Miner Allen Turner sits on his porch with his four children in Cawood, Ky. (ASSOCIATED PRESS/FILE 2006)
WHO SAYS President Obama doesn’t have an energy policy? Last month it was boldly on display as the Environmental Protection Agency published rules restricting CO2 emissions for power plants. Coupled with dramatic limits on mercury emissions issued in December, the new rules will fundamentally reshape power generation in America. Aside from the 15 plants already under construction, there will probably never be another coal-fired electric plant built in the United States.
ST. MARYS, W.Va. -- West Virginia regulators are questioning FirstEnergy Corp.'s plan to close three aging coal-fired power plants.
The state Public Service Commission has ordered the company to keep the Albright, Willow Island and Rivesville power stations operable while it reviews the plan.
Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy plans to retire the plants by Sept. 1. The company attributes the shutdowns to new federal environmental regulations that are designed to reduce emissions of toxic pollutants from coal- and oil-fired plants.
In its order, the PSC said it wants to review the factors that justify closing the plants, the impact on customers and what options were considered.
FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin told the Parkersburg News and Sentinel that the company is working to answer the PSC's questions.
By Ivy Brashear Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues
The scholar who has done the most to connect mountaintop removal coal mining with public health issues explained and defended his work last week during a lecture at Morehead State University.
The studies by Michael Hendryx and his colleagues at West Virginia University have become controversial because they show correlations between coal mining and public health, not that mining causes health problems. Showing the relationship between two separate things is correlation; showing that one thing causes another is causation.
WVCA Vice President Chris Hamilton and FOC spokesman Don Nehlen were the guest speekers at the Holmes Safety Awards dinner last Saturday evening in Wheeling at Oglebay Resort and ConferenceCenter. A number of WVCA members received safety awards from the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association.
The Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary has a new web site and they are asking that you visit the new web site www.friendsofcoalladies.com as many times as you can. For each time you visit, the web site moves up so when you type "coal" into your search engine the web site will be one of the top listed in your search. The site also hosts a full store for purchase of FOC items and wearing apparel.
The Association is proud to welcome four new members this week, including ARJ Construction Company, Inc., Lawrence Ickes as representative; IronPlanet, Chris Owens as their representative; Rajkovich, Williams, Kilpatrick & True, PLLC with Todd C. Myers; and, Mike Chasteen will represent Westech, Inc. We look forward to a long and beneficial relationship.
The West Virginia Coal Hall of Fame inducted two new members, Charles Holland and Paul Morton, during ceremonies May 4 at the Stonewall Resort in Roanoke, WV as part of the 18th Annual Joint Meeting of the Association and the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute. Current WVCA Chairman Gary White with International Resources and James River Coal and past WVCA Board member Ben Statler were also selected to receive this honor but were unable to attend and will be inducted at next year’s Joint Meeting of the Association and Institutes. Charles T. "Charlie" Holland and Paul Morton were inducted posthumously.
The Coal Hall of Fame was established by the West Virginia Coal Association, the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute and the West Virginia Mining and Reclamation Association in 1998. The Hall resides in the Mineral Resources Building of the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University, in Morgantown.
A little more than one month is left before the end of the comment period on the EPA’s proposed GHG New Source Performance Standards Rule. The EPA published its proposed rule last month in the Federal Register, setting New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for greenhouse gases. The 60-day comment period ends June 12. The public can view comment submissions at regulations.gov under the docket ID no. EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-0660.
The “West Virginia Innovative Mine Safety Technology Tax Credit Act” established during the 2011 regular legislative session is now operative and a tax credit for qualifying, new mine safety technologies is available.
A copy of the application form, implementing rules and the list of qualifying mine safety technologies is available from WVCA. The list, published by the WV Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, contains the following three (3) items qualifying for the credit at the current time: (1) MSHA approved Proximity Detectors; (2) TTE Mine Communications System; and, (3) PDM – Personal Dust Monitors.
Today the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) published its draft listing of impaired streams that fail to meet state water quality standards and fail to meet their Clean Water Act (CWA) designated use. Referred to as the 303(d) list, streams indentified on the list will ultimately require the development of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) to adjust pollutant loadings (and NPDES permit effluent limits) allowing them to achieve their designated use. Attached is the “narrative” section of the new 303(d) list document. The entire impaired water listing and supporting information can be found at http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/watershed/IR/Pages/303d_305b.aspx
The 303(d) list is open for public comment until June 11, 2012. Since NPDES permits located on streams identified as impaired can ultimately be subject to NPDES permit effluent limitation reductions through the TMDL process, PLEASE review the list in detail and consider submitting comments / data to the agency on any stream listings that may impact your operations.
Additionally, based on a cursory review of the list, it appears that several streams previously removed have been RE-ADDED to the list for the same parameters.
The West Virginia Coal Forum will host three forums acrossWest Virginia featuring Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, Congressman David McKinley, UMWA President Cecil Roberts and others to discuss EPA’s War on Coal and, specifically, the agency’s greenhouse gas and Utility MACT proposed rules.
The meetings will be held per the following:
May 22– Charleston’s Embassy Suites Hotel – 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. featuring Congresswoman Capito and UMWA President Roberts
May 24– Beckley’s Country Inn & Suites/Mountaineer ConferenceCenter – 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. featuring Congressman Rahall.
Senator Manchin will have a representative at each meeting.
Please confirm your attendance at one or all of the events by e-mailing your name, title, organization and the event you plan to attend to rsvp@wvcoalforum.org.
Save the Dates: June 5 in Frankfort and June 7 in Pikeville
Background:
At the request of the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, the United States EPA will conduct hearings in Frankfort on June 5 and in Pikeville on June 7, regarding EPA’s specific objections to 36 individual KPDES permits that would authorize discharges from new or expanded surface coal mining activities in eastern Kentucky.
Less than two weeks remain to submit stories and idea or reserve ad space in the upcoming annual West Virginia Coal Association/Friends of Coal State Journal insert. If you would like to submit story ideas, photos or complete stories for the section, you can do so by contacting the Association at 304.342.4153 or emailing us at theadley@wvcoal.com. This year’s publication will be in glossy, magazine format with a projected page count of 48 pages.
Member Area
“The West Virginia Coal Economy 2008”
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Since the discovery of coal in Boone County in 1742 by John Peter Shirley, West Virginia has substantially benefited from the coal mining industry. Coal mining has been a significant part of West Virginia’s economy in terms of Gross Domestic Product4, employment, wages, and tax revenues. The scope of this report is to quantify the economic impact of the coal mining industry on the West Virginia economy with special emphasis on 2008.
