By Steve James — Reuters — Thu Jun 24, 2010
* Still interested in Australia expansion
* Looking at Mongolia mine operations
* Exploring West Coast port for Asian exports

NEW YORK, June 24 (Reuters) – Coal miner Peabody Energy (BTU.N), rebuffed in a recent acquisition bid in Australia, still wants to expand Down Under to meet Asian demand and is also pursuing opportunities in Mongolia, Chief Executive Officer Gregory Boyce said on Thursday.

Read more at http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2414361920100624

Thu Jun 24 17:20:21 2010 EDT By Mark Peters Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) could announce plans for a coal export facility on the West Coast of North America later this year as Asian demand continues to grow.

Coal from massive surface mines in Wyoming and Montana traditionally have only found a domestic market because of lengthy shipping routes and port constraints that come with exports. Yet growing electricity production in places like China and India has driven a trickle of shipments, with Peabody looking to boost the flow in coming years.

Read more at http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2217925

By Mario Parker and Noah Buhayar – Jun 24, 2010 – Bloomberg
Global demand for coal is at the beginning of a multiyear growth period, driven by consumption from China and India and the recovering U.S. economy, Peabody Energy Corp. said today.
“We’re in the early stages of a 30-year super cycle in global coal markets,” Chief Executive Officer Gregory Boyce said at the IHS McCloskey Group Coal USA Conference in New York.
…
Boyce said the company is working to develop a port on the U.S. West Coast to supply the Pacific markets. He declined to disclose a time frame as to when it will be built.
“The real goal here is to see if we can’t get large volumes of Powder River Basin coal to Asia,” Boyce said.
Read more at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-24/peabody-energy-sees-global-coal-demand-at-the-beginning-of-a-super-cycle-.html

By Mike Gorrell — The Salt Lake Tribune — Updated Jun 22, 2010 10:26PM

For the second time this year, the Dugout Canyon coal mine in Carbon County has been shut down by federal mine safety regulators because of a “heating event.”

The mine operator, Canyon Fuel Co., voluntarily evacuated the mine at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday after evidence of a “heating event” potentially came from a section of Dugout Canyon recently excavated by a longwall mining machine, said Kim Link, a spokeswoman for Canyon Fuel’s parent company, St. Louis-based Arch Coal Co.

Read more at http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/49808945-79/mine-canyon-coal-dugout.html.csp

On June 15, 2010, the Mat-Su Assembly voted to lease land for a road to allow access to the proposed Wishbone Hill coal mine by Usibelli, the company developing it. This reversed an earlier decision by the Planning Commission to reject the lease, and ended an effort by local citizens to stop the mine by denying Usibelli road access to it.

Read more at http://www.adn.com/2010/06/16/1326757/road-to-mat-su-coal-gets-assembly.html

The status quo guarantees future dominance of fossil fuels, according to an authoritative government projection.
By Melinda Burns – June 10, 2010 – Miller McCune

As the U.S. Senate today debates whether to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, it’s worth considering what would happen if every country in the world failed to pass laws and policies curbing the use of fossil fuels.

The latest International Energy Outlook, an annual forecast by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, provides a cautionary “what if” for the global energy future if current policies remain unchanged. Driven by population and economic growth in developing countries, the world in 2035 would be more dependent on fossil fuels than ever, it finds. Countries overall would be consuming 49 percent more energy and spewing 43 percent more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2035 than in 2007.

Read more at http://www.miller-mccune.com/environment/energy-outlook-offers-grim-fossil-fuel-forecast-17317

By Jessica Y. Lilly – June 10, 2010

Since the Upper Big Branch explosion,lawmakers have vowed to draft legislation to make sure something like this never happens again. However, a West Virginia historian says in this case, history is repeating itself.

Read more at http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=15210

June 10, 2010

Phillip W. Gustafson, 38, was killed in an explosion at the surface of the Choctaw Mine. He was fueling a blast hole drill rig when an explosion engulfed him in flames. He was airlifted to a hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. Gustafson was the 37th coal miner to be killed on the job in the United States in 2010.

Read article at http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/06/10/alabama-coal-miner-killed-in-surface-explosion/

Read preliminary report from MSHA here.

Coal-fueled region uses more energy per capita and pays less for it than the U.S. overall.
By Melinda Burns – May 23, 2010 – Miller McCune

The American South is not known for its energy conservation. Coal is plentiful, and electricity is cheap.
Washington, D.C., and 16 Southern states from Delaware to Texas use 44 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States but account for only 36 percent of the country’s population. The South is responsible for 41 percent of U.S. carbon emissions

Read more at http://www.miller-mccune.com/science-environment/saving-energy-means-getting-the-south-on-board-16155/

WELLINGTON, Utah, May 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Arch Coal’s Canyon Fuel Company subsidiary announced that its Dugout Canyon Mine in Carbon County, Utah, has resumed coal production with all mining equipment, including the main longwall mining system.
Mine crews recently completed permanently sealing a mined-out area where increased levels of carbon monoxide were detected on April 29. The company wishes to thank the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for their technical support and assistance in resolving this situation in a safe and responsible manner.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dugout-canyon-mine-resumes-production-94614189.html