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By Chris Hamilton
Co-chairman, West Virginia Coal Forum
Senior Vice President, West Virginia Coal Association
Morgantown City Council is starting down a dangerous path.
In late June, the Council began consideration of a resolution to have the city of Morgantown support the Paris Climate Accord’s overall emissions reduction goals.
This action flies in the face of what is best for West Virginia and the nation. Let’s remember that President Donald Trump officially paused American compliance with the Accord while he renegotiates better terms for our country.
If the resolution ultimately passes, Morgantown will join other cities that have taken independent action on climate change via the Paris Accord regardless of the economic consequences.
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U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s recent visit to West Virginia serves to underscore the importance of West Virginia coal to President Donald Trump and his administration and another step toward ensuring that West Virginia coal remains the centerpiece of our state’s economy and to reap economic benefits for years to come.
While standing in front of Longview Power Plant, the nation’s most modern and cleanest burning coal-fired plant (yes, in West Virginia), Secretary Perry touted the importance of coal and coal-fired electricity to “base-load” generation and to national security.
Last November's election of Trump represented a defining moment for our great state and for the West Virginia coal industry. This new leadership recognizes our natural resources as valuable assets, and they have pledged to aggressively advance policies designed to promote and foster full development of our energy industries. In a few short months, President Trump has effectively halted major anti-coal regulations created by President Obama from going into effect. Rest assured these rules, including the Stream Buffer Zone rule, the Clean Power Plan, Waters of the United States rule and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, would have decimated the industry as we know it today.
After enduring years of flat economic growth, subsidies for competitive fuels and perhaps most importantly, a president who used every resource and federal agency to work against coal production, the new direction offered by President Trump and Secretary Perry is a welcomed and refreshing change.
With these policy actions by President Trump, we’ve already seen renewed confidence and interest in West Virginia coal from the investment community toward financing coal mining operations. We also have experienced a modest uptick in pricing levels and growth in metallurgical coal operations. Miners previously furloughed have been called back to work and a few new mines have opened during this same period. Coalfield residents are seeing coal being trucked and moving again by rail and barge, and just like music to their ears, it is being equated to good times and job opportunities.
Whether or not these favorable trends can be sustained going forward depends largely on our ability to partner with our federal government to maximize the opportunities in front of us as they take the reins off our domestic energy assets and the policies that govern them.
As coal markets begin to blossom, we must be prepared to move quickly and offer the finest quality coal, produced by the best miners in the world, at the lowest price possible. A more competitive tax structure and a continued modernization of mining rules are just two macro-level policies we should pursue.
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JULY 14-15, 2017
Raleigh County Memorial Airport | Beckley, West Virginia
Fourteen years ago, members of the mining industry, local businessmen, and car enthusiasts came together with a plan to hold a fundraiser to help support the maintenance and operation of the just completed YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Sports Complex, which was built on several acres of land sitting on a former mine refuse site in Beckley, West Virginia. The end product became the Friends of Coal Auto Fair - an event that not only met the initial goal of supporting this state-of-the-art facility, but one that has grown to support the local economy and the community of southern West Virginia.
Due to improvements at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Sports Complex the Auto Fair was postponed for one year and resumed in 2016 at a new location, the Raleigh County Memorial Airport. Thousands of people from all over the country gathered the third weekend in July of last year to take part in the car show, live music, special performances, helicopter rides and festival food - all for the common cause of giving back to the community of Southern WV. In order to continue to make this event an incredible success and the cause a reality, we need your support.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. ─ In his most eagerly anticipated official action to date, President Donald Trump officially curbed damaging federal regulations on electric power generation in the United States, and the West Virginia Coal Association is singing his praises.
“Never before have we seen a chief executive who has lived up to every promise made to West Virginia,” Coal Association President Bill Raney said about Trump’ executive order turning back the so-called Clean Power Plan from the Obama Administration.
Raney was on hand for today’s signing as a special guest of the Trump Administration.
“We knew more good news was coming out of Washington for us when Vice President Mike Pence told West Virginia during his visit Saturday in Charleston that the war on coal is over,” Raney said. “There is still a lot to do to fix what the previous administration broke for the coal industry, but today is a great day.”
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. ─ State regulators recognized a host of West Virginia mining operations for their reclamation and environmental stewardship during the 2017 West Virginia Mining Symposium.
The reclamation awards were announced Feb. 23 at the Charleston Civic Center, where the West Virginia Coal Association held its 44th annual symposium. Inspectors with the state Department of Environmental Protection selected the winners, and DEP Secretary Austin Caperton handed out the awards.
“West Virginia’s coal operators have an incredibly strong but often un-acknowledged commitment to environmental protection and responsible reclamation,” said Jason Bostic, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association. “We appreciate DEP’s recognition of the incredible work our members are doing to reclaim mine sites and protect the natural beauty of West Virginia.”
The top award – the Greenlands Award, went to Aracoma Coal Company for its Camp Branch Surface Mine in Logan County. Reclamation included the design and operation of a 700-acre surface mine. Aracoma worked with the land owner and county redevelopment authority to submit a permit modification for a variance from approximate original contour that would permit the construction of an adverse weather aerial delivery system, drop zone and landing zone for the West Virginia National Guard, allowing for pilot training and certification on the use of unimproved air strips in combat zones.
The U.S. Surface Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation presented the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Award to Coal-Mac’s Phoenix No. 1 Surface Mine in Logan and Mingo counties.
Other reclamation award winners are:
AML North Award: Solid Rock Excavating Company, Parker Run Project (Marion County)
Reclamation included highwall elimination, grading and capping the refuse areas and the installation of mine seals, bat gates and drainage control structures.
AML South Award: Pineville Paving Company, Little Daycamp Branch Refuse (McDowell County)
Reclamation included environmental remediation of a coal refuse site that included the grading, construction of drainage diversion channels and a water discharge control surge basin.
AML Emergency Award: Carpenter Reclamation Inc., Dans Branch (Dillon) Landslide Project. (Mingo County)
Reclamation consisted of removing loose material to bedrock, stabilizing the adjacent undisturbed area and the installation of mine seals and drainage control structures.
AML Emergency Award – Coal Refuse: A&A Energy, Bald Knob / Hager Project (Boone County)
Reclamation included the excavation and extinguishment of burning refuse, capping the site with soil and installing drainage control structures. Final reclamation included a planting plan for fish and wildlife habitat.
National Wild Turkey Federation Award: Coal-Mac Inc., Loggy Branch Surface Mine (Logan, Mingo counties)
Reclamation included post-mining land use and planting plans that has provided a wildlife habitat that is otherwise limited in the surrounding, undisturbed forest and one that promotes local turkey populations and hunting opportunities. Coal-Mac has also hosted multiple youth hunting events in conjunction with the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Coal Refuse Facility South Award: Mingo-Logan Coal Company, Mountain Laurel Complex (Logan County)
The company designed a coal slurry handling system that includes multiple points of leak detection, remote flow monitoring, video surveillance and secondary containment and diversion structures for the entire length of the slurry line.
Remining Award – South: Central Appalachia Mining LLC, Remining #1 Surface Mine (Mingo County)
Reclamation included eliminating four miles of existing highwall and removing and encapsulating AMD-producing material that significantly impacted the water quality in adjacent stream courses, while producing coal from the active surface mining area. Post-remining water quality has improved substantially.
Surface Mine South Award: Coal Mac Inc., Phoenix No. 5 Surface Mine (Logan County)
Reclamation of a surface coal mining operation included a 63 percent reduction in initial designed configuration stream impacts through the elimination of four planned valley fills through an AOC plus reclamation plan. The regraded areas have been replanted and are approaching final reclamation status.
Coal Refuse Facility North Award: Wolf Run Mining Company, Sentinel Mine (Barbour County)
Reclamation included expansion of an underground mining complex and preparation plant facility originally constructed in 1973. The expansion consisted of expanding the coal refuse areas and the associated drainage and water discharge control structures and the installation of a sophisticated remote monitoring system that incorporates piezometers, float and pH monitoring and real-time notification devices.
Valley Fill Construction / Surface Mine South Award: Coal-Mac Inc., Pine Creek No. 2 Surface Mine (Logan County)
Reclamation included the effective implementation and management of a selenium overburden handling and water treatment system and an innovative valley fill under-drain design that utilizes filter cloth to minimize TDS in the discharges from the fill area.
Surface Mine South Award: Met Resources LLC, Weyanoke Surface Mine (Mercer County)
Reclamation included recovering the Pocahontas 6, 7 and 9 coal seams from a reserve base previously deemed unrecoverable. Following coal recovery, the topography was restored through regarding and the post-mining land use of forestland implemented with a planting plan of native hardwoods such as oaks and maples.
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