December 9, 2011

Signal Peak’s Bull Mountains Mine in Roundup, MT, remains closed for a second week as the mine struggles to control its levels of carbon monoxide by pumping nitrogen into the affected areas. Safety engineers from the Mining Safety and Health Administration are scheduled to arrive Thursday to try and evaluate the mine’s ventilation plans; there is no schedule for reopening the mine. In the meantime, all 300 mine workers are working above ground and no layoffs are planned.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/mining-at-signal-peak-on-hold-due-to-dangerous-gas/article_84a2d63a-21a5-11e1-942a-0019bb2963f4.html

December 8, 2011

The EPA has announced that it plans next spring to release its decision about the pollution control mechanisms that it will require of the Navajo Generating Station, but that it expects that nobody will be happy with what it says and that the decision will end up in court. The NGS, a massive 2250MW power generator on the Navajo Reservation in NE Arizona, burns all the coal produced by the nearby Kayenta Coal Mine, and any decision on the plant will be tightly linked with the future of the mine.

NGS is one of three major power plants in the area, all of which have recently been reviewed by the EPA for compliance with the regional haze rule. The EPA already released the pollution controls for the Four Corners Power Plant and the San Juan Generating Station. Navajo’s draft ruling is expected out later this month.

Read article at http://www.daily-times.com/ci_19498335

December 7, 2011

A highwall collapse at a surface mine in Wise County, VA killed an excavator operator from Kentucky on Wednesday, December 7, 2011. The victim was identified as Richard Yonts a 49-year-old, with 20 years of mining experience. Yonts was removing loose rock from a roadway at the Fairbanks Coal Company Number 4 surface mine when the highwall broke crushing the excavator.

The Mine safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is currently investigating the accident but are recommending excavator operators work perpendicular to highwalls rather than parallel as was the case with Yonks. The MSHA also recommends highwalls be extensively examined for cracks and geological discontinuities before any excavation work initiates.

Read article at http://www.msha.gov/fatals/2011/FAB11c23.asp

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

A bulldozer operator for Oxford Mining Co LLC, suffered fatal injuries on Dec. 3, 2011 after a 90-foot fall off the highwall of the Oxford Mining #3 surface mine in New Lexington, Ohio. Jeff Bishop, 57, was moving topsoil from the bench of the mine to clear room for another explosion when his bulldozer travelled over the highwall into the pit below ejecting him from the machine. Bishop was not wearing a seatbeat and died three days later on Dec. 6, 2011 from sustained injuries. He had 18 years of mining experience.

The Mine safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is currently investigating the accident but recommend all machinery operators wear seatbelts at all times while making sure they are properly maintained. MSHA also states, equipment operators should use spotters or mark limits of travel with pylons or reflectors to clearly define the edge of highwalls. According to the MSHA fatalgram, “this is the 22nd fatality reported during calendar year 2011 in the coal mining industry. At this time in 2010, there were 43 coal mine fatalities. This is the 8th Machinery fatality in 2011. At this time in 2010, there were 3 Machinery fatalities.”

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

December 2, 2011

At least 75 people staged a protest at the corporate offices of the Salt River Project in Tempe, AZ complaining of the environmental and health problems that result from coal mining at Peabody Energy’s Kayenta Mine and the burning of coal at SRP’s Navajo Generating Station. A letter from Black Mesa resident Louise Benally explained “coal mining has destroyed thousands of archeological sites and our only water source has been seriously compromised. Their operations are causing widespread respiratory problems, lung diseases, and other health impacts on humans, the environment, and all living things.”

SRP spokeswoman Patty Garcia-Likens said “we have worked diligently with Native American tribes for years throughout Arizona”, that 82% of NGS employees were Navajo tribal members, and that plant owners provide thousands of dollars in scholarships each year to the tribe.

Read article at http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2011/12/02/20111202tempe-srp-coal-mining-protesters-arrested.html

December 1, 2011

Houston-based DKRW Advanced Fuels has landed a contract to sell gasoline from its proposed coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant in southeastern Wyoming, calling the contract one of the first major CTL commercial agreements in the
United States. Vitol Inc. has agreed to purchase more than 10k barrels of gasoline a day, which would be produced from coal mined nearby the plant.

DKRW’s plant has received many of the permits that it needs to open, including some that had been challenged all the way to the Wyoming Supreme Court. Though it still awaits a loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy, which it applied for in 2009, it has already begun preliminary site work and hopes to open in 2015.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/wyoming-coal-to-liquid-plant-lines-up-gasoline-buyer/article_e432ce92-1c9c-11e1-b114-001871e3ce6c.html

December 1, 2011

Signal Peak’s Bull Mountains Mine suspended work on Thursday when carbon monoxide levels exceeded 125ppm in a previously mined tunnel. Forty-five miners were evacuated during the closure, but the mine said they would be reassigned to other jobs on the surface until the carbon monoxide levels subsided.

Levels of carbon monoxide above 125ppm must be reported to the Mining Safety and Health Administration, which must then decide when the mine is safe to re-enter. Signal Peak expected MSHA to give an order allowing the mine to send in 16 workers to try and dissipate the carbon monoxide by pumping nitrogen into the affected area, but no timetable was given for the resumption of normal operation.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/signal-peak-coal-mine-shuts-down-temporarily/article_f29ce24c-a585-52e4-b35d-a7577c9d3d56.html

November 23, 2011

Level 3 Communications has announced that it has sold its interest in the Decker Mine and a few other inactive coal mines in southeastern Montana. While Level 3’s primary business is IP telephone services, they came into ownership of the mines because of they originated as a division of Peter Kiewit Sons.

The buyer of the assets is Ambre Energy Limited, an Australian company that has made news recently with their attempt to open a new coal export terminal in Longview, Washington. The terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Read article at http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2011/11/23/level-3-gets-out-of-the-coal-mining.html