April 4, 2012

Alpha Natural Resources, the nation’s second largest coal producer by revenue announced it will be permanently closing the Upper Big Branch Mine (UBB) near Whitesville, W. Va., where 29 miners died in a mine explosion in April of 2010. Alpha purchased Massey Energy, the owner of UBB at the time of the accident, in June of 2011 while the mine was idled.

All points of entries including portals, boreholes, and mine fan shafts will be sealed with concrete to prevent future access while the disturbed surface area will be reclaimed. The work is expected to commence this summer.

Alpha is working on the plan to seal UBB with the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training.

http://www.statejournal.com/story/17337738/alpha-upper-b

April 4, 2012

Montana’s proposed Otter Creek coal mine would create 2,000 construction jobs and provide a major boost to eastern Montana’s economy, according to a new study sponsored by the Montana Contractors’ Association. Produced by the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, the study provides a look at the economic impacts of a 20 million ton mine in Powder River County near the Wyoming Border.

According to the study, a mine would help generate more than $90 million annually in tax revenues and create about 350 permanent mining jobs.

Arch Coal, Inc. of St. Louis has purchased state and private leases in the Otter Creek area but has not yet submitted a mining plan.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/industry-sponsored-study-touts-new-jobs-from-montanas-proposed-otter-creek-coal-mine/2012/04/04/gIQAf8JCvS_story.html

Faulty management and roof supports led to death of a crew leader at the Eagle no. 1 mine in W. Va., according to an investigation report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration MSHA). The Eagle no. 1 Mine is an underground coal mine, operated by Rhino Eastern Llc, located near Bolt, in Raleigh County.

In June of 2011, at approximately 1:10 a.m., Joseph Cassell, was killed, after receiving crushing injuries, when a chunk of coal and rock fell and struck him. The victim was in the process of cleaning the mine floor to make space for wooden roof supports.

MSHA reports, that the accident occurred because of “insufficient” rib bolts that prevent material from falling. MSHA adds, “The mine operator did not provide adequate guidance or oversight to an inexperienced crew, which was assigned to hazardous job tasks.”

Read report at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2011/FTL11c08.asp

March 29, 2012

A lack of proper training and safety preparation led to the death of a administrative technician working for BHP Navajo Coal Company, according to an investigation report by the Mining Health and Safety Administration.

On July 21, 2011, at approximately 9:05 p.m., Jeri L. Etsitty, 37, was killed when struck from behind by a pickup truck. Etsitty and a co-worker were walking on the mine access road for exercise, a regular practice by employees. Etsitty had over four years of mining experience.

The Navajo Mine is a large surface mine, located 16 miles southwest of Fruitland, New Mexico, and is operated by BHP Navajo Coal Company, a subsidiary of BHP Billiton located in Melbourne, Australia.

MSHA points to the absence of “pedestrians using the mine access road” in the Mine’s Safety program as a contributing factor to the accident. The investigators also found training programs did not address the hazard of pedestrians on the access road. MSHA adds,

“A prior incident on the access road alerted mine management that a written standard or procedure did not exist in the Mine’s Safety Program or training programs concerning pedestrians being present on the mine access road. Mine management failed to revise the Mine’s Safety Program and training programs. These deficiencies contributed to the accident.”

Read the preliminary report at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2011/2011C11prelim.pdf and the final report at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2011/FTL11c11.asp

March 24, 2012

In Jasper, Ala., an underground mine electrician suffered fatal injuries on Friday, March 23rd at the Shoal Creek Mine. Harold Ennis, 37, died at around 10 at night after he was electrocuted while working on a shuttle car, according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) preliminary report.

The electrician came in contact with a exposed 995 volt energized cable. The report states, “the disconnecting device was not locked and tagged out while this work was being performed.” The mine is owned and operated by the Drummond Company Inc.

This makes the 5th weekend in a row a U.S. coal miner has died while working. It is the 6th fatality in the U.S. coal mining industry this year. MSHA is currently investigating the death.

Read report at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2012/2012C06prelim.pdf

March 21, 2012

The Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration cited more coal mines owned by Alpha Natural Resources then all other publicly traded coal companies, according to a report from the corporate business intelligence group SNL financial.

The company received nearly $33 million in proposed fines from the federal agency, which put them at the top of the list for fines assessed in 2011. CONSOL Coal came in second with $6.8 million in assessed fines.

According to the SNL report, in fairness Alpha operates the most coal mines in the U.S of any public coal producer, most of which are underground where mining is more complex and requires more workers.

Alpha stated that their purchase of Massey Energy “inflated” the assessment because of the $12.4 million in citations from the 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine.

Excluding those fines, according to the report, Alpha was assessed $20.3 million still placing them far above the rest at the top.

Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/montcoal/201203210150

March 19, 2012

Coal in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin hit a two-year low Monday, March 19. A Powder River Basin short ton sold for $6.50, which is the lowest price since Sept. 29, 2009. In February 2008, coal from Wyoming sold for $16.35 a short ton. Coal producers are blaming this two year low on a mild winter and the lower natural gas prices.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/wyoming-coal-prices-hit-a–year-low/article_972da00d-3ce8-5adb-b878-803861d31420.html

March 17, 2012

An open pit surface mine in Rayland, Ohio reported a fatality on Saturday March 17, 2012. The foreman for the Salt Run Mine #1, a highwall mine, sustained fatal injuries while attaching a Caterpillar front end loader to a highwall transportation dolly. The front end loader pinched the foreman into the frame of the dolly. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by the Jefferson County coroner.

According to MSHA, this is the 5th reported death in the U.S. from coal mining operations this year. At this time in 2011, there were two coal mining deaths. The previous four fatalities included three head traumas from the
collapse of overhead rock material (W. Va, Kingston No. 2), a pipe explosion from pressure (Va. Buchanan Mine No 1), and the collapse of a canopy on a shuttle car during installation (Ky., Timber Tree No. 2). The drowning of a dockworker was the second fatality of 2012 (Ky. Calvert City Terminal).

Read report at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2012/2012C05prelim.pdf

March 14, 2012

A rugged region stretching from lower New York to northern Georgia and Alabama, Appalachia sits atop vast quantities of high-quality coal. In recent decades the coal industry has begun to extract this coal by blowing off mountaintops to expose coal seams hundreds of feet below. Where native hardwood forests once stood—one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the temperate world—behemoth dragline excavators scrape away the coal amid a dusty, sterile moonscape of rock and rubble.

Decapitating a mountain produces so much debris (called “spoil” or “overburden”) that the material can rarely be replaced in the original contour. Instead, bulldozers shove it into nearby valleys. Where mountain streams once began in the uppermost folds of the mountains, valley fills now sit instead: huge, steep-walled dams of rock, often seeping water laden with toxic chemicals and heavy metals. When mining concludes, the broad plateau that remains is spread with a thin layer of soil, planted with trees or non-native grasses, and pronounced reclaimed.

Rick Handshoe, who  lives on the battle line states – “They’re destroying the mountains, ancient mountains that took hundreds of millions of years to form, destroyed quickly by human machinery. ”   Although Handshoe and many like him are tired, angry, and outgunned, they are fighting back.

Read article at: http://www.uscatholic.org/culture/environment/2012/03/though-mountains-may-fall-cost-mountain-top-removal

A fatality report released by the Mining Safety and Heath Administration (MSHA), blames mine management for the October 2011 death of a miner in Partridge, Ky.

Richard Coots, 23, died from asphyxiation after a bridge conveyor dislodged and pinned him against the mine floor. Coots was a repairman at the time, working underground in Owlco Energy LLC’s Mine No.1. He had five years of previous mining experience but was only on his fourth week as a repairman for the mine.

MSHA’s investigation of the incident revealed Coots’ training at the time was up-to-date, however, there were some deficiencies in the techniques for blocking and stabilizing raised equipment. In tandem with deficient training, according to MSHA, was the failure of the mine’s management to ensure raised equipment was properly blocked against motion before allowing miners to work beneath it. These two factors outlined in MSHA report were addressed by the mine through newly written procedures for stabilizing equipment and proper training for all employees.

Read article at http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/08/2101287/lawyer-seeks-more-citations-after.html and the official MSHA report at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2011/FTL11c16.pdf