March 13, 2011

For the second year in a row, West Virginia has failed to pass a modification to the coal taxing structure that would pass a larger fraction of the tax income onto the counties where the mining actually occurs. Both the House and Senate passed similar bills to make the change happen, but an oversight clause inserted by the Senate was too controversial and the bill could not be reconciled in committee.

Delegate Steve Kominar, D-Mingo, pointed out an agreement was struck last year, but when the bill was enrolled, somehow the wrong section of code was inserted, and then-Gov. Joe Manchin was forced to veto it. “This is a new Senate and a new day,” he sighed.

Read article at http://www.register-herald.com/local/x814635203/Coal-severance-tax-dies-again

March 10, 2011

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has been the West Virginia Environmental Quality Board to revise the terms of the water permit for a proposed mine in Monongalia County. The New Hill West Mine is a 225-acre surface mining proposed by ICG subsidiary Patriot Mining. The WV DEP had previously approved a permit for the mine, but the Sierra Club appealed that decision claiming that it was necessary for the permit to set numerical limits for conductivity. The EQB agreed, sending the permit back to the DEP with an order that they include such quantitative limits within 45 days.

Electrical conductivity is an indicator of the overall health of streams and can indicate contamination by a number of common pollutants. Recent research has found increased conductivity downstream from mining operations in Appalachia, and has linked those increased levels to impaired aquatic life.

Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/MiningtheMountains/201103101044

March 9, 2011

A coalition of environmental groups led by Appalachian Voices has filed a second “notice of intent to sue” against Bardstown-based Nally & Hamilton Enterprises saying that N&H misreported testing levels of manganese, iron and other pollutants in more than 12000 individual measurements during 2008-2010. N&H is the third largest surface mine operator in Kentucky and operates mines including the Shipley Branch, Mill Branch and Carr Fork mines. The maximum fine associated with these violations is more than $400 million. N&H and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet now have 60 days to address the complaint before the coalition is allowed to sue.

The suit follows up similar complaints last fall made by the environmental coalition against ICG of Knott County and Hazard and Frasure Creek Mining, the two largest surface miners in Kentucky. In that case, the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet took over the investigation and settled it for $660,000, saying that most of the violations were just paperwork errors by contractors working for the mine operators. Appalachian Voices found 20,000 violations, each potentially carrying fines of more than $37,000. At least one environmentalist, Robert Kennedy, Jr. has called for criminal prosecutions of the violations but noted “Apparently there is no stomach by the U.S. Attorney or the Kentucky Attorney General to prosecute.” In response to the filing, N&H has refused interview requests with journalists and replaced information about the company on its website with a website of its mine reclamation work.

Read coverage at http://www.kentucky.com/2011/03/10/1663745/group-files-notice-it-intends.html, http://blogs.courier-journal.com/watchdogearth/2011/03/10/no-stomach-for-prosecution/ and http://blogs.courier-journal.com/watchdogearth/2011/03/09/coal-company-touts-reclamation/

On August 31, 2010

Brian W. Mason, a 25 year old truck driver with 16 weeks of mining experience was killed at the Freelandville Underground Mine when he lost control of the articulated truck that he was driving, went up an embankment, then crossed the back across the road and over the berm, plunging 72 feet down into the mining pit. After the fall, the driver was pinned in the cab, stopping three witnesses to the accident from helping him. After 35 minutes, rescuers were able to extract him from the cab and he was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Indianapolis, where he later died from his injuries.

While other drivers had reported that the truck involved in the accident would routinely require topping-off its brake fluid, the ultimate cause of the accident was determined to be the driver failing to maintain control of the vehicle.

Read the full report at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2010/FTL10c43.asp and the fatalgram at http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2010/FAB10c43.asp

March 9, 2011

The 1184 page Pennsylvania state budget has a surprise in it; it grants the head of the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) unprecedented authority to “expedite any permit or action pending in any agency where the creation of jobs may be impacted.” Environmentalists are concerned that this authority will come into conflict with due process rules and environmental regulations like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. “The law requires that you not pollute the waters of Pennsylvania, and if (the governor) tries to speed up an application that makes it possible that that is going to happen then I think he is clearly operating outside of his authority.” said Deborah Goldberg, an attorney with Earthjustice.

There are also concerns that C. Alan Walker, the newly appointed head of the DCED, may face conflicts of interest with his new authority. Walker is the CEO and owner of Bradford Coal, a major Pennsylvania coal company specializing in surface operations for lignite and bituminous coal, and is listed as being an executive of the Pennsylvania Coal Association. Also Walker’s companies don’t have a stellar history of environmental compliance; in 2002 three of his companies announced that they were broke and were ceasing treatment of the 175M gallons of wastewater they produced annually (they were eventually forced by a court to continue treatment as required by law).

Read article at http://www.propublica.org/article/corbett-pa-energy-exec-authority-environment

March 8, 2011

A new report has been published in the New York Academy of Sciences that tries to quantify the full cost of burning coal for electricity by estimating the cost of each step in life-cycle of coal: mining, transportation, processing and burning. In particular authors concentrated on the cost of the waste stream of each step and its hazards to health and the environment, costs that are not paid for by the coal industry but by the general public of the US. The total estimated bill is an annual $300M to more than $500M, a number if factored into utility bills, would double or triple the cost that consumers pay for electricity and would make wind and solar energy much more economically competitive.

Read articles at http://www.kentucky.com/2011/03/08/1662175/kentucky-news-review-researchers.html and http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/02/21/the_tree_party_wants_you/

Read the original paper in the Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05890.x/full

March 8, 2011

A federal judge has barred Massey from burying a stream that is part of its controversial Logan County mine. US district court judge Robert C. Chambers told Massey to suspend work on burying the 2.5 mile stretch of stream until he has a chance to review a lawsuit by Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. Chambers also scheduled a hearing on March 22 to discuss the possibility of a longer term injunction. “Once these streams are disturbed, they are destroyed, and they can’t be re-created,” the judge said during a telephonic hearing Tuesday afternoon.

In the meantime, Massey will be allowed to proceed construction work on a holding pond that was not involved in the lawsuit.

Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/201103080827

March 8, 2011

Fred Palmer, the head of the World Coal Association, says that China is technologically ahead of the US in coal in part because of its new five year plan to reduce carbon emissions relative to its GDP, that its massive reserves will make it the long-term center of worldwide coal production, and that “peak coal”, the concept that the amount of coal mined will actually start to decrease long term, is something the world will never experience.

“The Dakotas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas all have large, large amounts of lignite [brown coal],” he said. “Or in western China and Mongolia you have lower-ranked coals. So I don’t think there’s a peak coal problem. I think Xinjiang province in the west of China, where they say there’s a trillion tonnes of resources, will be the new Middle East. Anyone who has the notion that we’re going to move away from fossil fuels just isn’t paying attention.”

Read article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/08/china-coal-new-middle-east

March 7, 2011

Three more lawsuits were filed Monday against Massey Energy over the explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in April 2010. The families of Joe Marcum, Adam Morgan and Stanley Stewart filed the suits against Massey and its subsidiaries Massey Coal Services and Performance Coal. Marcum and Morgan were killed in the explosion; Stewart narrowly escaped.

The suit alleges that Massey operated the mine in a “willful, wonton and recklessly unsafe manner”, described its safety record as abysmal, and cited preliminary MSHA reports as evidence to back the claims. Massey has said that MSHA’s reports are inaccurate and that the issues cited did not contribute to the explosion. The suit also alleges that Massey officials had firsthand knowledge that all of the miners were dead but did not inform the government or families, letting them keep vigil on the site for days.

Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/montcoal/201103070521

March 7, 2011

Millennium Bulk Logistics, the company proposing to open new coal export facility in southwest Washington state, has offered to delay commencement of its export business for at least a year to conduct environmental review of the plan. The offer, an attempt to settle an appeal of it permit, was immediately labeled by environmentalists as “a deception” while the Washington state Department of Ecology is considering it.

In the interim, Millennium wants to import cement and alumina as well as maintenance such as dredging the port and repair an old dock. As for the environmental reports, they will consider the impacts of exporting the 6M tons annually that Millennium proposed in its initial permit as well as the higher export levels of 20M tons and 60M tons that were revealed in internal emails to be possible Millennium expansion targets.

Read article at http://tdn.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_cbcdfc36-4921-11e0-b022-001cc4c002e0.html