December 20, 2010

A proposed mine by Penn Ridge Coal in Western Pennsylvania could result in the damage or destruction of a historic farm that has been owned by the same family for 200 years. While the family owns the mining rights directly below the farm buildings, they sold the mining rights to the rest of the farm back in 1915 and fear that the the longwall mining could destroy or contaminate the water source for the farm and the vibrations would hurt the historic buildings.

State and federal permitting processes require analysis that includes the effects of the proposed mining on cultural or historical properties.

Read article at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10354/1112095-58.stm

December 20, 2010

An audit by the Mine Safety and Health Administration of the Maple Eagle #1 Mine in West Virginia has turned up that the mine underreported 12 injuries in its reports to MSHA. As a result of the corrected report, Maple Eagle has become eligible for potential Patterns of Violation (POV) status, which can result in much larger consequences for the mine than normal enforcement actions.

MSHA says that all mines that are close to POV status are audited carefully to ensure reporting is accurate, and the Maple Eagle misreporting was discovered in such an audit. Maple Eagle #1 is the fourteenth mine to be put on the PPOV list since MSHA stiffened POV regulations in October.

Read news release at http://www.msha.gov/MEDIA/PRESS/2010/NR101220.asp

December 17, 2010

The Usibelli mine has set a new record for production in 2010, exceeding 2M short tons for the first time in its history and sending a record 15 ships to the Pacific Rim, up from 12 last year. Sales were divided in equal parts between local markets burning coal for electricity and international customers in the Pacific Rim.

Part of the increased productivity comes from a new ship loader in Seward that can move 858 metric tons per hour instead of the previous 700 mtph, meaning that an 80,000 ton coal ship can be loaded on average a day faster than before.

Read article at http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/403879659.shtml

December 17, 2010

In a hearing today about the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s request to shut down Massey’s Mine #1, a federal judge seemed to be siding with MSHA on two key points law that it needs to close the mine. In filings, Massey’s lawyers had argued that MSHA couldn’t use it’s closure authority because it hadn’t previously found #1 guilty of Patterns of Violation status. Furthermore, they claimed that MSHA couldn’t use evidence of any citations that Massey was in the process of appealing. US District Judge Amul Thapar seemed to agree with MSHA on both points, setting a full hearing on the topic in January.

If successful, #1 will be the first time that MSHA has ever used a court order to completely take over the operation of a mine. However, the issue is complicated by the fact that Massey has announced that they are already in the process of permanently closing the mine. MSHA has stated that they are continuing to pursue the case because Massey workers will still be at risk during the shutdown operations.

Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/201012170923

December 17, 2010

A total of nine members of Congress have signed a letter to President Obama asking for a review of the EPA and US Corps of Engineers’ veto of the Spruce #1 Mine permit. The mine was recommended for a veto because it would bury seven miles of headwater streams and pollute the water supply downstream from the mine.

Those signing the letter were

• Nick Rahall (D-WV)
• Hal Rogers (R-KY)
• Rick Boucher (D-VA) — lost election in November
• Alan Mollohan (D-WV) — lost election in November
• Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
• Ed Whitfield (R-KY)
• Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
• Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
• Geoff Davis (R-KY)

Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/201012170919

December 16, 2010

Rio Tinto, which spun out Cloud Peak Energy in an IPO in 2009, has set the price to sell off its remaining shares in Cloud Peak. It hopes to raise almost $500M dollars from the sale.

The RTZ-CRA group operates the Antelope Coal Mine, the ColoWyo Mine, the Cordero Mine and the Spring Creek Coal Company.

Read article at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/mining/8207378/Rio-Tinto-announces-sale-price-for-Cloud-Peak-shares.html

December 16, 2010

Included in the tax cut bill that went through Congress this week was a special tax cut for facilities that turn coal into liquid fuel. While there aren’t currently any commercial coal-to-liquids plants in the US, there are a number of proposals on the table to build them. All are opposed by environmentalists because converting coal to liquid fuel and burning it releases twice the carbon as burning normal gasoline.

To help address this, a conversion plant would have to capture 75% of the carbon created while converting the fuel and store it long term. However, since additional carbon is also released burning the fuel, coal-to-liquids fuel is still more carbon intensive than traditional oil refining.

Read article at http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/16/1977058/liquid-coal-tax-break-riles-environmental.html

December 15, 2010

The Department of Interior has announced that it is giving out almost $400M to help states clean up abandoned coal mines. The top recipients are Wyoming ($133M), West Virginia ($51M), Pennsylvania ($47M), Kentucky ($38M), and Illinois ($17M), though a total of 28 states and 3 tribal nations will receive a portion of the funds.

The money comes out of fees levied on mining operations and will be used to correct environmental damage from previous mining, fix unstable highwalls, treat acid mine drainage and try to restore damaged groundwater aquifers.

Read article at http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Salazar-Announces-395-Million-Available-to-States-and-Tribes-for-Cleaning-Up-Abandoned-Coal-Mines.cfm

December 15, 2010

In the wake of last week’s revelation that a mine foreman at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine used a forged forman’s certification for 228 inspections, Ken Ward Jr. has uncovered a disturbing number of other instances of forged foreman card’s at Massey mines. Included in the list are:

• Craig W. Belcher, who used a forged card for a week at the Spartan Mining facility before getting caught and fired by Massey
• Scott E. Jeffrey, who used a forged electrician’s card to get a job at Massey’s Power Mountain Processing plant.
• Neil A. Hasen, who used a forged card for five inspections at Big River Mining, and now faced federal charges.
• Luke W. Pugh, who faces up to 180 years in jail for telling the operators of the Pleasant Hill Mine that he had a foreman’s certification, and then later repeating the lie to a federal investigator. He also accused of using that forged certification 541 times.
• Chad J. Farrell, who faces up to 150 years in jail for conducting more than 500 inspections with a forged license at the Poplar Ridge Mine

Read article at http://wvgazette.com/News/201012150673

December 15, 2010

The Denali Citizens Council, an environmental group based out of Healy, AK, has filed a lawsuit to stop the exploration of coal-bed methane on lands controlled by the Usibelli coal mine. The Alaska DNR awarded the exploration permit to Usibelli in June.

Read article at http://www.ktuu.com/news/ktuu-usibelli-gas-permit-lawsuit-121410,0,1689211.story