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Most recent coal mining news items

Mine cleanup at new Scout site to cost $12 million

By Ken Ward Jr. – August 23, 2010 – The Charleston Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State regulators will spent up to $12 million over the next three years to clean up abandoned coal mine sites at the future location of the Boy Scouts of America’s National Jamboree in Fayette County, the Department of Environmental Protection announced Monday.

DEP officials said the money, from the federal Abandoned Mine Lands program, would reclaim dangerous highwalls, exposed mine portals, old refuse piles and abandoned concrete structures left from mining in the area prior to 1977.

Gazette opinion: New federal ed money ought to go directly to schools – Billings Gazette

Posted: Sunday, August 22, 2010 12:00 am

The latest federal jobs bill will send tens of millions of dollars to Montana in the first six months of 2012, with the money intended to aid public K-12 schools and Medicaid, according to Sen. Max Baucus, who voted for the bill along with Sen. Jon Tester. Rep. Denny Rehberg and most Republican members of Congress voted against it.

But according to Gov. Brian Schweitzer, itâ€™s unlikely that Montana schools or Montana health care providers who serve Medicaid patients will see any of that money this fiscal year. Schweitzer is looking ahead to the biennium starting in July 2011 and beyond. In a telephone interview with The Billings Gazette last week, the governor made it clear that he will do whatâ€™s necessary to maintain a healthy balance in the stateâ€™s checking account.

Can Mining Provide a Renewable Energy Future?

By David Rosenfeld — August 22, 2010
Developers are looking into mining waste heaps as a home for solar panels and windmills.

Itâ€™s difficult to look out over miles of waste rock and tailings from a century of copper mining in the American Southwest and see anything but environmental destruction. But a growing number of mining companies and renewable energy developers are beginning to use these vast plains of disturbed dirt as the ideal spots for large-scale solar and wind power projects.

Mine sites in the region attract developers such as Tessera Solar for several reasons, said communications manager Janette Coates. Existing transmission lines, available water and roads capable of supporting wide, heavy loads provide ready-made infrastructure. And reclaiming land thatâ€™s already been disturbed will reduce permitting costs. Another draw is the potential to lease large tracts from a single owner.

Alaska coal: Everything old is new again

Eric Lidji – Aug 22, 2010 – Alaska Dispatch

The Railbelt might not have a diverse energy supply, but it does have diverse energy prospects. Companies are in the early stages of new wind farms, geothermal wells and alternative forms of hydropower. But fossil fuels are diversifying, too. When there’s nothing in the fridge, you have to get creative with what you find in the pantry.

One interesting trend that popped up this year is Underground Coal Gasification, a way to make gas in deep coal deposits. Underground Coal Gasification, or UCG, works because coal contains carbon that can be manipulated through chemical processes into a gas. That gas can heat buildings and make electricity, or be liquefied for other uses with carbon emissions roughly equal to natural gas, and certainly better than coal alone.

Energy issues divide Montana lawmakers – Daily Inter Lake

JIM MANN – August 22, 2010 – Daily Inter Lake

Energy issues are heating up again in Montana, and the stateâ€™s power cooperatives will be paying close attention in the months to come.

The legislative Energy and Telecommunications Committee met at the end of last month to consider several measures, but Republicans and Democrats on the panel ended in a 4-4 draw over a long-term energy strategy.

Strip Mines into Elk Habitat

By Rosslyn Smith – August 21, 2010 – American Thinker

In a story that again shows that mother nature can be much more resilient than some people imagine, for the first time in over maybe 170 years or more, a large wild elk herd roams the Appalachian woods in significant numbers.

I am not talking about the elk reintroduced in small number into Great Smoky National Park on the North Carolina-Tennessee border, where they have been a major tourist attraction. Only 52 elk were introduced in 2001 and 2002. The current Smoky Park population is said to be around a hundred animals.

Mines light up like the Las Vegas strip

By STEVE MCMANAMEN – August 21, 2010 – Gillette News Record

At the end of a month, the electric meter reads about 60 megawatts of electricity used.

That is about twice as much as an average Las Vegas hotel, but itâ€™s just business as usual at Arch Coalâ€™s Black Thunder mine.

The power it takes to keep 12 Campbell County area coal mines running could easily light up a good portion of the Vegas strip. But you wonâ€™t find slot machines, black jack tables and elaborate shows at Campbell County coal mines. What they do have in common are â€œextremeâ€ rides.

The perils of T. Boone Pickens’ energy plan – Denver Post

By Erik Molvar — POSTED: 08/20/2010

There natural gas industry likes to cast itself as a green alternative in the fight against global warming, with folks like T. Boone Pickens and his allies at the forefront of the effort to increase gas use for electricity generation and as an automobile fuel.

Now Congress appears ready to provide taxpayer subsidies in a Senate energy bill for parts of the Pickens plan. But let’s be sure we’re getting good public policy, not just an expensive public relations push.

To date, little evidence has surfaced to support the notion that increasing our use of natural gas will actually help the environment. In fact, an increase in natural gas usage could hurt the environment more than it helps.

The Fire Down Below

In the wake of Russia’s heat-driven fires, an expert discusses smoldering underground combustion.

Utilities can meet EPA standards without threatening reliability

by David Roberts.

As we saw, coal utilities are trying to scare Congress into thinking that if EPA follows up with its planned regulations, electricity rates will soar and there will be reliability problems in the electricity grid. Is it true?

According to a comprehensive new analysis, no. Itâ€™s not true.