By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER – Star-Tribune energy reporter | Posted: Wednesday, May 5, 2010

A local landowner and agriculture group have filed an appeal against a federal plan to lease 429 million tons of coal to the Antelope mine along the borders of Converse and Campbell counties.

State regulators have determined that the mine “continues to fall further behind on meeting contemporaneous reclamation criteria,” according to the Powder River Basin Resource Council, which filed the appeal Monday.

Read the full story at http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_8f243f8d-e9ac-5ad3-9acb-0eecd18c2c30.html

By Mike Gorrell, The Salt Lake Tribune — May 4–The Dugout Canyon coal mine in Carbon County has been shut down since Thursday night because of a “hot spot” that produced elevated levels of potentially dangerous carbon monoxide gas.

Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials issued a closure order on the mine, operated by Arch Coal Co. subsidiary Canyon Fuels Co., after carbon monoxide levels increased in a mined-out area that was being sealed off.

Read more at http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4084837

April 29, 2010

A second miner has been confirmed dead in the roof-fall incident at the Dotiki Mine in Hopkins County, KY. 27-year-old Justin Travis of Dixon and 28-year-old Michael Carter of Hanson are confirmed fatalities. The accident occurred 800 feet under ground and 24,000 into the mine.

Dotiki has a history of compliance and safety issues including 31 closure orders issues in January 2009 alone, 44 citations for non-compliance with mining laws, and closure orders for poor ventilation and dangerous carbon monoxide levels.

Read article at http://www.news25.us/Global/story.asp?S=12395456

Peabody Energy’s Twentymile Coal Company has been hit with more than $600,000 in fines since January 2007

By DAVID O. WILLIAMS 4/27/10 1:09 PM

The Foidel Creek Mine in Routt County is one of Colorado’s most productive coal mines, churning out more than a quarter of all the coal mined in the state. But it’s also one of the state’s most dangerous mines, accounting for nearly a third of Colorado’s coal-mining injuries in 2009.

Of the 88 coal-mining injuries in Colorado last year, 29 of them occurred at the Foidel Creek Mine between Oak Creek and Hayden, according to the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety’s “Monthly Coal Detail Report (pdf).”

Read more at http://coloradoindependent.com/52158/colorado%E2%80%99s-most-productive-coal-mine-is-also-its-most-dangerous

By Bruce Finley
The Denver Post
April 18, 2010

Colorado lawmakers on Friday weighed into the Obama administration’s deliberations over a proposal submitted by Gov. Bill Ritter for managing national forest roadless areas in the state.
A bipartisan group of 15 state legislators asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to grant the U.S. Forest Service authority to allow temporary roads in a roadless area in western Colorado for the purpose of venting gas from a coal mine.
Read more…

A page summarizing coverage related to the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster.

Read more at http://www.wvpubcast.org/bigbranch.aspx

by Lori Tipton, Monday, April 5, 2010

PALMER, Alaska — Plans by Alaska’s largest coal producer to mine near Palmer have stirred up controversy.
The project could create dozens of jobs and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for Usibelli Coal Mine.
But nearby property owners are speaking out, saying the mine will cause problems.
Read more…

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press | Posted: Friday, April 2, 2010

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the sale of coal reserves in the Powder River Basin next to Cloud Peak Energy’s Antelope mine, which is the nation’s fifth most productive coal mine and yielded nearly 36 million tons in 2008. Cloud Peak Energy Inc. wants to mine an additional 430 million tons of coal reserves at the surface mine.

Read the whole article at the Helena IR.

The EPA has increased standards for water quality in Appalachia, making it more difficult for mountaintop removal mines to operate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/science/earth/02coal.html

BY TODD L. DISHER – Frontiersman – Published on Thursday, April 1, 2010

MAT-SU — Alaska’s biggest coal producer is increasing exploratory work on a project here that could pay in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but neighboring landowners are balking at the price to them.
Read more…