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According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), U.S. coal production is trending upward by approximately .5 percent from this past year. EIA says production for 52 weeks ending December 31 was 1.09 billion tons compared to 1.08 billion in 2010.
Meanwhile, exports of met coal increased by almost 30 percent year-over-year, from 47.1 million tons in 2010 to 57.1 million tons in 2011. Steam coal exports saw a 54 percent increase, from 19.9 million tons in 2010 to 30.7 million tons in 2011.
West Virginia production increased by 1.5 million tons, from 135 million tons in 2010 to 136.5 million tons in 2011 – an approximate 1 percent increase. Production for the entire Appalachian region increased .6 percent, from 336.4 million tons in 2010 to 338.6 million tons in 2011. The spot price for Central App coal was $76.30, down slightly from $76.85 at the end of November.
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According to an AP report, halfway through its budget year, West Virginia has resumed its course toward a modest general revenue surplus in December after a brief rough patch for tax collections. Last month the state took in $336 million, or $28.7 million more than expected. That helped put state government $56 million above its revenue goal for the budget year, which ends June 30. Muchow credits the state's energy sector for much of the good fiscal news. Continuing a trend that's helped buoy the state amid the fragile recovery, Muchow cited coal prices and the strong export market for this fossil fuel. Muchow added that natural gas production and increased investments in West Virginia's share of the Marcellus shale field is also playing a role. The severance tax on extracted natural resources bested its December estimate. So did taxes on business equity — the business franchise tax — and corporate net income.
West Virginia expects to raise $4.01 billion from general tax revenues by June 30. It began January with $1.97 billion collected.
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In a harshly worded filing, the National Mining Association and other industry groups asked for partial summary judgment in the suit filed against the EPA over the agency’s “final guidance” document on the Clean Water Act issued this past year.
“In both word and deed in drafting and implementing these “guidance” documents, EPA has dramatically overstepped the bounds Congress carefully crafted for EPA across multiple statutory programs that govern coal mining,” attorneys for the industry wrote. “If EPA had the authority to issue the proclamations found in these documents, which include regulation of mine design, presumptions on conductivity as a measure of water quality, and invasion into the states’ water quality standards, there would be no need for “guidance” in the first instance. EPA’s role and views would have been codified and woven into dozens of regulatory provisions that have governed environmental permitting for coal mining for at least the past three decades.
“The final guidance document runs roughshod over the carefully crafted regulatory schemes in the SMCRA and CWA… EPA exceeds multiple ceilings placed on its authority and disrupts the critical cooperative federalism balance that Congress intended between federal agencies and the states.”
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The West Virginia Contractors’ Expo will be held at the Charleston Civic Center March 21 & 22. The event is one of the largest events in the annual trade show calendar for the state.
The West Virginia Coal Association and Friends of Coal will once again man a booth at the event during the two days. Look for us there.
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Candidates planning to run for public office in the 2012 elections may begin filing candidacy papers on January 9, according to the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office.
The office also will offer a free live video stream every day of the filing period, including up to the midnight deadline on January 28, for people wanting to watch who is filing. The live streaming video will be available on a link that will appear at the top of the Secretary of State's website at www.wvsos.com.
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Delegate Tim Ennis (D-Brooke) is leaving the West Virginia Legislature to fill a vacancy on the Brooke County Commission. The Herald-Star of Steubenville, Ohio, says the commission appointed Ennis on Tuesday to fill the seat held by the late Commissioner Bernie Kazienko, who died Dec. 5.
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The new edition of Coal Facts will be sent to all members, legislators, key-government officials, all libraries, all chamber of commerces and media next week. The publication will once again feature all the annualized data for production, employment, distribution, coal severance taxes and other information, as well as features on the history of mining, an overview of surface and underground mining, post-mine land use and restoration efforts, and our annual award-winning operations.
A pdf copy of the publication will also be available online.
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The 2012 WV Mining Symposium will begin on February 1 thru February 3rd at the Charleston Civic Center. Registration information was sent to all members on Monday and have been coming back into the Association at a steady clip.
The program will be finalized in the next week and will also be sent to all members via e-mail. Please complete and return the registration form so all nametags will be available upon your arrival and we have good counts for all of functions.
Please contact Sandi at 304.342.4153 or e-mail:
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The 2012 Regular Session of the West Virginia State Legislature will begin January 11 and run through March 10. This year’s session will see some changes with leadership, but we expect it to be relatively smooth.
The key issues for the session from the perspective of the Association include congressional redistricting, developing a comprehensive drug testing policy for the mining industry and the development of manpower training opportunities for the mining industry.
Governor Tomblin will kick off the session with his first State of the State Address since being elected to complete the term of former Governor and now U.S. Senator Joe Manchin. Tomblin will deliver the State of the State Address beginning at 7 pm on January 11.
Prior to the opening of the regular session, Interim meetings of the Legislature begin on Sunday, January 8. Discussion is expected to center around ways to address the recent U.S. District Court decision striking down the state’s congressional redistricting plan.
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