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WHEELING - For better or for worse, depending on one's perspective, President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan will significantly change America by the year 2030 - if its goal of cutting 32 percent of CO2 emissions from electricity plants becomes reality.
To the dozens of coal industry officials, elected leaders, candidates and concerned members of the public gathered for a forum on the future of coal in the state at Oglebay Park on Tuesday, the effect of the plan will be decidedly negative, as they believe the state is set to lose thousands of jobs and see skyrocketing electricity rates. The Forum was hosted by the West Virginia Coal Forum, a joint labor-management organization based in Charleston.
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The federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) will hold six public hearings on what they’re calling the Stream Protection Rule (SPR), which is actually the Stream Buffer Zone Rule and is a complete “rewrite” of the surface mining act to the detriment of the mining industry and landowners across the country. These hearings will be held during the month of September with the one in Charleston scheduled for Thursday, September 17th at the Charleston Civic Center. We’re already hurting bad enough, without them “piling on” with more over-reaching regulations. We need YOUR help! Please RESERVE THE DATE in hopes you, your coworkers, family, suppliers and friends will “pitch in” to help us protect our coal miners’ jobs from this latest attack by Obama’s War on Coal!
- Thursday, September 17, 2015
City: Charleston, WV
Location: Charleston Civic Center
200 Civic Center Dr., Charleston 25301
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
If you can’t make it to the Charleston event, here are some other dates and sites in the region.
- Thursday, September 3, 2015
City: Lexington, KY
Location: Lexington Civic Center
430 W Vine St., Lexington 40507
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. - Thursday, September 10, 2015
City: Pittsburgh, PA
Location: Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh
500 Mansfield Ave., Pittsburgh 15205
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. - Tuesday, September 15, 2015
City: Big Stone Gap, VA
Location: Mountain Empire Community College
3441 Mt. Empire Rd., Big Stone Gap 24219
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
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CHARLESTON – The Obama Administration today formally published the EPA’s final regulations governing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The regulation will endanger hundreds of power plants around the nation, raise the electric bills to the point of creating energy poverty for millions of Americans and endanger the electric grid.
“Today’s announcement by the Obama Administration of its adoption of the EPA’s ‘Costly Power Plan’ is yet another effort by this administration to hide its radical policies behind a façade of compromise,” said Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association. “This latest iteration of the EPA’s regulatory assault against coal-fired power generation is being presented as addressing the concerns of industry, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, the final regulation tacks on a couple of years to the compliance timeline, but all this accomplishes is perpetuate uncertainty and provide more time for the rule to do more damage – irreversible damage – to the nation’s energy industry and electric grid.
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The 2015 edition of Coal Facts, the West Virginia Coal Association’s annual statistical report, is now in production and will be ready for distribution within the next two weeks. The publication will feature updates on the status of the coal industry in the state, production, employment and distribution data, a review of state coal severance tax collections and distributions as well as county-by-county data.
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U.S. Coal Production Up Again Week Over Week
|
Coal Commodity Region/Fuel |
Avg. BTU |
SO2 |
Price |
Price/mmBU |
|
Central Appalachia |
12,500 |
1.2 |
$54.0 |
$2.20 |
|
Northern Appalachia |
13,000 |
3 |
$53.0 |
$2.05 |
|
Illinois Basin |
11,800 |
5 |
$43.35 |
$1.46 |
|
Powder River Basin |
8,800 |
0.8 |
$11.55 |
$0.66 |
|
Uinta Basin |
11,700 |
0.8 |
$39.35 |
$1.68 |
|
Natural Gas (Henry Hub) |
n/a |
0.01 |
n/a |
$2.75 |
Coal production in the U.S. rose sharply for the week ending July 18, compared to the previous week – continuing the positive trend of the past few weeks. However production continues to fall short of last year according to the latest report from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) for the week.
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More than 80 coal miners packed a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) public hearing in support of changes to two West Virginia water quality standards. The crowd of miners, wearing their work clothes with reflective stripes, greatly outnumbered a handful of environmental group representatives.
DEP’s Division of Water and Waste Management has proposed changes to the way West Virginia calculates its standards for aluminum and selenium. The proposed new rule would effectively bring the state’s standards into compliance with the rest of the nation.
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The coal industry has a long history of surviving dramatic cycles of good times and bad, but most people familiar with the coal industry recognize the current slump as being one of the most challenging in the history of the West Virginia coalfields.
This was the primary topic of a meeting of the West Virginia Coal Forum held Thursday in Bluefield. The West Virginia Coal Forum is a quasi-governmental agency that the state Legislature established in 1986. It represents the interests of both labor and management relating to the state’s leading industry.
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Constructed on the site of a reclaimed surface mine and a wonderful example of post-mining land use, the West Virginia Clays, Inc. is having its 3rd Annual Clays for Coal Outing on August 13, 2015 beginning at 10 a.m. West Virginia Clays, Inc is located on County Route 1, Ashford Nellis Road. Please RSVP or for more information contact Libby Cottrell at:
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Coal production in the U.S. rose sharply for the week ending July 11. Meanwhile the decline from last year continues to expand according to the latest report from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) for the week.
Production in the United States jumped by 2.3 million tons (16%) to finish the week at 16.40 million tons compared to last week’s total of 14.12 million tons. Meanwhile production for the week is off by 1.9 million tons (11%) from the 18.26 million tons for the same week in 2014. Cumulative production for the year-to-date remains down as of July 11, coming in at 475.40 million tons compared to 518.30 million tons last year – a decline of 434.85 million tons or 8.4%. Production for the previous 52 weeks also trended lower – finishing at 951.53 million tons compared to 985.08 million tons for the same period ending in 2014 (-3.2%).
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