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Most recent coal mining news items

Mining the Truth on Coal Supplies

By Mason Inman – National Geographic News – September 8, 2010

No matter how bad coal might be for the planet, the conventional wisdom is that there is so much of it underground that the worldâ€™s leading fuel for electricity will continue to dominate the energy scene unless global action is taken on climate change.

But what if conventional wisdom is wrong?

A new study seeks to shake up the assumption that use of coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is bound to continue its inexorable rise. In fact, the authors predict that world coal production may reach its peak as early as next year, and then begin a permanent decline.

Upper Big Branch miner reported coal dust on belts

32 minutes after call to surface, 29 miners killed
By The Associated Press – September 12, 2010

BECKLEY, W.Va. — About the time Michael Elswick was wrapping up work deep inside the Upper Big Branch mine, he phoned a colleague on the surface with an ominous if relatively routine report.

Three conveyer belts needed to be sprinkled with pulverized stone to cover a layer of combustible coal dust and reduce its danger, the veteran coal miner said, according to a copy of a log book The Associated Press obtained through an open records request.

Coal mine threatens Inlet setnetters

LAINE WELCH – FISHERIES – Published: September 11th, 2010 07:42 PM

KODIAK — A call is out for public comments on a request to extend exploration permits for what would be Alaska’s largest coal mine. The permits would be for the Chuitna Coal Strip Mine, proposed for the west side of Upper Cook Inlet by Delaware-based PacRim Coal.

The extension request is routine as the permits must be updated every two years, according to project director Dan Graham. He said comments should be sent to the state Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mining, Land and Water by Sept. 24.

Part of Federal No. 2 shut down by imminent danger order

Patriot Coal Provides Update on Third Quarter
ST. LOUIS, Sept 10, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ —

Regarding Federal, on September 8, the mine received an imminent danger order issued by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration relating to a methane level of just over five percent near a gob area of the longwall tailgate entry, causing the longwall to be idled. The Company expects the longwall to return to production early the week of September 13. Continuous miner sections at the Federal mine were not affected by the order and remain in operation.

Environmentalists File Suit to Stop Removing Blair Mountain from National Registry

Press Release, September 9, 2010

The Sierra Club, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), Friends of Blair Mountain and the West Virginia Labor History Association filed a legal challenge today to reverse the decision by the National Park Service to remove the Blair Mountain Battlefield from the National Register of Historic Places. Filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., the lawsuit alleges that the decision to delist Blair Mountainâ€”the site of a famous 1921 battle in Logan County, West Virginia, involving 10,000 coal miners and law enforcement officials clashing over the right to unionizeâ€”was arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to the National Park Serviceâ€™s own regulations.

In 2006, Dr. Harvard Ayers, an Appalachian State University archeologist and member of the Friends of Blair Mountain, found a total of 15 different battlesites within the Blair Mountain Battlefield. â€œThe area contains a number of archaeological sites, many of which have yet to be adequately studied. These sites are in danger of being permanently destroyed unless the Park Service returns Blair Mountain to the National Register,â€ said Dr. Ayers. â€œCoal companies have acquired a portion of the battlefield and have shown their willingness to play hardball to keep the site open to surface mining despite the clear historic value of the Blair Mountain Battlesite.â€

American Power Corp. Update on Development of Pace Coal Property

Press Release Source: American Power Corp. On Tuesday September 7, 2010

Up until 1921, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway Co. mined in excess of 1.3 million tons of coal from the Lehigh mine located at the heart of American Power’s Pace Coal Project. At that time, the mined coal was transported by railway to other parts of America. American Power now plans to carry out confirmatory exploration work with the goal of re-establishing production on the property, and deliver coal to power plants and/or coal gasification projects over the established railway network.

“The Pace Coal Project already has substantial infrastructure in place,” said Al Valencia, CEO of American Power, “including a Federal highway, electrical transmission lines, and the BNSF railway running through our property. Having access to an established railway transport solution like this is vital to economic coal production and delivery, and we intend to take all steps necessary to develop the Pace Coal Project as needed on our end so we can commence operations as soon as practicable.”

Massey’s access to mine after blast questioned

2 from coal firm were underground alone for 4 hours

By Ken Ward Jr. — September 3, 2010

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A lawyer for the families of two miners who died in the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster demanded Friday to be present when government investigators interview two Massey Energy Co. officials who spent four unsupervised hours underground immediately after the deadly April 5 explosion.

In a letter to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, attorney Mark Moreland said the disclosures about Massey officials Chris Blanchard and Jason Whitehead have “impugned the credibility of physical evidence” in the mine.

Judith Basin coal tract would likely need underground mine

Associated Press | Posted: Friday, September 3, 2010

The chief executive of a Denver company that bought a large Montana coal tract says any development of the reserve would likely involve an underground mine and require a rail spur.
…
He says the company will spend the next year determining the mining potential for its 29,000 acres of mineral rights in Judith Basin County. The reserve is estimated to hold from 170 million to more than 410 million tons of coal.

Judge orders Patriot to clean up selenium discharges

By Ken Ward Jr. – August 31, 2010

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal judge on Tuesday held Patriot Coal in contempt of court and ordered the company to install equipment to clean up selenium pollution at two of its operations in Southern West Virginia.

U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers gave Patriot’s Apogee Coal subsidiary 2 1/2 years to install treatment systems at its Ruffer Mine in Logan County and at the Hobet 21 complex along the Boone-Lincoln county border.

DRC TELLS FEDS: STEP UP RECLAMATION WORK

Dakota Resource Council urged the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) last week to take a close look at a possible coal mining application near South Heart and a pattern of long delays in meeting state and federal reclamation standards at North Dakota coal mines.
The â€œhydrological consequencesâ€ of mining near South Heart are of special concern, DRC said in its comments to OSMâ€™s Casper Field Office, because the area relies on shal- low livestock wells that would be disturbed by surface mining.