July 27, 2011

Signal Peak’s Bull Mountain underground coal mine has been closed by the Mining Safety and Health Administration so that the mine has time to install additional roof supports in response to roof collapses that occurred on July 18, July 22 and July 25. “Mining may resume on a limited basis once the areas of greatest concern have been re-supported while they install even more support,” said Amy Louviere, a public-relations officer with MSHA.

Two of the three falls occurred in a new section of the mine that is 800 feet down, about twice the depth of previous mining. The first fall dropped a length of 100′ of roof, and the second extended that by 20′. Both were about 600′ away from the longwall machine, the machine that actually breaks the coal away from the surrounding rock. A third was about four miles away. According to John DeMichiei, CEO of Signal Peak, thinks the falls were caused by the weight of the rock above the area being mined as well as the “rock mechanics”. While no miners were hurt in any of the three collapses, one miner was hurt installing the additional roof supports.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_1c9e1f76-da18-5010-9056-6346b04465aa.html

July 25, 2011

The Alabama Surface Mining Commission has released its first set of water quality results after the coal slurry spill at the North River #1 Underground coal mine near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. North River #1 released the contaminated water into a creek upstream from the North River. The ASMC’s test, taken four days after the July 15th spill, found that elevated levels of arsenic and lead as well as increased turbidity and levels of suspended solids in the water.

While a spokesman for the mine had previously said the spilled slurry was non-hazardous, Nelson Brooke of Black Water Riverkeeper said that the ASMC’s results prove that the spill contains a “host of pollutants.” The North River feeds into Lake Tuscaloosa, a major source of water for the Tuscaloosa metropolitan area.

Read article at http://blog.al.com/tuscaloosa/2011/07/mining_commission_releases_tes.html. See the water test results released by ASMC at http://www.cbs42.com/media/lib/124/5/e/3/5e3997ee-d68f-458c-ab61-305e4cc009ff/JWR____North_River____July_8__2011_Slurry_Spill_Water_Quality_Data_for_07_19_2011.pdf

July 21, 2011

The proposed Tongue River Railroad has a new co-owner. In a letter to the Northern Plains Resource Council, billionaire Forrest Mars announced that he had purchased a one-third stake in the railroad, acquiring the right-of-way from just south of the tracts of the proposed Otter Creek coal mine near Ashland south to the Wyoming border. This move would significantly shorten the proposed railroad, and stop the railroad from being used to service coal mines in northern Wyoming.

The original right-of-way of the railroad cut through ranch land owned by Mars. Mars had previously been strongly opposed to the railroad and was a major funder of Northern Plains’s 30 year legal fight to stop the railroad. The stake he purchased keeps the railroad from passing through his ranch; Mars has now said he will cease funding of legal challenges to it.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_42e012c8-b2a4-5062-a7c1-96b692f1707b.html

July 7, 2011

A Kansas City Southern coal train has derailed near Ashdown in Little River County, Arkansas. A total of 33 coal cars left the track, some coming perilously close to cars on nearby roads. “I saw coal cars flying and a big cloud of black coal smoke,” said one witness to the derailment. “There was a lady in a car at the crossing and she saw the train beginning to shake and she backed away in a hurry and fortunately she got away from it,” says Don Hale, with Little River Emergency Management office, but another driver had minor injuries after getting hit in the face by flying coal.

Officials from Kansas City Southern are still looking into the cause of the accident. Last year Kansas City Southern had another train derail just five miles from the site. No one was hurt in that accident.

Read article at http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=483687

July 7, 2011

The EPA has released its long-awaited Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that caps certain kinds emissions from coal-fired power plants in 27 states in the east and midwest. They replace a Bush-era standard that a court rejected as insufficient. Changes include increased regulations for smog-producing gases like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that cross state lines. The rules are projected in 2012 to reduce sulphur dioxide by 73% and nitrogen oxide by 54%.

The rules have been controversial and are slightly more stringent than originally proposed. The stricter standards are likely to force the closing of very old coal-fired power plants that have avoided the 1973 Clean Air Act by being grandfathered in. Another change was the inclusion of the state of Texas, a late addition.

Read article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576431892352096826.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

June 22, 2011

The Department of the Interior has expressed concern about a giant swap of coal-mining rights in Montana between the Northern Cheyenne tribe and Houston-based Great Northern Properties. Deputy assistant secretary Jodi Gillette of the Department of the Interior said an appraisal is necessary to ensure that the value of the two tracts is equal. According to the terms of the swap Great Northern will get nearly twice as much coal as it gives up to the Northern Cheyenne, though the parties involved consider the swap fair because not all of the coal that Great Northern will receive is mineable. Also as part of the deal, the Northern Cheyenne 40% of the revenue from any coal mined by Great Northern in the newly acquired tracts.

A major consideration for the Northern Cheyenne is that the swap would give the tribe the mining rights to lands inside their reservation. What happens next is unclear; even with 60% unemployment on the reservation, the Northern Cheyenne have traditionally avoided exploiting their mineral rights. But the pressure to develop their mineral resources have increased since the state of Montana leased the nearby Otter Creek coal tracts, and some tribal leaders have called for a referendum to gauge if public opinion has shifted.

Read article at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7622558.html

June 22, 2011

Luke W. Pugh has been sentenced to a year in jail plus three years of supervised release after admitting lying about being qualified to conduct coal mine safety inspections. Pugh conducted almost 400 such inspections between June 18, 2007 and April 28, 2009 while employed at the Pleasant Hill Mine near Mill Creek, WV.

In a separate case, Chad J. Ferrell was sentenced to five years of probation after admitting that he lied about being certified to conduct safety inspections. Ferrell conducted 489 inspections from Sept 15, 2009 to June 5, 2009 at the Poplar Ridge #1 Deep Mine near Sutton, WV.
Read article at http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=101922

June 21, 2011

Three maintenance workers trapped underground for 14 hours by a flood at the Jellico #1 Mine were able to escape after pumping lowered the water to a point that they could wade out. The workers were briefly evaluated at a local hospital and released. Jellico flooded when a collapse at the mine’s entrance let in water from a nearby drainage ditch.

The mood was upbeat as the miners arrived safely to the surface. “All three miners are out. They’re fine. Everybody is safe. No injuries,” said C.K. Lane, chief operating officer with James River Coal, the Richmond, Va.-based company that owns the mine in far southeastern Kentucky. “We pumped the water down, and they were able to walk through the water and walk on outside.” Meanwhile the mine is expected to remain closed while federal and state regulatory teams assess the damage to the mine and equipment.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/national/article_56679492-b766-592d-9aa4-54c337157799.html

June 20, 2011

Cloud Peak Energy, Inc. has won its second coal lease in two months, doubling the mineable coal available to its Antelope Coal Mine. Cloud Peak won the coal-lease sale for the West Antelope II South Coal Tract in Converse County, Wyoming, bidding $49.3M dollars for its estimated reserves of 50M mineable tons. In May, Cloud Peak won the lease-by-application for the West Antelope II North Coal Tract in Campbell County. CEO Colin Marshall estimated the pair of leases should add a dozen years onto the life of the Antelope mine.

As part of the agreement, Cloud Peak is required to pay rent of $3/acre each year, and then additional royalties on each ton of coal mined. The royalties are then split between the federal government and the state of Wyoming. The lease sale is being challenged by WildEarth Guardians, an environmental group that has criticized the fact that the Powder River Basin does not follow federal laws governing coal producing regions even though it is the largest coal-producing region in the country. WildEarth is also expected to challenge two other Campbell County coal-lease sales coming up in July and August.

Read article at http://www.rlch.org/news/blm-accepts-49m-bid-powder-river-basin-tracts

June 19, 2011

A decade-old mandate to enforce the Clear Air Act for coal-fired power plants will require 18 plants in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming to install new technologies to reduce emissions and decrease haze in surrounding areas. Utilities had already reduced plant emissions over the last decade to decrease pollution in habitable areas, the new standards target old plants previously exempted from the Clean Air Act because they were grandfathered in, and are aimed at decreasing haze in 156 national parks, wilderness areas to much lower levels still. While many think of the endless vistas of the western states, in many places haze is a major problem that can decrease visibility by more than half.

The increased enforcement is a result of an agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and three other groups, and will become final if a federal judge approves it after a mandatory 30 day comment period. “We’re getting the low-hanging fruit and we expect huge reductions from that effort,” said Gail Fallon, an EPA haze program manager based in Denver. Similar agreements in the works for many more states.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_6eb579f8-9a88-11e0-8f2d-001cc4c002e0.html