January 1, 2011

2010 was a landmark year for the coal industry, but not in a positive way. In spite of coal being responsible for nearly half of the electricity generation in the US, and with many older coal plants being retired to avoid expensive clean-air retrofits, 2010 was the second year in a row where no new coal plants began construction in the entire United States. This compares with an average of more than two new starts per year for the years 2000-2008.

Kevin Parker, a senior official of Deutsche Bank put it this way: “Coal is a dead man walkin. Banks won’t finance them. Insurance companies won’t insure them. The EPA is coming after them. . . . And the economics to make it clean don’t work.” However, industry officials disagree with that analysis.

Read article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/01/AR2011010102146.html

December 30, 2010

The Washington State Department of Ecology has ruled that the Cowlitz County Commission erred in granting a license to export coal from the Port of Longview because it failed to take into account greenhouse gas emissions that would result outside Cowlitz County as a result of exporting coal.

The ruling is not the final verdict on the license; several environmental groups had appealed the county commission’s decision to the Shoreline Hearings Board; the appeal is currently scheduled to be heard in the spring.

Read article at http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/another-setback-for-a-west-coast-coal-port/

December 30, 2010

Near Hindman, KY you can drive out of town to a vast flat clearing where there used to be a mountain. Now the Knott County Sportsplex, it is touted by coal industry supporters as an example of proper mine reclamation and the kinds of economic benefit that can occur after a coal seam has run out.

But data gathered by the Associated Press shows that Knott County Sportsplex is more the exception than the rule, with only a small percentage of former mines being transformed into new developments such as businesses, golf courses, prisons and so on. Of more than 345,700 acres in Eastern Kentucky that have been approved for a specific post-mining use, only 1.8% (6300 acres) has been labeled “commercial”, “residential” or “industrial”; in West Virginia, about 85000 acres has been permitted for coal mining since 2001, and just over 6000 acres have been designated for industrial/commercial, public service or residential development.

Read article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40853581/ns/us_news-environment/

December 30, 2010

One wrinkle has emerged in the investigation and legal actions to close Massey/Freedom Energy’s Mine #1 in Pike County, Kentucky; of the 11 regulators that are investigating the mine for the Department of Labor and MSHA, four are former employees of Massey, the very company that they’re investigating.

Terry Mike Jude is a ventilation expert for MSHA who worked for Massey as an industrial engineer from 04-06. Dwight Bostic came to MSHA in 05 after working numerous jobs for Massey including as chief electrician. Randy Newsome worked as an underground foreman and mining engineer for six years before joining MSHA in 03. Noah Rose worked in industry for 25 years, including for Massey in 94-03.

Read article at http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/12/30/in-landmark-enforcement-case-msha-turns-to-former-massey-employees-for-expert-testimony/

December 29, 2010

Frustrated with delays in the approval of coal mine applications by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Gary Howell, a delegate to the WV legislature, has proposed the “Intrastate Coal and Use Act”. This act would take away the coal mine permit authority from the EPA and grant it to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection as long as the mines to be permitted intended for all of their coal to remain in state. However, Howell says that the standards used by the WV DEP would still be the same as the EPA.

Howell claims that the EPA’s authority to regulate mining relies on the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution; by only certifying mines that sold their coal exclusively in-state, he feels there is no interstate commerce and thus no authority for the EPA to grant the permits. The West Virginia Coal Association has been supportive of Howell’s efforts, and Howell has received inquiries about his bill from legislators in Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia. The EPA did not comment on the bill.

Read article at http://times-news.com/local/x2131358023/Delegate-proposes-coal-permit-act

December 27, 2010

Western Mine Services, a mining repair company based in the heart of the Powder River in Gillette, WY, has recently made a shift from repairing equipment to actually building it themselves. Their latest creation: a prehistoric creature-looking, 53 cubic yard bucket for a dragline at the Signal Peak Mine in Montana. When on its side, it’s 15 feet tall, weighs 43 tons empty, and each of its teeth is more than a foot long.

WMS also just finished a different coal dipper for the Cordero Rojo Mine.

Read article at http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2010/12/27/news/yesterday/news03.txt

December 27, 2010

With China tripling its consumption of electricity by 2035, the great majority of that electricity coming from coal, and internal production problems, major mining companies in the Powder River Basin are chomping at the bit to start selling their product to Asia. But the logistics of moving coal 10000 miles are not simple and will require an expansion of ports on the West coast, as well as some relief for overloaded railroads in western US. Environmentalists, concerned that selling to China will make an end-run around domestic environmental regulations, are promising to block such expansion.

Read article at http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/article_c721c19d-55a6-5fe6-9d83-606f1926a67c.html

December 26, 2010

In the late 1990s, Arch Coal came to the realization that their Central Appalachian resources were losing so much ground to mines in the Powder River Basin that they needed to acquire mining resources in the PRB themselves. Arch’s move to the PRB has exemplified the move of the coal industry as a whole and has been driven by a number of different factors, chiefly that PRB coal is cheaper to mine because it’s much closer to the surface and is cheaper to burn because it produces less acid-rain-producing sulfur which in turn requires less pollution control mechanisms for the power plants that burn it.

However, in the same way that Appalachian coal became more expensive to produce because the most easily extractable coal had been extracted, the same process is happening in the PRB; to extract a ton of coal used to moving a cubic yard of rock, but now it takes moving almost four yards. To cope, companies are turning to technology such as higher capacity equipment and GPS tracking to raise efficiencies in the mines.

Read article at http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/article_20accdbe-1409-5d60-a95b-d528c969bf56.html

December 26, 2010

Alaska has been shipping record amounts of coal in the last few years, and demand for exports from China and other Asian countries promises those numbers will rise even further. To satisfy this need, developers have pushed to open up new exploration and mining, with two new strip mines under consideration as well as an expansion at Usibelli. Chuitna alone could increase the amount of coal exported by a factor of twelve.

But these development and expansion plans are triggering an intense debate in the communities that would be most affected, uncovering local fears about mega corporations moving into their communities, air pollution, damage to salmon streams and increased industrial traffic.

Read article at http://www.adn.com/2010/12/25/1619772/alaska-coal-creates-demand-opposition.html

December 22, 2010

Rio Tinto has sold all of its shares in Cloud Peak Energy, generating more than $570M in income. The sale was consistent with Rio Tinto’s policy to sell off non-core assets to pay for the acquisition of Canadian aluminium group Alcan.

Cloud Peak owns and operates the Antelope, Cordero Rojo and Spring Creek coal mines in the Powder River Basin. They also have a 50% interest in the Decker Mine in the PRB.

Read article at http://www.miningweekly.com/article/rio-tinto-sells-entire-stake-in-cloud-peak-energy-2010-12-22