports from the administrators to the board seemed to downplay those warnings, calling the results of the audits “positive and compliance was generally good”. Other summaries to the board omitted some of the information about rock-dusting compliance and included statements saying managers “have systems or plans in place to effect changes and improvements in compliance levels.”
Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/montcoal/201112030091
October 27, 2011
While the coal industry tries to open up deep-water coal terminals on the Pacific coast of the United States to increase the export of coal to Asia, and the environmental movement tries to stop those ports developing, some of the impacts of the ports being built might be what neither side expects. On the one hand, environmentalists fear that the selling coal to China will just feed an increase in the total carbon emissions world wide, accelerating global warming. All the currently planned ports could only address 3% of China’s needs, and the sale of that coal could dramatically raise coal prices in the United States, forcing American utilities to phase out coal in favor of natural gas and renewables, which in turn may decrease US carbon emissions.
But the coal industry might also be in for a surprise: the last time coal prices spiked through international demand, Portland made a huge investment to become a coal export terminal, only to find that the international market crashed before a single ton of coal was shipped through the port, leaving the city with a very large unpaid bill.
Read article at http://www.npr.org/2011/10/27/141731707/it-s-economy-vs-environment-in-global-coal-trade
October 26, 2011
The Obama administration is floating a plan that would merge the two most significant regulatory bodies in coal mining: the Office of Surface Mining, which regulates and monitors the coal industry for safety, and the Bureau of Land Management, an office that handles many tasks including the responsibility for promoting coal mining through the leasing federal lands in the West.
While government officials say that such a merger will strengthen the Abandoned Mines program as well as mining regulations by combining the two tasks into a single office. However, others feel that the action would essentially kill the oversight capabilities of OSM. “I am concerned that OSM will be diluted, or denuded, and will not serve as the same repository of coalfield residents’ concerns,” said Nick Rahall (D-WV), the last legislator still in office who was present in Congress when the OSM was created in 1977.
Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/201110260182
September 23, 2011
Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) have requested the General Accounting Office release financial statistics about mining on Federal land, arguing that the information is crucial as Congress works on the budget and contemplates opening up new areas in the West for mining.
Rep. Grijalva says we already know that hard-rock mining, including uranium, pays no federal royalties. “How much has the taxpayer lost? How much is this land really worth? And what should be the parameters in the future in order to collect a fair return for the American taxpayer?”
Read article at http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/22325-1. Read the letter at http://grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=13&parentid=5§iontree=5,13&itemid=1097
National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, EPA/600/R-10/023F, www.epa.gov/ncea, March 2011
This report describes a method to characterize the relationship between the extirpation (the effective extinction) of invertebrate genera and salinity (measured as conductivity) and from that relationship derives a freshwater aquatic life benchmark. This benchmark of 300 µS/cm may be applied to waters in Appalachian streams that are dominated by calcium and magnesium salts of sulfate and bicarbonate at circum-neutral to mildly alkaline pH.
Improving EPA Review of Appalachian Surface Coal Mining Operations Under the Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and the Environmental Justice Executive Order. Published July 21, 2011.
May 31, 2011
The results of the April 2011 MSHA “impact” inspections have been announced, resulting in a total of 161 citations and orders being issued against eight different coal mining operations. All cited mines were in the eastern region of the US, including Shoemaker and Randolph in West Virginia, the No. 2 and #68 mines in Kentucky, as well as one mine in each of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama.
Among the worst offenders in the sweep were the Vision Coal’s No. 2 mine, which received 37 citations and orders that documented (among other things) that Vision wasn’t properly drilling bore holes to test for methane, and that it was creating a risk of a collapse by not following its ceiling reinforcement plan. Inman Energy’s Randolph mine received 25 citations, 21 of which were the most serious “S&S” citations indicating an immediate danger to the mining crew. The impact inspections grew out of an increased enforcement push by MSHA after the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine. Impact inspections target mines that have a history of violations.
Read article at http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2011/05/31/msha-announces-results-of-latest-inspection-sweeps/ and http://www.wfpl.org/2011/06/01/two-kentucky-mines-cited-in-msha-inspections/. Read MSHA press release at http://www.msha.gov/MEDIA/PRESS/2011/NR110531.asp See the list of inspected mines at http://coaldiver.org/documents/master-inspection-list-targeted-enforcement-msha-april-2011
The following documents are a leaked draft proposal for new coal mining rules to try and help decrease mining’s environmental impacts. Obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Ken Ward, Jr. of the Charleston Gazette, they provide a very early glimpse at what the rules might be.
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.
Summary of coal safety and health, released by WikiLeaks. Report RL34429
/documents/congressional-research-service-coal-mine-safety-and-health-2008
Document summarizing geology of arsenic in coal and its significance in mining and burning.
PowerPoint summarizing what is proposed in the related rule, a series of new regulations designed to decrease the prevalence of black lung disease in coal miners.
/documents/msha-proposed-black-lung-rule-presentation-summarizing-rule-2010
Lowering Miners’ Exposure to RespirableCoal Mine Dust, Including Continuous Personal Dust Monitors; Proposed Rule – 30 CFR Parts 70, 71, 72 et al.