Coal Tattoo

Will coal country focus on hope or fear?

July 29, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton give a thumbs up after taking the stage to make her acceptance speech during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Thursday, July 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

 

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton didn’t provide as much mention of coal issues in her acceptance speech as former President Bill Clinton or President Barack Obama did earlier this week.

There was this brief mention:

My primary mission as President will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages right here in the United States…

From my first day in office to my last.

Especially in places that for too long have been left out and left behind.

From our inner cities to our small towns, from Indian Country to Coal Country.

From communities ravaged by addiction to regions hollowed out by plant closures.

You can read the whole speech for yourself, or watch it here:

But there’s a tone underlying the election that we’re heading into that is in some ways far more important for the coalfields and our future than even the specific policy differences (in which the Clinton campaign offers a detailed plan for diversification and Donald Trump offers impossible dreams of the next boom that will never come).

I’m talking about the difference between fear and hope.

Anyone who watched the Republican convention or who pays any attention to the career campaign consultants in West Virginia knows that one side wants to make this all about fear. That’s what all of the “war on coal” and “our way of life” stuff plays into — the fears of hard-working coalfield residents.

Continue reading…

President Obama, the coalfields, and this election

July 28, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
President Barack Obama speaks during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Wednesday, July 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

 

Last night, during a remarkable speech at the Democratic National Convention, President Obama again included coal miners in the discussion about what this election is about. Here’s what he said:

It can be frustrating, this business of democracy … When the other side refuses to compromise, progress can stall. People are hurt by the inaction. Supporters can grow impatient and worry that you’re not trying hard enough, that you’ve maybe sold out.

But I promise you, when we keep at it, when we change enough minds, when we deliver enough votes, then progress does happen. And if you doubt that, just ask the 20 million more people who have health care today. Just ask the Marine who proudly serves his country without hiding the husband that he loves.

If you want to fight climate change, we’ve got to engage not only young people on college campuses, we’ve got to reach out to the coal miner who’s worried about taking care of his family, the single mom worried about gas prices.

You can read the whole speech here or watch it below:

It’s a great point, and it reminds me of the speech that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka — who knows a thing or two about coal miners — made more than four years ago, urging the nation to have a broader, more meaningful and more inclusive discussion about the future of coal. Trumka talked about how the folks he grew up with understood climate change, perhaps in more meaningful ways that some of the world’s top scientists:

And to those who say climate risk is a far off problem, I can tell you that I have hunted the same woods in Western Pennsylvania my entire life and climate change is happening now—I see it in the summer droughts that kill the trees, the warm winter nights when flowers bloom in January, the snows that fall less frequently and melt more quickly.

And he reminded environmental groups that policies that change our energy system affect real people in places like Southern West Virginia:

When these folks hear “End Coal,” it sounds like a threat to destroy the value of our homes, to shut our schools and churches, to drive us away from the place our parents and grandparents are buried, to take away the work that for more than a hundred years has made us who we are.

So why, in an economy without an effective safety net, would the good men and women of my hometown and a thousand places like it surrender their whole lives and sit by while others try to force them to bear the cost of change.

The truth is that in many places – and not just places where coal is mined – there is fear that the “green economy” will turn into another version of the radical inequality that now haunts our society—another economy that works for the 1% and not for the 99%.

Continue reading…

Bill Clinton: Hillary would take West Virginia’s coalfields ‘along on the ride to America’s future’

July 27, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
Former President Bill Clinton speaks during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

 

For those who may have missed it last night, here’s the portion of former President Bill Clinton’s Democratic National Convention speech where he talks about West Virginia’s coal communities:

And you should elect her because she will never quit when the going gets tough. She will never quit on you. She sent me in this primary to West Virginia, where she knew we were going to lose, to look those coal miners in the eye and say, “I am down here because Hillary sent me to tell you that if you really think you can get the economy back that you had 50 years ago, have at it, vote for whoever you want to. But if she wins, she is coming back for you to take you along on the ride to America’s future.”

You can read the speech here or watch it (start at about the 39:00 ) mark:

 

 

Alpha emerges from bankruptcy

July 26, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.

Here’s the press release just issued by Alpha Natural Resources:

Alpha Natural Resources and its affiliates announced that the Company has today successfully emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The reorganized company is a smaller, privately held company operating 18 mines and eight preparation plants in West Virginia and Kentucky.

David Stetson, who was appointed CEO of the reorganized company, said, “By completing this restructuring, ANR emerges as a company with a solid financial foundation and a strong team to continue to mine and sell coal. We are now also better positioned to satisfy ANR’s environmental responsibilities. I am confident ─ even though coal markets continue to be challenged by both competitive and regulatory pressures ─ the company created by our Plan of Reorganization will have the structure, resources, and talent to successfully weather these challenges.”

Stetson continued, “There are many people to thank. ANR could not have successfully completed this process without the loyalty and work of employees across our organization. During the restructuring, we reached important agreements with key stakeholders that will create a more sustainable business model going forward, and we appreciate their support, which ensures our ability to continue serving our customers and playing a positive role in our communities.”

Read the rest here.

Interior drops appeal of Blair Mountain ruling

by Ken Ward Jr.
Blair Mountain

 

Word out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is that the Interior Department has dropped its challenge of a recent lower court ruling in favor of citizens and organizations trying to keep Blair Mountain listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Department of Justice lawyers for Interior’s National Park Service and the Keeper of the National Register filed this motion to voluntarily dismiss their appeal.

Readers may recall this ruling from April in which a district court judge vacated the Keeper’s decision to remove Blair Mountain from the register.

UPDATED:  Here’s a statement from the National Park Service:

The National Park Service decided to accept the district court’s April 11, 2016, ruling and to implement the court’s remand order by revisiting its December 2009 decision to de-list the Blair Mountain Battlefield site from the National Register of Historic Places.

Can Trump save coal and support natural gas?

by Ken Ward Jr.
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The view that electing Donald Trump as president will save West Virginia’s coal industry and return us to mining’s glory days was on display again in today’s Gazette-Mail, in a piece by David Gutman about Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s support for Trump. Here’s the bottom line:

“I am looking at our state, my state, that’s the principal-view lens at which I’m viewing this election,” Capito said in an interview at Charleston’s historic Craik-Patton House on Monday. “I mean, I’ve lived in this state my entire life. I’m 62 years old. I’ve never seen such pessimism, lack of vision for a future, really concern about where is that next generation going to go.”

“I’m laying a lot of this at the doorstep — not totally, but a lot of this at the doorstep — of the policies of the last eight years,” Capito said. “I can’t, I cannot stomach that. For where I live, it’s not a good future.”

In many ways, West Virginia weathered the financial crisis and ensuing recession better than most states in the last years of the George W. Bush administration and the first years of Obama’s presidency. More recently, though, West Virginia’s economy has been in a tailspin as the population shrinks and ages, fossil fuel prices plummet and a combination of cheap natural gas, depleted seams and federal regulation decimate the coal industry.

But a couple recent pieces by writer Tina Casey at CleanTechnica.com have raised some interesting questions about all of this.

First, there was a piece headlined, “The Donald Trump Coal Plan Vs. The Donald Trump Fracking Plan,” which started out like this:

Industry analysts widely agree that coal consumption in the US has been declining in recent years, primarily because of competition from low cost natural gas for electricity generation. Renewable sources have been a far less significant factor, and they are only just beginning to weigh in more.

Low cost gas is a side effect of the domestic shale fracking boom, which was touched off by a loophole in environmental regulations created under the Bush Administration.

So, blame President Bush for the decline in domestic coal consumption. The loophole has crippled the Obama Administration’s efforts to bring the fracking industry under the regulatory umbrella of the EPA, and this lack of oversight has helped to keep gas costs down.

The piece continued:

Longstanding federal restrictions on exporting natural gas have also played a role in the domestic gas glut, though the Obama Administration has made some cautious steps toward enabling more exports.

Coal supporters like Capito have been especially fond of nailing President Obama’s energy policies for the decline of coal in West Virginia and other states in the Appalachia region, but the fact is that Appalachian coal faces a triple whammy. In addition to new competition from natural gas for the domestic market, it also has to compete with coal from Wyoming’s Powder River basin, and compete globally with Australia and other coal-exporting countries.

Continue reading…

CONSOL sells last of West Virginia mines

by Ken Ward Jr.

It was big news a couple years ago when CONSOL Energy sold its major West Virginia coal holdings to Murray Energy.  And now CONSOL, long a mainstay of West Virginia’s coal industry, has dropped this announcement, as reported by Taylor Kuykendall:

CONSOL Energy Inc. plans to divest itself of its Miller Creek and Fola mines in West Virginia, the last two coal mines the company held in Central Appalachia, by paying another producer $44 million to take the properties off its hands.

CONSOL, which has other mines run by its master limited partnership CNX Coal Resources LP in Northern Appalachia, will transfer the mines to Booth Energy’s Southeastern Land in exchange for Booth taking on $103 million in liabilities for the mines. An agreement disclosed in a U.S. SEC filing on July 25 said CONSOL will pay Booth $44 million over time, including $27 million at the closing of the sale.

CONSOL announced this move in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday. As the State Journal pointed out:

Miller Creek is still an active mine site, producing 2.1 million tons of coal in 2015, while the Fola site is idled and last produced 1.3 million tons in 2012.

The CONSOL SEC filing added:

The Miller Creek Complex is a premier asset in Central Appalachia, but no longer fits our portfolio. Taken together, the Miller Creek and Fola Complexes generated negative EBIDA in 2015 and are expected to generate negative EBITDA in 2016. These transactions constitute an important step in continuing to strengthen CEI’s balance sheet, enhancing liquidity, reducing our operational and regulatory risk profile and assisting with CEI’s transition to a pure play E&P business. In association with the transactions, the Miller Creek and Fola assets and liabilities are classified as held for sale in discontinued operations on CEI’s Consolidated Balance Sheets, their results of operations are included in discontinued operations on the Consolidated Statement of Income, and the reclassification of these assets resulted in an impairment charge of $356 million in the quarter. These assets were acquired in 2007 and the write down reflects the deterioration in the Central Appalachian coal market since then. The transactions are expected to close in the third quarter.

 

How coal miners die on the job

July 25, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
Huff Creek Fatal Photo

U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration photo

There’s a new report out from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration that spells out the findings of the agency’s investigation into the death earlier this year of Mark Frazier, a miner at Arch Coal’s Huff Creek No. 1 Mine in Harlan County, Kentucky.

Here’s the summary of the report:

Mark FrazierAt 8:16 am, on Friday, March 25, 2016, Mark Frazier (victim) was fatally injured while operating a continuous mining machine in an outby area of the mine. The victim was loading material from a coal transfer chute construction site in the B-Mains No. 3 portion of the mine. A large section of rock rib/brow fell trapping him between the frame of abattery-powered ramcar and the mine floor. The rock rib/brow measured approximately 44 feet in length, 4 feet in width, and 2 feet in thickness. The portion of the rock rib/brow that struck the victim measured 8 feet in length, 4 feet in width, and 2 feet in thickness and weighed over 5 tons.

And here’s a bit of the MSHA description of events leading up to the death:

On March 25, 2016, Mark Frazier, Outby Construction Crew Member and Fireboss, and Brian Napier, Outby Construction Crew Member, entered the mine at approximately 5:00 am and traveled to the coal transfer chute construction site located in the No. 3 entry of the B-Mains No. 3 panel. No coal production was scheduled, but employees were scheduled to work to clean up the coal/rock debris created from the excavation of the transfer chute in an outby area of the mine. Upon arrival at the construction site, Napier began preparing the ramcar for use and Frazier began an examination of the area. In the meantime, Tim Daniels, Outby Construction Crew Member, and Keith Boggs, Mine Examiner, entered the mine. At approximately 5:50 am, Boggs arrived at the transfer chute construction site, boarded a permissible buggy, and began traveling his mineexamination route.  Daniels began the shift by operating a battery-powered scoop to push loose material from the No. 2 entry and adjacent right crosscut toward the transfer chute. There was a short delay in the clean-up process while the feeder was repaired. Frazier operated the continuous mining machine to load out the excavated coal/rock debris into the ramcar operated by Napier. The clean-up process continued until about 25 loads of material were loaded out. At that time, Willard Hickey, First Shift Foreman, arrived at the work site and proceeded to the area of the continuous mining machine.

Then:

At 8:16 am, a large section of the rock rib/brow fell from the right rib and trapped Frazier against the ramcar. Hickey was knocked to the mine floor but he was not trapped and not significantly injured.

Continue reading…

Does Justice campaign not care about the fines?

July 22, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
Jim Justice

The Gazette-Mail’s David Gutman has a story today about the latest  back-and-forth nonsense between gubernatorial candidates Bill Cole and Jim Justice:

Does the Democratic nominee for governor of West Virginia support the Democratic president and the Democratic candidate to be the next president?

That’s the latest battleground in the race for governor, which has re-emerged with new TV ads and angry news releases after the political lull that followed the recent devastating floods.

State Senate President Bill Cole, Republican candidate for governor, unveiled an ad this week that attempts to tie Jim Justice, the Democrat in the race, to President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Here’s the ad:

But what’s really fascinating about this situation is this, in which Gutman describes the Justice campaign’s response:

Justice said that his donations were to support the re-election campaign of Steve Beshear, then the Democratic governor of Kentucky, not Obama.

His campaign was so eager to avoid the impression that Justice supported Obama that it sent a link to an unflattering article about environmental violations at Justice’s coal mines.

Continue reading…

Speaking of jobs …

July 21, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.

COAL TRAIN

A C.S.X. train loaded with coal winds its way into the mountains in this Nov. 21, 2004 file photo taken near the New River at Cotton Hill in Fayette County, W.Va.   (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)

There’s a new report out from Downstream Strategies and the WVU College of Law’s Center for Energy and Sustainable Development that takes a look at the opportunities that the Clean Power Plan could create for West Virginia’s coalfields.

You can read the report, “Expanding Economic Opportunities for West Virginia under the Clean Power Plan,” but here’s the conclusion:

Achieving compliance with the Clean Power Plan presents a number of challenges for West Virginia, which has historically relied on coal to generate most of its electricity and as an economic driver. Over time, coal-fired power plants in West Virginia will burn less coal, and other states that have historically imported West Virginia coal will also burn less coal. Increasingly stringent environmental regulations will converge with market forces that continue to make Central Appalachian coal less competitive—the development of cheap Marcellus Shale natural gas, the greater affordability of renewables, and the increasing cost of mining thinner and deeper coal seams. Even today, before Clean Power Plan implementation has even begun, coal production is decreasing, West Virginia coal miners are losing their jobs, coal companies are filing for bankruptcy, and severance tax revenues are declining.

West Virginia has the resources to meet these challenges, however, and can usher in new economic opportunities with appropriate planning and policies.

To do so, policymakers must take advantage of the opportunities presented by the Clean Power Plan and utilize the full flexibility provided by the rule to shape a strategy for West Virginia that reflects its unique circumstances and leverages its strengths. West Virginia is fortunate to have tremendous energy resources in addition to coal, and these other resources—including natural gas, renewable energy (wind, solar, hydropower), and energy efficiency—are relatively untapped. By implementing the legislative and regulatory policy changes outlined in this report, West Virginia lawmakers and regulators would provide an investment climate that attracts new investment in renewable and DG technologies, energy efficiency, and natural gas–fired generation. West Virginia can also spur innovation in other areas that would diversify the state’s electric power sector, reduce carbon pollution, and provide West Virginians energy savings and new economic opportunities. Taking advantage of the emissions trading opportunities contemplated by the Clean Power Plan would provide West Virginia with a fairly low cost compliance strategy, by incorporating the relatively abundant ERCs and allowances from surrounding states having greater zero- and low-carbon resources and energy efficiency savings, as noted in the DEP Feasibility Report, to enable coal plants to continue operating.

A better strategy would be to take advantage of the economic opportunities that will be created by emissions trading, through enactment of state policies that will encourage the development of zero- and low-carbon resources and energy efficiency savings within West Virginia. The state’s strategy for achieving compliance with the Clean Power Plan should focus not only on minimizing compliance costs, but should also consider the opportunities that are created by the economic activity stimulated by the Clean Power Plan.

Developing an all-of-the-above energy policy like those modeled in this report would help West Virginia take advantage of additional cost-effective compliance measures available under the Clean Power Plan, while at the same time capturing the other benefits of tapping into off of West Virginia’s energy resources. Leveraging all of West Virginia’s energy resources to reduce carbon pollution will also provide long-term benefits throughout the state as new jobs are created in new sectors of the state’s economy.

Navigating a path forward for West Virginia will require a comprehensive approach, both in terms of the energy resources deployed and the involvement of policymakers throughout both the state and federal government. Lawmakers, regulators, utility operators, and other stakeholders in West Virginia can build upon the results of this report and develop additional analyses to evaluate West Virginia’s options for meeting its obligations under the Clean Power Plan. Coordinating state planning efforts with other states and PJM will provide additional insights and new compliance avenues. West Virginia regulators deserve the full support of the state government to engage in regional planning discussions. Building on the analysis conducted for this report will enhance West Virginia’s ability to take advantage of the broad flexibility provided under the Clean Power Plan and serve the dual purpose of providing a framework for identifying opportunities to expand other sectors of the state’s energy economy and foster new opportunities for economic growth throughout the Mountain State.

 

Trump and coal — remember the facts

by Ken Ward Jr.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump puts on a miners hard hat during a rally in Charleston, W.Va., Thursday, May 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

As Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump prepares for his big speech tonight at the Republican National Convention, Trump’s promises about the coal industry are getting some attention again.

Remember that Trump was very clear when he spoke here in Charleston a few months ago:

If I win we’re going to bring those miners back.

Yet, as Fortune points out:

Donald Trump’s promise to bring coal mining jobs back to West Virginia is pure fantasy. Even if environmental protections are eased under a Trump presidency, demand for coal, especially West Virginian coal, will continue to decline due purely to market forces. If Trump wants to help West Virginia, he should support efforts to diversify its economy into something more sustainable, like tourism or healthcare.

Likewise, there’s this report from High Country News:

Amid the federal government’s reform of coal-leasing nationwide, new environmental regulations and coalmine cutbacks and layoffs, a new report from the Energy Information Administration suggests things are likely to get even grimmer for coal mining … While the EIA’s report shows that federal regulations have played a part in industry decline, historically cheap natural gas has outcompeted coal, making it harder for coal companies to stay in business.

And here’s another piece, from The Hill, in which even  a Trump supporter offers somewhat contorted projections for the future:

A key congressional ally to Donald Trump said the Republican presidential candidate would focus his coal policies first on slowing down the industry’s rapid decline.

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who acts as an informal adviser to Trump on energy policy, was asked at a Politico event near the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Wednesday how many new coal-fired power plants would open under a Trump presidency.

 But he didn’t promise a rosy future for coal.

“I think the first thing you have to do is stop the bleeding,” Cramer responded, going on to say that Trump would then look to encourage “new technologies” to make coal a cleaner-burning energy source.

“The problem is that if we have policies like we have today that are designed to keep coal in the ground, shut it down at all costs, the innovators that could create the solutions, they’ll be out of business before they can create the solution,” Cramer said. “And we’re well on our way to a solution. But I think the race is, can they kill coal before we get to that solution?”

Just as important, remember this piece from Coal Tattoo back when Trump visited West Virginia:

Just as important, though, is another issue that Trump didn’t talk about at all:  The growing crisis facing the pension and health-care funds that cover thousands upon thousands of United Mine Workers of America retirees and their families …

It’s important to remember that this looming crisis won’t go away, even if the coal industry were to suddenly rebound. The problems with the solvency of the UMWA pension plan, for example, grow from the 2008 financial meltdown (now, whose fault was that?). Even if employment were to return to pre-meltdown levels, many of the companies that were paying into the pension plan then have since been relieved of that obligation by the federal bankruptcy courts. And even if that weren’t the case, it’s far from clear that the rising contributions alone would be enough. The same goes for the union’s health-care plan financial problems.

As we’ve talked about before, President Obama has a proposal for dealing with this crisis.  In Congress, members of both parties — Rep. David McKinley and Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito — have a proposal. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has a proposal.

But when the presumptive Republican nominee for president had a huge audience of coalfield families in the palm of his hand over at the Civic Center, he didn’t think that this issue was worthy of mention.

Sen. Capito’s $15,000 worth of regulations

July 20, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
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Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., looks out from the podium during a sound check before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Monday, July 18, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Last night, West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito got a prime-time spot speaking at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, and much of what she talked about was really no surprise. As the Gazette-Mail’s David Gutman reported:

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito assailed the environmental regulations of President Barack Obama and the email practices of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in urging the Republican National Convention to “turn the tide” to elect a Republican president in November …

She cited the gaffe infamous in West Virginia when Clinton, in describing her own plan to invest and diversify coalfield communities, said, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business” … “She has promised to devastate communities and families across coal country,” Capito said. “Hillary Clinton understands coal miners and blue collar workers about as well as she understands secure emails.”

Interestingly, though, Sen. Capito also threw this in, as Gutman reported:

Policy-wise, Capito’s focus was largely on federal regulations, which she said cost each American household $15,000 a year, repeating the figure four times. That number comes from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank, which admits it is a “back of the envelope” calculation that does not account for any for the benefits of regulations.

For more about that dubious number, check out this Fact Checker post — from 1 1/2 years ago — by Glenn Kessler at The Washington Post:

The factoid comes from an annual report, Ten Thousand Commandments, put out by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market group founded in 1984 to combat what it considered excessive government regulation. So already you have to take the analysis with a large grain of salt. Indeed, the report is billed as “An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.”

The $15,000 is derived from an estimate that regulations cost at least $1.8 trillion a year …  (This number is calculated in a CEI working paper titled “The Tip of the Costberg.”) Then $1.8 trillion is simply divided by the number of American households. Presto, each household “pays” $14,974 annually in a hidden regulatory tax.

Continue reading…

Appeals court again upholds Spruce Mine veto

July 19, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.

sprucemap3Word just in from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia about a new ruling that (again) upholds the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s veto of the Spruce Mine.

Here’s a link to the ruling.

 

Appeals court again rejects MTR health studies

July 18, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
us_courthouse_4th_circuit2

There was an interesting ruling earlier this month out of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, in which citizen groups were again blocked in their efforts to litigate against a mountaintop removal mining permit using the growing body of science about mining’s public health effects.

The Jackson Kelley law firm, which represented the mining company in this case, summarized the results this way in a post on its blog:

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has unanimously upheld the Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of a Clean Water Act § 404 permit to Raven Crest Contracting, LLC, a subsidiary of White Forest Resources, Inc.

On August 10, 2012, the Corps issued a § 404 “dredge and fill permit” to Raven Crest for its Boone North No. 5 Surface Mine in Boone County, West Virginia. The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Coal River Mountain Watch, and Sierra Club filed suit, claiming that the Corps had violated the Clean Water Act and NEPA by not considering a series of studies allegedly linking mining to adverse health impacts.

I’ve posted a copy of the 4th Circuit decision here, and also posted the citizen group brief, the coal company brief, and the Corps’ brief.

Readers may recall that this issue came up before in other cases, one in which U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers refused to consider these health studies and another in which the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Corps and the coal industry.

Continue reading…

UMWA reaches new deal with Murray

June 24, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
Miners Public Employees Rally

UPDATED:  The UMWA rank-and-file rejected this contract proposal.

Here’s the news announced this morning by the United Mine Workers of America:

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) announced today that it has reached a new tentative collective bargaining agreement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) that will be submitted to its membership next week for ratification.

 UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said, “This tentative agreement comes six months before the expiration of the current agreement, however the rapidly deteriorating status of the American coal industry means that it is important to lock in the best terms and conditions we can before things get any worse. We believe this proposal does that, but it is up to the UMWA members who will vote on this agreement to make the final determination.”

 UMWA Local Unions will explain the proposal to members over the weekend and the ratification vote will take place next Tuesday, June 28. Details of the proposed agreement will not be released until after the ratification vote is tallied.

The BCOA, once the major negotiating group for the coal industry, now is made up mostly of Murray Energy operations. Here’s a statement issued this morning by Murray:

Murray American Energy, Inc. (“Murray American”) announced today that the Bituminous Coal Operators Association, Inc. (“BCOA”) and the United Mine Workers of America (“UMWA”) have reached a tentative labor agreement which, if ratified, will run from June 30, 2016 to December 31, 2021.

Mr. Robert E. Murray, the Chief Executive Officer of Murray American and Chairman of BCOA, said “We are pleased that the BCOA and UMWA have reached this very important tentative agreement, which will go a long way in ensuring that Murray American’s UMWA-represented employees are able to continue working, even in this very depressed coal marketplace. Indeed, over the past several years, the United States coal industry has been absolutely destroyed by policies of the Obama Administration and by the increased use of natural gas to generate electricity. Coal markets and prices have generally been cut in half. This tentative agreement provides the BCOA and UMWA with a path forward, even in these extremely difficult times.” The tentative agreement is subject to ratification by the members of the UMWA.

Murray American subsidiary companies which are members of the BCOA, include: The Ohio County Coal Company, which operates the Ohio County Mine; The Marshall County Coal Company, which operates the Marshall County Mine; The Marion County Coal Company, which operates the Marion County Mine; The Harrison County Coal Company, which operates the Harrison County Mine; and The Monongalia County Coal Company, which operates the Monongalia County Mine. Murray American currently has over 1,500 UMWA-represented active employees. The Ohio Valley Coal Company and The Ohio Valley Transloading Company, which together have over 200 UMWArepresented active employees, will also be voting on the tentative agreement with the UMWA.

 

Will Congress protect retired coal miners?

June 22, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
CER

Photo by DYLAN LOVAN / AP — United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts speaks to about 4,000 retired members at the Lexington Center in Lexington, Ky., last Tuesday. Roberts urged members to push for legislation that would protect pensions and health care benefits for retirees that have been put in jeopardy due to a downturn in the coal industry.

There’s been a growing public push for Congress to take action on legislation to rescue the troubled health-care and pension funds that provide for tens of thousands of retired United Mine Workers and their families across our nation’s coalfields.

Last week, the UMWA held a huge rally in Lexington to try to drum up more support for the bipartisan legislation. As the Associated Press recounted:

United Mine Workers president Cecil Roberts told the gathering in Lexington of about 4,000 members from seven states that miners spent their lives working in dangerous places to provide the nation’s electricity and steel. The miners, some of whom arrived in wheelchairs, don’t deserve having their benefits put in jeopardy, Roberts said.

“What do they want these people to do, get out of their wheelchairs and go back to the mines?” Roberts remarked after the rally.

(The AP, for reasons passing understanding, felt compelled to comment in its report that, Cecil Roberts “is popular among the union membership for his fiery oratorical style.”)

That rally followed a series of Senate floor speeches last month by Democrats, calling for action on the bill, and a letter by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and others urging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (whose role in blocking the measure was documented by the Washington Post) to act on the legislation prior to the summer recess.

In West Virginia, Republican Rep. David McKinley has been a strong supporter of the bill, and just yesterday, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., delivered a floor speech on the issue:

Continue reading…

Happy West Virginia Day

June 20, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.

The looming coal cleanup crisis

June 8, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
hobet_mtr_400_vivian_stockman1

Photo by Vivian Stockman, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

Earlier this week, The New York Times had the latest of the recent national stories to take a stab at explaining the impending crisis regarding the cleanup of decades of pollution problems related to coal mining. The Washington Post had its own version of this story a few months ago.

Here’s a couple of the “nut graphs” from the Times piece:

Regulators are wrangling with bankrupt coal companies to set aside enough money to clean up Appalachia’s polluted rivers and mountains so that taxpayers are not stuck with the $1 billion bill.

The regulators worry that coal companies will use the bankruptcy courts to pay off their debts to banks and hedge funds, while leaving behind some of their environmental cleanup obligations.

The industry asserts that its cleanup plans — which include turning defunct mines back into countryside — are comprehensive and well funded. But some officials say those plans could prove unrealistic and falter as demand for coal remains weak.

The Post summarized the situation in a similar way:

A worsening financial crisis for the nation’s biggest coal companies is sparking concerns that U.S. taxpayers could be stuck with hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in cleanup costs across a landscape of shuttered mines stretching from Appalachia to the northern Plains.

Worries about huge liabilities associated with hundreds of polluted mine sites have mounted as Peabody Energy, the world’s largest publicly traded coal company, was forced to appeal to creditors for an extra 30 days to pay its debts. Two of the four other biggest U.S. coal companies have declared bankruptcy in the past six months.

Under a 1977 federal law, coal companies are required to clean up mining sites when they’re shut down. But the industry’s plummeting fortunes have raised questions about whether companies can fulfill their obligations to rehabilitate vast strip mines in Western states — many of which are on federally owned property — as well as mountaintop-removal mining sites in the East.

It’s great that these issues are getting national attention. But this attention is long overdue. And one thing that is a bit worrisome is that there is a tone in the stories that sometimes makes it seem like this all came out of nowhere — that no one possibly could have imagined this crisis.

That’s just not true.

Continue reading…

Another coal miner killed on the job

June 7, 2016 by Ken Ward Jr.
Mine Explosion

Here’s the sad news today out of Illinois:

A death investigation is under way after a miner was killed at the New Era Mine in Saline County on Monday, June 7, 2016.

Captain Bill Paterson with the Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals says the man suffered fatal injuries when he was pinned beneath a piece of equipment. Another miner was also hurt and is recovering in the hospital. The names of both of the miners are being withheld until family is notified.

New Era Mine is owned by American Coal.

The New Era Mine is controlled by Murray Energy, and here’s the press statement that company provided today:

The American Coal Company (“American Coal”) confirms that an accident occurred at its New Era Mine, this afternoon, in which an employee of a contractor, David Stanley Consultants, LLC, was pinned beneath a piece of equipment on which he was working. The name of the individual is being withheld pending notification of family members.

UPDATE: The contractor employee is Mr. Robbie E. Clark, thirty-four (34) years old, of Eldorado, Illinois.

This matter is currently being investigated, and we will continue to work closely and diligently with appropriate authorities. American Coal is committed to ensuring that safety remains the absolute highest priority across all of our operations.

Our employees and management are deeply saddened by this tragic event. During this very difficult time, we send our sincerest condolences and prayers to the family and to all those affected by this loss.

This is the fifth coal-mining death listed by MSHA so far this year in the U.S.

UPDATED:  Here’s a statement from MSHA —

Two miners were working with a diesel scoop. They lowered the bucket and put downward hydraulic pressure on the bucket to raise the middle of the scoop up. Both men crawled under the scoop to look at something. The hydraulic pressure slowly released, allowing the scoop to lower onto and trap the two men under it. An examiner heard them yelling and came to the scoop and saw them under it. He put downward hydraulic pressure on it again by lowering the bucket. He got the survivor out and then they got the victim out. CPR was started but the victim could not be revived. 

Justice slide: It’s not just about paying the bills

by Ken Ward Jr.
Jim Justice

West Virginia billionaire businessman Jim Justice announces that he is running for governor of West Virginia as a Democrat in 2016 in White Sulphur Springs , W.Va., Monday, May 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Chris Tilley)

There was troubling news out of the coalfields of Kentucky over the last few days about billionaire coal operator Jim Justice, the Democratic candidate for governor here in West Virginia. Here’s the Courier-Journal report from my friend Jim Bruggers:

Kentucky environmental regulators spent the weekend and Monday investigating a mudslide at a Pike County surface mine owned by West Virginia coal baron Jim Justice that they say contributed to local, damaging flooding last week.

State officials Monday confirmed their investigation was centered on Justice’s Bent Mountain mining operations, which had significant reclamation deadlines last year and are the subject of ongoing enforcement activities.

As the C-J explained, the local Appalachian News-Express reports that:

… Water suddenly came rushing out of a hollow, damaging several homes in the community of Meta, late Thursday, about eight miles outside Pikeville.

This all comes in the wake of one report in the C-J that Justice’s required mine reclamation projects in Kentucky are missing cleanup deadlines and a second story that — shockingly — Justice needs more time to finish reclamation at Kentucky operations, including at least through the end of the year to fix a major, three-mile-long “highwall” in Pike County.

All of this undoubtedly provides more fodder for the Republican campaign this fall in support of Justice’s GOP opponent for governor, current Senate President Bill Cole. Whether Justice and the Democrats like it, this stuff is fair game, especially since Justice’s major argument for electing him is that he’s such a successful businessman. If he wants voters to believe he would run the state the way he runs his mining operations, then it’s reasonable for the campaign to include a focus on exactly what Justice’s business model looks like.

At the same time, if the Cole campaign and its supporters want to go down this road, it’s also worth asking them about their own views for regulating the coal industry to stop incidents like the one over the weekend in Kentucky.