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%).

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 3^rd 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:  libby.cottrell@energytransfer.com

CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Coal Association issues the following statement regarding today’s release by the federal Office of Surface Mining of the revised Stream Buffer Zone Rule.

“The unrelenting assault on coal by the Obama Administration continued today, with the issuance by the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) of new revisions to the existing Stream Buffer Zone (SBZ) rule,” said Jason Bostic, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.  “The OSM claims this new rule provides ‘regulatory certainty.’ How can a 1200-page rule that blurs different statutes offer clarity or certainty?”

“And most egregious of all is the charade of a robust public comment process put forward by OSM in the crafting of this rule,” Bostic said. “The OSM performed a regulatory sleight of hand by requesting input from the states, then essentially slamming the door to that input while they moved to rewrite the law itself. In fact, nine out of ten states that were requested to provide input formally pulled out of the process as it moved forward without them.

“At its core, this appears to be an insidious attempt by OSM to blur the Surface Mining Act with the Clean Water Act to accomplish what EPA has previously failed to do – trample the responsibility of the states to develop their water quality standards.”

“It is also clear that the OSM’s estimate that ‘only’ 200 mining jobs would be lost due to the implementation of this plan has about as much validity a carnival sideshow palm reading. Several recent studies have shown the huge discrepancies between Obama Administration estimates of economic impact and the reality once these policies are implemented. “

“OSM arrogantly made the statement that the rule is ‘intended to protect the people of the coalfields.’ To that, we call on our congressional and state elected leaders to protect our coal miners from a runaway federal agency that is trying to replace a statute with a regulation developed in secret and wrapped in bureaucratic intrigue.”

Only five rooms remain in our name at The Greenbrier for WVCA’s Annual Meeting on August 6 – 8, 2015.  For those that have made their room reservations, but have not returned their event registration to WVCA, we ask that you return the Annual Meeting registration form, which has been emailed or can be obtained by contacting our office, to us as soon as possible so that we can insure good counts for each of our events.  In addition to the fun filled, family focused three days we will have informative programs and special recognitions for our 100^th year, including special photographers being available for family photos.  We hope you will be able to join us and if you have questions, please call Sandi at the Association, 304-342-4153.   

·       Royce Watts, WVU Search Committee Chair, announced that Dr. John Herbst has accepted the position of WVU Mining Engineering Department Chair with expected employment date of August 2015.

·       Command change at the Huntington District Corps of Engineers was held today, July 10, with Colonel Leon F. Parrott relinquishing command to Colonel Philip M. Secrist, III.

·       Babst Calland will be holding “Business After Hours” on Thursday, July 23 at their new location at BB&T Square, 300 Summers Street, Suite 1000, in Charleston.