March 8, 2012

The Powder River Basin  is one of the United States’ biggest energy producing hubs,  stretching from south-east Montana to north-east Wyoming, extracting  about 400 million tonnes of coal annually from the Wyoming portion alone,   but with the price of natural gas plummeting in recent years due to massive over-supply,  the economic boom is all but over.

Powder River Basin Resource Council organizer Jill Morrison has stated  – “The mining boom has left behind an endless trail of broken promises and ranchers were just collateral damage.   The government’s environmental protection and regulation agencies like the DEQ were supposed to protect landholders’ rights and ensure natural resources were not decimated by the impacts of mining by enforcing State and Federal laws.  There has been an ongoing argument among the oil and gas companies over who was causing damage to underground water supplies, streams and farmland with saline water discharged from the gas wells.  Many of the mining companies have since gone bankrupt,  leaving the State of Wyoming carrying the cost of plugging and reclaiming the wells of those failed enterprises.”

Read article at:   http://sl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/general/when-a-power-hub-powers-down/2480685.aspx?storypage=0

March 7, 2012

Consol Energy Inc. a Pittsburgh-based company announced Tuesday, March 6, major cutbacks in production for its Buchanan Mine in Oakwood, Va. The company stated it will idle the longwall mining unit and reduce other mining operations to only five days a week instead of seven and Therefore, coal production will approximately be reduced to 295,000 tons per month.

The cutbacks are completely market driven, according Consol. Apparently, the market is saturated with an increase in supply and decrease in international demand for metallurgical coal. Consol also stated there will be no layoffs but overtime hours have been reduced.

As of now, there is no date set for resuming operation of the longwall mining unit but prior production should resume as the demand in the coal markets increases. The Buchanan mine is not the first Consol has idled due to a decreased demand for coal. Blacksville No. 2 Mine, a thermal coal mine in northern West Virginia, went idle last week.

Read article at http://bdtonline.com/local/x1511869056/Consol-Energy-reduces-continuous-mining-and-coal-production-longwall-idled

March 6, 2012

On Tuesday, March 6, the U.S. Mine Safety and Heath Administration released its internal review of the agency’s actions before and after an explosion that killed 29 miners on April 5, 2010 at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.

The review identified numerous shortcomings of the agency’s District 4 inspection and plan approval processes including lack of experience and oversight of federal mine inspectors and their ability effectively outline and enforce the law. The review even points to budgetary constraints in 2006 that led to a lack of resources and experience
in personnel.

According to the review, after April 2010, MSHA put forth nine corrective actions to address the identified shortcomings;

• An emergency temporary standard, which became a final rule in June 2011, that increased the minimum combustible content of mine dust to at least 80 percent throughout a coal mine.
• A strengthened potential pattern of violations program to hold mine operators more accountable for safety and health conditions.
• Proposed rules that would revise the agency’s existing regulation for pattern of violations, address the continuing risk of coal miners’ exposure to respirable coal mine dust and require improved examination of work areas by underground coal mine operators.
• Impact inspections that target mines with a history of noncompliance.
• Program information bulletins on compliance with ventilation regulations, illegality of advance notification, the right of miners to make hazardous condition complaints and legal protections against discrimination.
• The creation of District 12 to provide additional resources in conjunction with District 4 in southern West Virginia.
• Mandatory and refresher training for field office supervisors and inspectors.
• Upgrading computer systems and equipment at the National Air and Dust Laboratory in Mt. Hope, W.Va.
• Creating top level oversight of special enforcement initiatives, including accountability audits, impact inspections, POV and flagrant violations, and a tool on all inspectors’ laptop computers to flag potentially flagrant violations.

Read report at http://www.msha.gov/MEDIA/PRESS/2012/NR120306.asp and article at http://wvgazette.com/News/201203060076

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 29, 2012

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Cheyenne, Wyo. offered 400 million tons of Powder River Basin coal for lease on Feb. 29 and rejected the lone bid of $362 million, stating it was below the reserves estimated fair market value. The bid was Wyoming’s largest received bid for coal reserves in the last seven years.

The bidder, BTU Western Resources, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp was seeking access to the South Porcupine Coal Tract next to Peabody’s North Antelope Rochelle Mine. The winning bids in the last three BLM coal lease sales in Wyoming all have been at least 95 cents per ton. BTU Western Resources’ bid of 90 cents per ton was less than the winning bid of $1.35 per ton at the last Wyoming coal lease sale in December.

Over the past year, the BLM has sold the right to mine 982 million tons of federal coal in Wyoming for slightly more than $1 billion, which is split evenly between the federal government and the state.

Read article at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57388125/blm-rejects-biggest-wyo-coal-bid-in-7-years/

February 28, 2012

The U.S. Bureau of Land management (BLM) accepted a $10.65 million bid for 35.5 million tons of publicly owned coal located about 50 miles north of Billings, Montana in Musselshell County on Feb. 28.

Signal Peak Energy, the operator of the Bull Mountain Mine No. 1 near Roundup, Mont. submitted an application for the coal lease in March of 2008. The five BLM coal parcels, now leased to Signal Peak Energy are within the life of the mine plan and are integral to the mine’s continued operations, according to the mine operator.

The company’s winning bid of around 30 cents per recoverable ton was double their original November bid — a bid the BLM had rejected as inadequate. Signal Peak was the lone bidder in both lease sales. The Bull Mountain Mine No. 1 is owned by three investment groups, Boich Co., FirstEnergy, both of Ohio and the Gunvor Group an international energy commodity trader, based mainly in Europe.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/blm-accepts-nd-signal-peak-coal-bid/article_c9f9579c-b30f-5d01-8f43-25900b6df283.html

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 18, 2012

A group of five environmental organizations have filed an appeal that challenges the U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM) decision to renew a permit for Ariz.’s Kayenta Mine operated by Peabody Coal Company. The group includes, To Nizhoni Ani, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Dine C.A.R.E, Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity.

In January, OSM approved a five-year operating permit for the 40-year-old mine, which is located on two Native American Reservations, the Navajo and Hopi. OSM’s environmental assessment found no significant impact.

The group’s appeal argues OSM didn’t consider data and analysis that demonstrates declining of local water levels and quality from mining operations. The appeal also questions whether OSM followed environmental laws regarding adequate bonding for mine reclamation.

The mine supplies around 8.5 million tons of coal to the Navajo Generating Station in northeastern Arizona.

Read articles at http://ktar.com/6/1503580/Groups-appeal-renewal-of-Ariz-coal-mining-permit and http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/news_display/1607135841.html

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