January 14, 2011
Jeff Goodell, author of “Big Coal”, provides some context for the EPA’s decision to revoke the Clean Water permit of West Virginia’s Spruce #1 Mine.
Read article at http://www.salon.com/news/env/environment/?story=/tech/htww/2011/01/14/the_epa_and_west_virginia
January 14, 2011
Legally mandated water spraying safety systems were not functional in the Upper Big Branch Mine before the explosion on April 5th that killed 29 miners, systems that some mine safety expert say could have prevented the explosion. Witnesses have reported that
Read article at http://www.npr.org/2011/01/14/132910360/safety-system-dysfunctional-before-mine-blast
January 14, 2011
In the debate about the EPA’s veto of a Clean Water Act permit for the
Spruce No. 1 Mine in West Virginia, reporter Ken Ward Jr. for the Charleston Gazette points out that a number of incorrect “facts” have been reported and repeated among the sound bites.
Ward says “The basic idea being pushed here: The Spruce Mine got every approval needed every step of the way, cleared every regulatory hurdle required, and was ready to go — but for the meddling of those anti-coal lefties from the Obama administration. <snip> There’s just one problem … it’s not true.”
Read article at http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2011/01/14/the-politics-of-the-spruce-mine-do-facts-matter/
January 13, 2011
Arch Coal has acquired a 38% interest in the west coast terminal that is going through the approval process to become the only west coast coal exporting facility in the continental United States. Arch paid $25M for its share of the terminal which could export up to 5 million tons of coal annually to China and other Asian countries starting in 2012. Arch coal plans to ship from its Coal Creek and Black Thunder mines in the Powder River Basin, and also hopes to eventually pull in coal mined in Montana. The facility’s permitting is being fought by several environmentalist organizations and the Washington State Department of Ecology.
At the same time rival company Peabody Coal is trying to develop its own west-coast coal export terminal, though it hasn’t publicly stated where it is concentrating its efforts.
Read articles at http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/article_043c5fbf-845f-527e-934b-b82b444d1f5f.html and http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2011/01/13/news/today/news02.txt
January 13, 2011
EPA regulators have revoked the mining permit for the Mingo Logan Coal Co.’s Spruce No. 1 coal mine in West Virginia, the country’s largest surface mine. In justifying the decision, the mine’s plans to bury seven miles of streams with the overburden removed from the mine were found to be “destructive and unsustainable mining practices that jeopardize the health of Appalachian communities and the clean water on which they depend.”
While the mining operation has been in and out of litigation since 1998, the revocation is a highly unusual and controversial step for the EPA, one that it has only used 12 times in its history. A spokeswoman for Arch Coal said the company remained “shocked and dismayed at EPA’s continued onslaught with respect to this validly issued permit”; because the “dredge and fill” permits used at Spruce are fairly commonplace in mountaintop removal mining, the industry fears this could be the first of many permit revocations.
Read articles at http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201101131453 and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/13/AR2011011307095.html.
See FAQ about the Spruce Mine at the EPA.
January 13, 2011
The EPA issued Administrative Orders (AOs) against seven entities in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina during the last quarter of 2010 for violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA), including two coal mining operations. Licking River Resources, Inc. and Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Company were each cited for unauthorized discharges of wastewater associated with their surface mining and/or coal processing and preparation plants in West Liberty and Phyllis, Ky., respectively. The Mullins Branch Preparation Plant in West Liberty discharges wastewater into Mullins Branch, while the Miller’s Creek Mine Plant in Phyllis discharges wastewater into Miller’s Creek. Under the CWA, such discharges require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, and EPA has ordered each facility to cease all unpermitted discharges into waters of the United States.
Read EPA press release at http://bit.ly/hNDSGw
January 13, 2011
End of year statistics published by MSHA show that 2010 saw more than a doubling of the number of miners killed: from 34 in 2009 to 71 in 2010. Forty-eight of the deaths were in coal mines, including the 29 miners who were killed in the Upper Big Branch mine disaster on April 5, 2010. The rest of the fatalities were in metal and non-metal mines.
MSHA has taken a number of steps to try and reduce the number of mining fatalities in the future including increased regulation, targeted enforcement, and pattern of violation orders to bring the most egregious mines back into compliance, and increased responsibilities for mining companies to self-police.
Read news release at http://www.msha.gov/MEDIA/PRESS/2011/NR110113a.pdf
January 12, 2011
A federal judge has ruled that the coal-dust lawsuit can proceed against the Seward coal loading facility. Filed by the Alaska Community Action on Toxics and the Alaska chapter of the Sierra Club, the suit alleges that improper containment allow coal and coal dust to fall and blow off the conveyors and stockpiles, ending up in the bay, on boats and on buildings and streets in neighboring communities.
While Alaska Railroad and Aurora Energy Services have paid fines that top $200,000 and made attempts to contain the pollution, the coal dust just seems to keep coming, such as during a four-day wind storm that began on December 18, 2010. Webcams photographing the coal piles show clouds of dust blowing into the air; other video and still photographs show coal dust throughout Seward.
Read articles at http://sewardcitynews.com/2011/01/13/environmental-lawsuit-on-coal-facility-to-proceed/ and http://alaskadispatch.com/dispatches/news/8265-seward-coal-dust-case-can-proceed-rules-judge
January 11, 2011
MSHA has been granted a preliminary injunction against the Rosebud Mining company in a lawsuit about an inspection incidents the fall of 2010 at Mine 78 in Somerset County, PA, and the Tracy Lynne mine in Armstrong County, PA. In both cases, MSHA inspectors caught mine personnel calling down into the mine to warn miners that there were inspectors on site in spite of the MSHA inspector warning the mine staff that doing so was illegal. “The fact that workers at these two mines were cautioned against warning their colleagues underground of the presence of federal inspectors, yet did so anyway, shows a total disregard for the law.” said Patricia Smith, a lawyer for MSHA.
The injunction bars Rosebud from providing advance warning, essentially just forcing the mine to comply with the law.
Read press release at http://www.msha.gov/MEDIA/PRESS/2011/NR110111.asp
January 10, 2011
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has reached a settlement with the International Coal Group’s ICG Eastern operations over illegal selenium pollution. In the settlement ICG agrees to pay a $229,000 in fines, but the settlement doesn’t seem to actually require the company to stop illegally discharging selenium by a specific date, or even specify the exact mechanism that the mine will use to stop the discharges.
The WVDEP has already given the company two extensions (the last being April 10, 2010), and only sued after the EPA objected to a third. This led environmentalists to believe that the WVDEP was actually only suing as a way to stop a private citizen suit from seeking compliance with the clean water act.
Read article at http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2011/01/10/selenium-update-is-wvdep-stopping-or-stalling/