April 4, 2014

Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway of North Carolina denied Duke Energy’s motion to shield records associated with groundwater pollution that has been leaking from 33 coal ash dumps throughout North Carolina. A criminal investigation is continuing involving Duke’s February coal ash spill that spanned 70 miles of the Dan River.

Duke Energy lawyers were concerned that these records of leaching coal ash from company dumps could present the company in an unfavorable manner and thereby influence grand jury members involved in the criminal proceeding.

 Read article at http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2014/04/04/nc-judge-denies-duke-motion-to-seal-coal-ash-docs

April 2, 2014

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia publically accused former Massey Energy CEO Donald Blakenship of having “blood on his hands” associated with the Upper Big Branch mine in which 29 coal workers were killed in an explosion in April 2010. Senator Manchin was the governor of West Virginia at the time of the Upper Big Branch tragedy.

Allegations have been made that high ranking officials within Massey Energy including Blankenship encouraged and employed practices of warning mine workers ahead of time that a safety inspector would be coming to the mine. Investigators are claiming that the tragedy in which 29 coal workers lost their lives could have been avoided if the mine had followed proper mine safety protocol.

 Read article at http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-senator-coal-boss-don-blankenship-blood-hands/story?id=23162460

March 28, 2014

The North Carolina state Department of Environment and Natural Resources recently cited Duke Energy with a notice of deficiency for a crack in a dam located at the Cape Fear River plant coal ash pit.

Allegations have been made that Duke Energy illegally pumped over 61 million gallons of contaminated water from the coal ash pit located at the Cape Fear River plant.

 Read article at http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ap_news/us/article_08fb76c6-ec66-563b-9580-593dcf869efc.html

March 27, 2014

A coal miner from Indiana was killed while working at the Gibson Mine owned by Alliance Resource Partners. This is the third coal mining related fatality of the 2014 calendar year.

The victim was working on an Auxier Welding Inc. belt feeder when the cat frame pivoted upward and pinned the victim between the cat track and the frame of the feeder.

 Read article at http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2014/03/27/another-coal-miner-dies-on-the-job-9/

March 24, 2014

Arch Coal suffered a set back today when the United States Supreme Court declined to hear their challenge to the Obama administration’s blockage of an environmental permit for the Spruce No. 1 mining project in West Virginia.

The EPA in an unprecedented move vetoed a permit for Arch Coal despite the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers had given approval for the mine. The permit would have allowed Arch Coal to discharge coal associated waste into local waterways.  The case will now be returned back to the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Read article at http://www.cnbc.com/id/101519586

See document at

http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Mingo_121613NAHBAmBr_SCOTUS_20140203124759.pdf

March 6, 2014

The U.S. Congress passed House Resolution 3826, The Electricity Security and Affordability Act, which would block the EPA’s first-ever national carbon pollution limits of America’s power plants. The bill would curb limits on coal production and passed in the House by a vote of 229-183.

The impact of this bill if it is to be passed in the Senate and not vetoed by President Obama would essentially paralyze the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act by creating a massive loophole that allows America’s power plants to continue releasing unregulated amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

 Read article at http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/06/usa-congress-powerplants-idUSL1N0M31AR20140306

March 5, 2014

Alpha Natural Resources, and 66 of its subsidiaries have been fined $27.5 million, the largest civil penalty ever for violations of the Clean Water Act associated with over 6,000 coal related violations in five states ranging from 2006 to 2013. Additionally, Alpha will pay $200 million under a consent decree to alleviate pollution from their coalmines in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Some people have regarded these penalties as not specific enough since these penalties do not address the fundamental problems of high pollution associated with the coal mining techniques such as mountain top removals in the Appalachians. Many would like to see that the E.P.A. stop issuing permits that coal companies simply are unable to comply with. The concern is that levying fines after the pollution occurs does not protect the communities and waterways that are already harmed.

 Read article at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/us/coal-firm-to-pay-record-penalty-and-spend-millions-on-water-cleanup-in-5-states.html?src=twrhp&_r=0

February 25, 2014

A coal train derailed on Monday evening with 29 of the 115 cars going off the tracks. The incident caused coal to be strewn out from the 29 cars all over the ground surrounding the tracks. The increase of coal trains through the Montana area has dramatically increased in the past year.

The coal was being transported from the Powder River Basin out of the Cordero Rojo mine. The mine is owned and operated by Cloud Peak Energy and was being transported to Minnesota.

 Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/cars-on-coal-train-derail-east-of-terry/article_ba16b1c6-3b1e-5f6a-9808-75f0bf3abbda.html

February 21, 2014

A 24-year-old coal miner from Virginia was killed while working at the Dominion Coal Corp. Mine No. 30 in Southwestern Virginia. The mine is owned and operated by SunCoke Energy.

Arthur David Gelenster was operating a machine called a continuous miner to extract coal when he was pinned by the machine and subsequently died as a result of his injuries. This is the second recorded coal mining fatality of the 2014 calender year.

Read article at http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/21/virginia-coal-miner-pinned-by-machine-killed/

 

February 18, 2014

Officials in North Carolina reported that high levels of arsenic are polluting groundwater flowing into the Dan River from a Duke Energy coal ash dump. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources ordered Duke Energy to halt the hazardous flow coming out of the coal ash dump. It is being reported that the water being released from the coal dump contains arsenic levels up to 14 times higher than what is safe for human contact.

This leakage of unacceptably high levels of arsenic is located in the same area of the Dan River where a massive spill occurred on February 2^nd.  The Dan River contains two federally listed endangered species, the Roanoke logperch fish and the James spinymussel. The effects of coal ash are devastating for aquatic life, which clogs gill tissues and buries aquatic life and their access to food.

 Read article at http://www.cbsnews.com/news/officials-unsafe-levels-of-arsenic-from-duke-energy-coal-ash-dump-pouring-into-river/