February 8, 2012

On Friday, Feb. 3 a Montana district judge rejected a lawsuit by conservation groups challenging the Land Board’s lease of 587 million tons of coal located in the southeastern corner of the state. The plaintiffs, Northern Plains Resource Council, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation and Montana Environmental Information Center, argued the lease sale to St. Louis-based Arch Coal Inc. guaranteed mining without further environmental studies.

District Judge Joe Hegel refuted the claim saying the state of Montana retains discretion to stop or modify plans at future dates when it leased the coal for $86 million in 2010. Hegel added the state is responsible to ensure the environment is protected if the coal is mined, referencing Montana’s permitting process through the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

Arch Coal Inc. hopes to process the state’s mining permits by 2013 and begin mining the otter coal tracts near Ashland, Mont. by 2016.

Read article at http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ap_news/montana/article_82656b9a-f168-537b-a584-67394937a4bd.html

February 7, 2012

A Montana district judge denied Musselshell County’s request to receive all gross proceeds taxes paid by the Signal Peak mine near Billings, Mont., a ruling that guarantees the neighboring Yellowstone County a portion of the coal money.

According to District Judge Jeffrey M. Sherlock, Musselshell County’s argued it sees all of the side effects by having the mine’s entrance within its borders. However, the border of Yellowstone County extends over the mine’s underground production therefore entitling the county to some share of the tax revenue,

Signal Peak Energy paid $126,909 in coal gross proceeds taxes to Yellowstone County in 2010 and $328,617 to Musselshell County.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/judge-yellowstone-county-entitled-to-share-of-signal-peak-taxes/article_11120105-a6a9-5da8-9ad0-2afc53645c02.html

February 2, 2012

Mining Safety and Heath Administration (MSHA) officials stated Wednesday that U.S.’s coal mines have made progressive steps in terms of safety, based upon a dramatic reduction in the number of accidents and injuries associated with the U.S.’s largest district in southern West Virginia.

District 4 reported 249 accidents one quarter last year, 70 percent of those being injuries. The following quarter accidents fell to 179 with about 80 percent of those being injuries. This past month only 14 accidents were reported and about half involved injury.

District 4 is also seeing a decline in MSHA citations. In district 4 there are 66 surface mines and 89 underground mines. Last year, only 21 coal mining deaths were reported nationwide — 12 at surface mines and nine underground.

Officials also stated many mining safety issues are still at large pointing to the 70 percent of anonymous hazard complaints the organization receives turn out to be true.

Read article at http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/6388f4520b3e41ed85dc2034af6d13a2/WV–Mine-Safety/

February 1, 2012

Railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) is investing $3.9 billion this year on railway upgrades due to increase coal shipments, mostly coming from the Wyoming’s Powder River basin. The proposed budget includes $2.1 billion on the core network and $1.1 billion on locomotives, freight cars and other railway equipment. Additionally, BNSF will spend $400 million in terminal, intermodal development and efficiency projects along coal shipping routes.

BNSF said, that this year’s capital spending plan is $400 million more then last years budget. The investment plan is intended to keep infrastructure updated and improve efficiency of their operations, according to BNSF.

Read article at http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-01/buffett-railroad-boosts-capital-plan-to-3-9-billion-in-coal-bet.html

February 1, 2012

Gov. Earl Ray Tombin of W. Va introduced a coal mine safety bill this week that would require operators to further restrict methane gas levels and coal dust levels.

Tombin’s bill comes in response to the 2010 methane gas and coal dust explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine, an underground mine in Raleigh County that killed 29 miners.

One measure of Tomblin’s bill would require methane monitors on longwall mining machines that would cut power to mining operations if the amount of gas exceeded acceptable levels.

The bill would also instigate mandatory drug testing for all W. Va. miners, similar to mining regulations of neighboring states like Ky. and Va. Additionally, it seeks to ensure that informers can contact state officials anonymously and report any violations.

The bill was developed with the Va. Board of Coal mine Health and safety and consultation from the states mining industry.

Read article at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57369545/w.va-gov-proposes-coal-mine-safety-measures/

January 26, 2012

Birmingham’s two breweries have become the latest organizations to ask the University of Alabama not to lease its land to the Shepherd’s Bend Mine. The Avondale and Good People brewers stated their opposition because of concerns about the mine’s proposals to be dump waste into the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River 800 feet upstream of one of the city’s major water intakes. Brewers are especially sensitive to the cost and quality of water because it is so important to the ultimate quality of the beer they produce. But other organizations, including the Birmingham Water Works itself, also oppose the mine.

The proposal, put forth by a company owned by the family of UA Trustee Garry Neil Drummand, has the bulk of the mine located on land whose surface and mineral rights are owned by the U of Alabama system. Because the mine has already secured an operational permit, the university has become a target of both proponents and opponents of the mine as it weighs whether to lease or not.

Read article at http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/01/birmingham_beer_brewers_oppose.html

January 25, 2012

In the face of stiff opposition by local environmentalists, the Port of St. Helens commissioners approved two separate lease applications for coal export terminals. The application by Ambre Energy, an Australian export company, was to allow the export of Powder River Basin coal arriving by barge to the port. The barges would be loaded further upstream at Port Morrow, and is expected to peak at eight million metric tons a year. The application by Kinder Morgan will load up to 15 million metric tons of Powder River Basin coal annually from five “unit” trains daily – trains that exclusively ship coal.

Both terminals still require state and federal permits before they are allowed to begin construction. Once at the port, coal will be loaded onto shipping vessels so that it can be sold to the expanding Asian markets.

Read article http://tdn.com/news/local/coal-in-clatskanie-commissioners-approve-port-westward-export-proposals/article_2e6ac7bc-47f4-11e1-a2da-001871e3ce6c.html

Decemeber 20, 2011

The Wyoming Business Council has asked for an independent review of the coal-to-liquids plant proposed by DKRW Advanced Fuels for Carbon County, Wyoming. DKRW has requested that the state contribute $300M in industrial bonds and the county $245M in tax-exempt bonds out of a total cost of $2B for the plant; they have already obtained $100M in investor funding and have applied for a $1.75B loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.

While the Department of Energy has given preliminary approval for the loan back in 2009, there has been no further update on the loan guarantee. Since the solar manufacturer Solyndra LLC declared bankruptcy in September, Republicans have placed increasing pressure on alternative energy loans offered through the Department of Energy such as the one DKRW is requesting.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/national/wyoming-asks-national-lab-to-review-coal-plant/article_8061dcae-fb98-54fc-86e0-bf1c67d7cb99.html

December 23, 2011

The Mining Safety and Health Administration has authorized Signal Peak’s Bull Mountains Mine to recommence underground mining operations three weeks after operations were suspended because of elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the mine. While operations had been suspended since December 1st, Signal Peak was able to avoid furloughs by shifting employees to maintenance work above ground.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/signal-peak-resumes-mining-after-stoppage-for-carbon-monoxide/article_0d872e29-5fd7-5993-bb47-251bbd82a5af.html

December 21, 2011

The Bureau of Land Management has received a second request from Signal Peak to hold a coal lease sale for mining rights adjacent to Signal Peak’s Bull Mountains Coal Mine, saying the coal in question is crucial for the future of the mine. The BLM held a coal lease sale for the mining rights earlier in the year at Signal Peak’s request, but rejected Signal Peak’s bid after determining that the company’s offer of $5.3M for 35.5M tons of coal was beneath the true market value of the resource. Because the Powder River Basin is not considered a coal-mining region, leasing of mineral rights is handled through a process called “lease by application” where a company requests what tracts the BLM leases. Often times the resulting lease auctions attract only the bid of the company requesting them and the BLM must decide whether the bid is sufficiently high to be fair market value; Signal Peak was the only bidder on the previous lease sale.

Meanwhile, mining at Bull Mountains is suspended for a fourth week because of elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the mine. While the mine has successfully reduced the CO levels by pumping nitrogen into the mine, levels still remain dangerously high. In the meantime, Signal Peak is still employing a full workforce, but has them doing maintenance work instead of mining.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/blm-to-re-offer-lease-on-coal-near-roundup/article_c48de702-2c00-11e1-99b1-001871e3ce6c.html