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Charleston Gazette
Drug testing for miners to be mandatory
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin promised Wednesday night to seek more state mine safety improvements, but his list of proposals fell short of what independent investigators have said is needed to truly reform West Virginia's mining operations.
In a State of the State address that repeated Tomblin's strong allegiance to the coal industry, the governor also outlined his legislative response to investigative findings concerning the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster.
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FOLA, W.Va. -- Flying at about 1,000 feet above the hills of Clay County, a trio of West Virginia Air National Guard C-130s approached a 360-acre drop zone on an expanse of a reclaimed surface mine, opened their cargo ramps, and reduced their air speed to 150 miles per hour.
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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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