April Fool’s Day, 2010

EAST FORK OF FLATHEAD TONGUE IN CHEEK?
Protectors of the Tongue River Valley are celebrating April Fools’ Day in southeastern Montana by calling for a change in name of the Tongue River to the East Fork of the Flathead.

Northern Plains Resource Council and its member ranchers and farmers along the Tongue say by changing the name they hope to get the Governor and other statewide officials to offer equal protections for this area that recently were granted the North Fork of the Flathead, which flows from southeastern British Columbia into northwestern Montana. The group is willing to apply to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to change the name of the Tongue River.

Read more at http://northernplains.org/group-wants-tongue-river-name-change

WHITESVILLE, W.Va. — The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has denied local citizens a public hearing regarding a show cause order on the Edwight Surface Mine. According to state law, show cause orders, intended to be the last step before the DEP shuts down a mine site, are supposed to be settled in public hearings. Despite the law, the DEP has decided not to hold a public hearing, and is instead privately negotiating a consent order with the mine operator, Alex Energy, a subsidiary company of Massey Energy.

After repeated requests, the DEP has granted CRMW the right to submit comments on the drafted consent order but is still refusing to hold a public hearing. CRMW is asking community members to submit comments to them, as well as suggesting they file for their own right to comment.

Read more at http://climategroundzero.net/2010/03/dep-denies-public-hearing-for-edwight-show-cause/

By Ken Ward Jr. – March 1, 2010

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Patriot Coal foreman told state and federal investigators he was ordered more than a year ago not to keep records of explosive methane levels he discovered inside sealed portions of the company’s Federal No. 2 Mine in Monongalia County.

John Renner of Morgantown said he was also told never to evacuate the huge underground mining operation, regardless of whether mandated methane tests showed dangerous concentrations of the explosive gas.

Read more at http://wvgazette.com/News/BeyondSago/201003010521

Coal developers are maneuvering to build new mines in south-central Montana near Red Lodge, where the industry shut down decades ago after a tragic fire, leaving behind underground reserves estimated at a billion tons.
By MATTHEW BROWN – Associated Press Writer — Originally published Friday, February 26, 2010

Coal developers are maneuvering to build new mines in south-central Montana near Red Lodge, where the industry shut down decades ago after a tragic fire, leaving behind underground reserves estimated at a billion tons.

Public financial filings show a California coal startup, Management Energy, Inc., has amassed leases on more than 10 square miles of land northeast of Red Lodge near Bridger.

Also being eyed for a mine are parcels near the small town of Bearcreek – site of a 1943 underground mine fire that killed 75 workers. A third possible site is near Grove Creek, near the Wyoming border.

Read the whole article at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011203231_apmtmontanacoalredlodge.html

By Carol Berry, Today correspondent
Story Published: Jan 11, 2010

SALT LAKE CITY – A giant strip mine atop Black Mesa in northern Arizona will not be expanding under a permit it received more than a year ago from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

In a surprise announcement Jan. 7, an administrative law judge of the Department of the Interior vacated a life-of-mine permit OSM issued Dec. 22, 2008 that would have allowed Peabody Western Coal Co. to expand its permit area on Black Mesa, where more than 5,000 acres of coal remain unmined.

The judge’s order, citing legal shortcomings, was handed down on the eve of a planned visit by OSM officials to Hopi and Navajo tribal lands Jan. 11 to discuss OSM’s policies and Peabody’s mining proposals, according to those informed about the event.

“The (Black Mesa Project) Final EIS did not consider a reasonable range of alternatives, described the wrong affected environment baseline, and did not achieve the informed decision making and meaningful public comment required by NEPA.”

-Administrative Law Judge Robert G. Holt, Department of the Interior Office of Hearings and Appeals

“OSM violated NEPA (the National Environmental Policy Act) by not preparing a supplemental draft environmental impact statement (EIS) when Peabody changed the proposed action,” said Judge Robert G. Holt, of Interior’s Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Read more at Indian Country Today.

By STEVE MCMANAMEN, News-Record — Published: Monday, January 11, 2010

Coal production in the Powder River Basin has been steadily climbing for the last two decades, but the trend ended in 2009 with production falling about 7 percent from 2008.

Early estimates using statistics from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration show Campbell County’s 13 coal mines produced about 419.6 million tons of coal in 2009, down from 451.7 million tons the previous year. Meanwhile, the federal Energy Information Administration reported Wyoming produced 427.4 million tons in 2009, down about 8.6 percent from 467.6 million produced in 2008.

Read more at http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2010/01/11/news/today/news02.txt

For Immediate Release, December 3, 2009
BLACK MESA, Ariz.— In response to an appeal brought by a diverse coalition of tribal and environmental groups, this week the Environmental Protection Agency withdrew a controversial water permit for the massive Black Mesa Coal Complex, a coal-mine complex located on Navajo Nation and Hopi lands in northeastern Arizona. EPA’s permit withdrawal means that discharges of heavy metal and pollutants – including selenium, nitrates, and other heavy metals and toxic pollutants from coal-mining operations at the Black Mesa Complex – are threatening washes, tributaries, groundwater, and the drinking water for local communities, but are not being regulated.

Read more at Center for Biological Diversity.

People in Panguitch worry they’re in line for lots of traffic, fewer economic benefits.

By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 11/20/2009 07:22:27 AM MST
A coalition of conservation groups are trying block a proposed strip mine near Bryce Canyon National Park.
A coalition of environmental groups have filed a petition to stop the state’s first coal strip mine on private land near Bryce Canyon National Park, which has already received preliminary approval from the state.
The groups say the project could damage the area’s water, air, wildlife and cultural resources. It would be the state’s first strip coal mine, which are more damaging to surface environments than underground mines.
The Utah chapter of the Sierra Club, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Parks Conservation Association filed the petition on Wednesday with the state Board of Oil, Gas and Mining.
Read more about this story at The Salt Lake Tribune.

By PAUL FOY Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY November 19, 2009 (AP)
Utah regulators hurried a decision to issue a strip mine permit after the coal operator complained to Gov. Gary Herbert that they were taking too long, according to a memo written by a state official.
The 33-page memo, obtained by The Associated Press, shows the company met with Herbert in September and that the result of the meeting was to fast-track a decision by regulators.
Read more about this story at ABC News.

Most of the world’s strip-mining is done with Milwaukee-made machines. Few metro-area economies are more dependent on coal.

by John Kaufman, Monday 10/26/2009, Milwaukee Magazine

LJ Turner is a classic, modern-day cowboy. His family has owned a cattle ranch in Campbell County, Wyo., since 1918. For years, he leased thousands of acres of federal land as summer pasture for his cows. But now the land has been taken from him and is being leased to coal mines.

“A hundred years ago, 98 percent of the people in Wyoming were in an occupation connected to agriculture,” Turner says. “Today it is 2 percent. The ‘highest and best use’ [under state law] of much of Wyoming ranch land is coal mining.”

Read more at http://www.milwaukeemagazine.com/currentissue/full_feature_story.asp?newmessageid=25054