Category Archive for "International news"

Rescued miner Feng Zuxue is carried out of the mine shaft of a flooded coal mine in Weng’an County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, Monday, April 8, 2013. Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency say three miners have been rescued after spending two and a half days trapped underground because of flooding in the coal mine that killed three of their colleagues. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Liu Xu)

While some of us were focused on yesterday’s confirmation hearing for EPA nominee Gina McCarthy, some reporters were thankfully also covering a House committee hearing on the important issue of coal-ash regulations — an issue where the Obama EPA’s actions so far haven’t lived up to their talk.

Greenwire, for example, reported (subscription only):

U.S. EPA and several Democrats yesterday said they were open to considering Republican-backed legislation aimed at creating state-centered standards for the disposal of coal combustion waste.

Even though EPA has been working for years on national regulations to police coal ash disposal, EPA Solid Waste Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus said the agency doesn’t necessarily oppose a draft bill up for discussion that would effectively pre-empt EPA’s ongoing efforts.

“We do not have an official position,” Stanislaus testified during a sometimes-contentious hearing of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy.

Here in West Virginia, the State Journal had a write-up on the hearing, reporting:

A Congressional committee on the environment and economy says states should be given the authority to regulate “one of the largest waste streams generated in the United States” if the state conforms to federal minimum standards.

In a hearing of the U.S. House of Representative’s Subcommittee on Environment and Economy, under the Committee on Energy and Commerce, witnesses testified regarding coal ash recycling and storage. Leaders of the committee touted legislation designed to allow states to implement standards regarding the handling of coal combustion residuals, a material that can be recycled into building materials.

“The long and short of it is – Congress is perfectly capable of establishing a standard of protection for coal ash,” said Environment and the Economy Subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. “The states are perfectly capable – and in the best position – to implement robust permit programs for coal ash.”

Others aren’t so sure about all of this … longtime mine safety engineer Jack Spadaro, for example, testified:

I am certain that the proposed legislation in its present form, without specific requirements for review of design, stringent geotechnical and hydrological engineering requirements, and vigorous enforcement by a federal regulatory agency will result in a catastrophic failure of a coal ash dam containment structure that will result in extensive loss of life and severe environmental damage that will be irreversible. There are thousands of such structures in the United States at this time and the failure of one or more of these dams is assured unless strict engineering standards are imposed.

And Lisa Evans, a coal-ash expert with the group Earthjustice, told lawmakers:

The Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act of 2013 cannot and will not adequately protect American communities from the toxic pollution from coal ash. Its ‘unique’ approach fails to guarantee the safety and security of communities located near high hazard dams and fails to ensure the protection of our nation’s drinking water, rivers and streams. After decades of dangerous disposal of billions of tons of coal ash, it is extremely disappointing that a bill without deadlines would receive serious consideration by this Congress.

Meanwhile, whistle-blowing Kentucky coal miner Scott Howard got some good news, as The Huffington Post reported:

A panel of federal judges ruled Thursday that a Kentucky miner who was fired two years ago after alleging unsafe conditions at his mine deserves to keep his job, delivering yet another legal victory to a highly public coal-industry whistleblower.

Charles Scott Howard lost his job at Cumberland River Coal Company, a subsidiary of energy giant Arch Coal, in May 2011. Managers informed him he was being let go because he was no longer fit to work due to an on-the-job injury. But Howard had lodged a litany of safety complaints against the company in the run-up to his layoff. An administrative law judge ruled last year that letting Howard go amounted to discrimination under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act.

Cumberland River appealed that decision, arguing that putting Howard back on the job would actually endanger him, due to his injury, and undermine safety law. The panel of appellate judges, however, didn’t buy it.

On another mine safety matter, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration announced this action:

Rox Coal Inc., which operates the Geronimo Mine in Somerset County, Pa., has been found in violation of a mandatory electrical hazard safety standard by an administrative law judge with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. The ALJ deemed the violation “quintessentially flagrant” and ordered the company to pay a $110,000 civil penalty.

The ALJ’s finding sustained the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s issuance and assessment of the violation as flagrant following an investigation into an electrical accident at the Geronimo Mine.

On Oct. 3, 2007, a miner was shocked while changing the fuse on a high-voltage switch house at Geronimo Mine. The mine’s chief electrician intentionally had disabled the safety switch two days prior to sending the miner and a co-worker to change fuses. As a result, the miners worked within inches of 7,200 live volts while performing this work.

A house-sized dump truck hauls dirt and rock Tuesday March 26, 2013 at the Black Thunder coal mine in northeast Wyoming’s Powder River Basin near Wright, Wyo., source of almost 40 percent of the nation’s coal production. The federal government says it is withholding $110 million in mineral payments to 36 states as a result of automatic spending cuts that took effect this month. (AP Photo/Mead Gruver)

There was a great op-ed commentary recently in the Herald-Leader over in Lexington by a coal miner and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth member, Carl Shoupe:

I come from a long line of hard-working Appalachian people. My great-grandfather worked in timber. My grandfather and father were coal miners. And I’m proud to tell you that my son is one of the best underground miners I know.

I believe that we can create new jobs, find safe energy and live in healthy communities. But to have that future, a bright future, we must stop the destruction that’s going on in communities where coal is mined. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to take all of us. And it will take real leadership with courage and conviction.

The commentary continued:

Since I’ve been around coal all my life, I guess I should be pleased when our “leaders” say they are Friends of Coal. But lately, I’ve been wondering, which part of coal they’re friends with.

Peabody Energy and its new company, Patriot Coal, are trying to weasel out of paying health and pension benefits promised to thousands of retired UMWA miners. Have you heard any objection from these Friends of Coal in our marble palaces in Frankfort? Those miners earned their benefits with their sweat and their blood, but now Peabody wants to dump them like they’re just more overburden.

These politicians may be friends of coal, but they’re not friends of coal miners and their families. These miners and their families are being robbed of their retirement and benefits.

My friend Truman recently spent a week hooked up to a hospital ventilator. Like thousands of others, he suffers with black lung, caused by working in underground mines filled with coal dust. Today, the number of severe black lung cases is on the rise again, affecting workers on strip mines and below ground. And yet Congressman Hal Rogers has led efforts in Congress to block rules designed to protect miners from that awful disease.

The congressman may be a friend of coal corporations, but he’s no friend of coal miners who have to breathe hazardous air every day they work.

And:

Another friend of mine had to move with his daughter away from the homeplace where his family has lived for over 200 years. Toxic runoff from mountaintop removal was poisoning him and his family.

But his state representative, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, stood up at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing about water pollution and insisted that anyone who wants to save the mountains should just “go buy one.”

The speaker may be a friend of the coal companies, but he’s no friend of coalfield families threatened by mountaintop mining and poisoned water.

It concludes:

Kentucky needs more leaders who are less worried about being friends of coal and more determined to be friends of miners and the mountains that are our home. We need leaders who are worried about our children’s future instead of their next election. We need leaders who will commit to helping us build the bright future we deserve — and can have if we work for it.

Meanwhile, there was a commentary from the World Resources Institute (citing EIA data) that reported:

New data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals a troubling trend: Coal-fired power generation—and its associated greenhouse gas emissions—were on the rise as 2012 came to an end.

According to the data, which was released yesterday, natural gas prices have risen significantly since April of 2012, prompting a rise in coal-fired electric generation (see figure below). This increase marks a dramatic change from the trends we’ve seen in the United States over the past several years. U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the power sector had been falling, mostly due to more electricity being generated by renewables, slowed economic growth, and a greater use of low-cost natural gas, which produces roughly half the CO2 emissions of coal during combustion.

The new uptick in gas prices and coal use suggests that we cannot simply rely on current market forces to meet America’s emissions-reduction goals. In fact, EIA projects that CO2 emissions from the power sector will slowly rise over the long term. To keep emissions on a downward trajectory, the Administration must use its authority to prompt greater, immediate reductions by putting in place emissions standards for both new and existing power plants.

At the same time, several readers pointed out to me this important post from EIA’s Today in Energy feature that reported:

Preliminary coal production data for 2012 show that 9 out of the top 10 producing coal mines in the United States are located in Wyoming; the top two producing mines in Wyoming account for 20% of total U.S. coal production by tonnage. Collectively, the top 10 mines accounted for 38% of total U.S. coal production by tonnage in 2012. Shares of production by energy content for the top mines are somewhat lower since the sub-bituminous coal they produce has lower heat content per ton than bituminous coal produced in other regions.