March 18, 2011

At 1:15pm on June 24, 2010, miner Bobby Smith, Jr. at the Leeco #68 Mine was operating his continuous mining machine for a right side cut. As he finished he angled the machine to the left and moved along the right side of the machine to remove some gob (loose coal). He was struck and pinned between the machine’s cable extender (electrical connection) and the wall, which also severed the electrical connection for the mining machine. When help arrived, a scoop and shuttle machine were needed to free Smith. A mine emergency technician applied CPR and an AED to try and revive the victim. He was pronounced dead a few hours later. Smith had 12 years of experience and is survived by his wife and three children.

The investigation determined that all the equipment was in proper working order at the time of the accident, and the root cause was Smith allowing himself to be positioned in the red (unsafe) zone for the equipment. In response to the investigation, the mine has agreed to install a proximity detection system on all new and rebuilt continuous mining machines.

Read fatalgram at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2010/FTL10c39.asp the fatal report bulletin at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2010/FAB10c39.asp and the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources report at http://dnr.ky.gov/OMSL%20Fatal%20Investigative%20Reports/Leeco%20Incorporated.pdf

March 17, 2011

In a legal decision with potentially far-reaching effects, the government was found to be liable under CERCLA (Superfund) criteria for the cleanup of four selenium mines in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. The case, Nu-West Mining Inc. v. United Statesfound that the government’s role in permitting, inspecting and overseeing the operations were sufficient that it became an “arranger” and an “operator”, two of the four categories of entities that can be held liable under CERCLA statutes. It was labeled an “arranger” because it owned the minerals that were being mined (since the mine was on federal land), and it was labeled an “operator” because in its oversight capacity it was involved in the operations of the mine.

The government had argued that it did not qualify either as an arranger or operator because it had only acted in an oversight role. The decision potentially gives the US Government – the largest landowner in the country – a share of cleanup costs on leased property throughout the nation.

Read article at http://www.martenlaw.com/newsletter/20110317-mining-site-cleanup-costs-liability

March 17, 2011

US Senators Joe Manchin III (D-WV), John Barrasso (R-WY) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have written a letter to the heads of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee asking for a review of the Office of Surface Mining’s proposed steam protection regulations for coal operations. The head of the West Virginia Coal Association immediately backed the call for review claiming the regulations would be paralyzing to the major coal states.

While he didn’t comment on the OSM regulations, John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV (D-WV) chose to use the moment to try and revive his efforts to declare a two-year moratorium on the EPA implementing greenhouse gas regulations, while still distancing himself from efforts led by Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to totally dismantle the EPA. “I won’t support totally dismantling the EPA, and I am disappointed with Republican efforts to bring up this legislation which has no chance of ever becoming law,” said Rockefeller “Additionally, many of us agree that Congress, not the EPA, must be the decision-maker on such a challenging issue.”

Read article at http://bdtonline.com/local/x1498154541/Coal-Association-chief-OSM-rule-crippling-to-coal

March 16, 2011

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its first national limits on the amount of mercury that power plants are allowed to emit into the air. The proposed rules were created in response to a court deadline and set legal limits for emissions of mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and acid gases. According to the press release, the changes should have large annual public health effects: stopping 17,000 premature deaths, 11,000 heart attacks, 120,000 cases of childhood asthma and 11,000 cases of the more severe acute childhood bronchitis.

The regulations are primarily aimed at forcing older coal-fired power plants to upgrade to more modern pollution control systems that can capture more than 90% of the mercury in coal before it enters the atmosphere. Currently more than 50% of operational plants already have those systems installed. Once the rules become final, plants will have four years to upgrade or shut down. The rules are the first of two steps ordered by the court that rejected the 2008 proposed mercury emissions rules; the second step is for the EPA to finalize the rules by November 2011.

Read article at http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2011/03/16/epa-issues-first-ever-standards-for-air-emissions-of-toxic-chemicals-from-coal-fired-power-plants/ and press release at http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/55615df6595fbfa3852578550050942f?OpenDocument

See the full standards document at http://coaldiver.org/documents/proposed-air-pollution-standards-for-electric-utility-steam-units-epa-2011

March 16, 2011

A class action medical monitoring lawsuit has begun in Charleston, WV pitting coal mining company Massey against children at the Marsh Fork Elementary school. Plaintiffs attorneys opened arguments by claiming that dust from the new Massey coal silo, located only 78 yards from the school, is not properly closed and its coal dust has gotten into the school and created a number of health risks children attending it including black lung disease. Plaintiffs are asking for medical monitoring for the children.

Defendants countered arguments saying that the new silo was vastly improved compared to the older one, so the fact that it was 50 times bigger and twice as close is irrelevant since the silo is not emitting dust. They also claimed that medical monitoring was unnecessary and inappropriate because no children at the school have developed black lung disease.

Read article at http://www.register-herald.com/todaysfrontpage/x740877166/Testimony-begins-in-Marsh-Fork-silo-lawsuit

March 15, 2011

The application for the first coal export terminal in Southern Washington state has been withdrawn so that the company can conduct a more thorough environmental study before it considers re-submitting a proposal. The Longview coal terminal, proposed by Millenium Bulk Logistics, was approved by the Cowlitz county board of supervisors last fall but that decision was appealed and during discovery for that appeal, internal company emails showed that the company was already making plans to ship more than 10x what it stated in its initial application.

The move today allows Millenium to avoid the appeal and to do an environmental assessment of exporting a larger amount of coal. Earlier in the week Millenium had proposed holding off shipping coal in the short term but conducting dredging and starting to import cement and alumina. However, the Washington state department of ecology and the environmental coalition that filed the appeal declined to drop the appeal.

The company says once that assessment is complete they intend to refile their application.

Read articles at http://tdn.com/news/local/article_abb5534c-4f5f-11e0-b8ef-001cc4c03286.html and http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/03/15/strategic-withdrawal-for-longview-coal-exporter/.

March 15, 2011

One environmental group is planning and another is considering an appeal to the recent decision by the Bureau of Land Management to approve the leasing of a 2000 acre site adjacent to the Black Thunder Mine in the Powder River Basin in Campbell County Wyoming. The Powder River Basin Resource Council (PRBRC), a landowner’s group based out of Sheridan, WY, is preparing its appeal. “I think a lot of the time the decisions has already been made and they’re just going through the process to justify it,” said LJ Turner, a spokesman for the PRBRC and a rancher who grazes animals on the site that has been approved for leasing. “I’ve been here all my life, and I’m not going anywhere else. I’d like to have it for the kids so it’s there — so they can do some of the things I’ve had to do.”

Wild Earth Guardians is also considering an appeal of the leasing decision, citing its concerns about the sheer tonnage of coal that is involved in the decision. The Powder River Basin currently produces about 40% of the nation’s coal in its mines and last year the Black Thunder Mine shipped coal to nearly 100 different power plants in the US including plants as far away Arizona and New York. “Once these leases are issued, the companies have the right to mine coal,” said Jeremy Nichols of Wild Earth Guardians. “So this is the go, no-go time. So we’re going to do what we can.”

Read article at http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_8d09f60b-687e-5d68-b20b-1c563a39453d.html

March 14, 2011

CONSOL energy has agreed to pay $5.5M in fines and build a $200M water treatment system to deal with a water pollution problem that killed all aquatic life in Dunkard Creek along the West Virginia/Pennsylvania border. A discharge of chlorides in 2009 was serious enough that all fish, salamanders, mussels and other aquatic life were killed. However, CONSOL was known to be in violation of the Clean Water Act as far back as 2002 because of its incomplete treatment of water that was pumped out of abandoned and flooded mines. The pumping was necessary to decrease the risk of blowouts in CONSOL’s active mines, and while the water was treated to remove some pollutants, salts were not removed which federal officials claim resulted in a massive algae bloom that killed the streamlife.

Federal, state and CONSOL officials all praise the settlement as a groundbreaking Clean Water Act settlement because it approaches the problem at the watershed level. “Mining is critical to our state’s economy, but clean water is paramount. This agreement supports both,” said Randy Huffman, secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. The settlement still requires approval of the federal judge overseeing the case.

Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/201103140432 and federal press release at http://1.usa.gov/fsmF8L

March 13, 2011

The Bureau of Land Management has approved another 222M of coal to be mined in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming making it the fourth lease approved in the last two years. The lease, situated to the west of the Black Thunder Mine is approximately 2000 acres. The lease was requested by Arch Coal, operators of Black Thunder, under the “Lease By Application” procedure that has been in place in the Powder River Basin since it was decertified as a coal producing region. Because of its proximity to the Black Thunder Mine, it is expected that Arch Coal will be the only bidder on the lease. It is expected to extend the life of Black Thunder by about a year and a half.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_e520a1d6-4dc5-11e0-b7ab-001cc4c002e0.html

March 9, 2011

The Bureau of Land Management has approved Arch Coal’s request that nearly 2000 acres be auctioned next to Arch’s Black Thunder Mine. Since the site is so small and adjacent to an existing mine it is assumed that Arch will be the only company to bid on the auction. The land is believed to hold more than 220M tons of mineable coal which is expected to extend the life of the Black Thunder Mine by about 1.6 years.

The lease sale is the fourth sale approved this year by the Bureau of Land Management for lands in the Powder River Basin. While each sale has been fought by environmental groups, in each case the BLM has determined that denying an individual lease would not current or future coal consumption, nor would it alter the percentage of electricity generated by coal power, two major arguments put forth by opposition groups.

Read article at http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2011/03/09/news/today/news03.txt