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The WV Business & Industry Council (BIC) had four well attended legislative events this week. On Tuesday, Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin was the featured guest speaker, along with many of the State Senators and Delegates from Kanawha and Putnam counties. Later Tuesday evening, most of the Senators and Delegates from Cabell and Wayne counties met with BIC members in Ceredo. The other two meetings, on Thursday, were held in Beckley for Raleigh and Fayette county representatives and at Chief Logan State Park with House Finance Chairman Harry Keith White and Delegates from Lincoln, Logan and Mingo counties attending. The Coal Association is a charter member of BIC.
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The WV Office of Miners Health Safety & Training has withdrawn the proposed amendments to Title 56, Series 3 Rules Governing the Safety of Those Employed in and Around Surface Mines in West Virginia. The rules were proposed in June and a public hearing was held in July. The agency intends on establishing an ad-hoc work group to review the proposed rules before they are (re)submitted to the Legislature for approval.
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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
CHARLESTON — A new report by the West Virginia Division of Energy and the Office of Coalfield Community Development has found that 13,000 people are working in West Virginia as a result of projects created on land that has been reclaimed after surface mining.The report found that 13,335 jobs were created from 43 different projects on reclaimed land in 12 counties, including McDowell. The report found that the uses of surface mine sites are varied, and include residential development, tourism, energy, schools, government facilities and manufacturing.
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According to a report by the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Committee, the Friends of Coal has recognized almost 61,000 state champions during the 10 years the group has sponsored the state high school athletic championships. Below is a listing of the awards presented in each of the sport categories.
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On Monday, Subcommittee A of the Joint Judiciary Committee, an Interim Committee, recommended a draft coal bed methane ownership bill for next year’s Session. A copy can be obtained clicking here. This is only a recommendation. This same subcommittee pulled a bill that would codify the current DEP moratorium on slurry injection before the meeting.
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The Annual Coal Lobbyist meeting is set for Wednesday, December 15 at the Charleston Marriott beginning at 9 a.m. Discussion of potential legislative issues and the strategies for the 2011 legislative program will be the morning agenda, followed by lunch for the newly-elected Senators and Delegates. More details will be sent within the next week.
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WVCA, , Massey employees, UMW safety officers and rank-and-file miners were among about two-dozen people who attended the last of four MSHA public hearings on an emergency rule governing “rock-dusting” of underground tunnels. In September, MSHA issued a rule to require coal companies to apply more crushed stone to the walls, floors and other surfaces underground to control potential dust ignitions. That rule has already taken effect on an emergency basis and now MSHA is taking public input on a final version.
WVCA said that MSHA should be more focused on allowing mine operators to use scrubbers mounted to mining machines to control dust and allowing extended cuts of coal that involve less moving of machines underground. “That’s a major concern we have here in West Virginia,” said Chris Hamilton. “That’s a much greater concern here throughout West Virginia and Appalachia than putting an additional 5 or 10 or 15 percent more rock dust.”
MSHA also announced a second phase of its “Rules to Live By” enforcement initiative to target the types of violations agency officials believe can lead to explosions and fires.
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On Monday the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) released new guidance regarding its oversight of state mining regulatory programs. Specifically, the guidance addresses the use of the federal Ten Day Notice process and its appropriate application to permitting issues. The new guidance reverses previous determinations from OSM and the Department of the Interior regarding oversight of permitting decisions made by state regulatory authorities and could potentially complicate the primacy structure and relationship of these programs to the federal mining authority under OSM. For a copy of the new guidance and more detailed memo describing the new actions contact
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Speaking to last week’s Annual Energy Conference of the Huntington Chamber of Commerce, NMA President Hal Quinn said although the new Congress may be more mining friendly than the current one, the federal regulatory agencies are likely to remain hostile to the mining community and pose a potent threat in the months ahead.
“We will face a greater threat from unelected regulators than from Congress,” said Quinn. “From the EPA and OSM to the SEC and MSHA, our industry will continue to be the target of costly rules that the new Congress can blunt but not always stop.”
“The mid-term elections have bolstered the number of mining-friendly members of Congress who will take their seats in the House and Senate in January,” said Quinn. “Although the cavalry may be riding to the rescue, the settlers may already be dead, especially if regulators succeed in imposing a welter of rules covering valley fills, air quality standards, greenhouse gas emissions and additional mine safety authorities and reporting requirements.” (NMA Mining Week)
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