May « 2009 « Coal Tattoo

Archive for May, 2009

Mountaintop removal: Obama ‘walks a fine line’

Sunday, May 31, 2009

While anti-mountaintop removal activists are gearing up for a big hearing tomorrow morning — in their fight over a broad court injunction against their protest actions — there are a couple of interesting and related items in the news this weekend.

First, the LA. Times had a story headlined, “Obama walks a fine line over mining.” I think the thrust of the story is best summed up by this quote from Phil Smith, communications director for the United Mine Workers union:

The White House is “searching for a way to walk this tightrope … They have a large constituency of people who want to see an immediate end to mountaintop removal, and an equally large constituency . . . whose communities depend on those jobs.”

Posted in Media coverage, Mountaintop Removal | 4 Comments »

Power line tax update: Bill not on special session agenda

Friday, May 29, 2009

It’s official (at least for now) — West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin has not included his proposed power line tax on the call for the upcoming special legislative session.

The official list of bills to be considered during the special session is posted here.

Word of this also came in from The Power Line blog, which cited a comment from West Virginia Blue:

Yes, indeed, it appears that the bill is not going to be on the special session agenda. Hereâ€™s an update via FB (last night) from Delegate Tim Miley:

â€œTim Miley at 8:40pm May 28
The energy transmission tax bill will NOT be on the call for the special session, at least as of 400 pm today-based upon a meeting that I attended in Speaker Thompsonâ€™s office.â€

So, at some point yesterday the Speaker must have let the Gov. know there still isnâ€™t enough support for this bill to pass and then they agreed it was pointless to put on the agenda.

Gov. Manchinâ€™s continued enthusiasm for this bill shows the need for vigilance in educating our legislators about opposition to this bill and on other energy policy issues.

Thanks also to Gazette statehouse reporter AlisonÂ Knezevich, who alerted me to the fact that the power line bill was missing from the special session agenda dropped off at the Capitol press room earlier this evening.

Posted in Legislature, Power lines | 2 Comments »

WVDEP’s ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy on coal slurry

Friday, May 29, 2009

Kenny Stroud and his son ponder their contaminated water in their Rawl, Mingo County, W.Va. home.Â Photo by Vivian Stockman.

Since WVDEP’s drop of its long-awaited coal-slurry injection study after the close of business on Thursday, I’ve had time to read the entire report. And this is what I’ve come up with so far:

DEPÂ Secretary Randy Huffman says his agency doesn’t have enough information on what water quality was like before companies started pumping this coal waste underground to say for sure if the slurry impacted that water quality.

Here are a few of the quotes:

– …There are insufficient surface and groundwater monitoring sample sites to determine effects from slurry injection on surface and groundwater.

– Most of the assessment sites lacked detailed information on mine pool conditions and adequate monitoring of the quantity and quality of the mine pool associated with the injection activities.

– Due to insufficient groundwater characterization and monitoring by the operators, definitive conclusions could not be drawn on the extent of the effects of slurry injection on the surrounding groundwater regime.

– (And my favorite) Operators did not conclusively demonstrate that, when slurry is injected into abandoned underground mines, it remains contained and the surrounding hydrologic regime is not adversely affected.

Posted in Slurry impoundments, Water pollution | 8 Comments »

Friday roundup, May 29, 2009

Friday, May 29, 2009

Creation of the UMWA Welfare Fund, May 29, 1946. Pictured seated from left are President Harry Truman, Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug and John L. Lewis. The signing ceremony occurred in the White House Oval Office. Photo courtesy of the UMWA.

My United Mine Workers of America calender tells me that today is the 63rd anniversary of the creation of the UMWA’s Health and Retirment Funds. For a history of the funds and the fight to create them, visit the union’s Web site.Â Or if you really want to dig into the issue, I’d recommend checking out the book, “A Social Contract for the Coalfields: The Rise and Fall of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund,” by my old buddy Richard Mulcahy, a professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh in Titusville.

It’s been a busy Friday. You won’t want to miss the news E. Gordon Gee has resigned/retired from the Massey Energy board of directorsÂ or that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to rehear the latest mountaintop removal case. I also hope to write some more before the end of the day about the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s slurry study.

Earlier this week, a Coal Tattoo reader passed on this story from The Economist:

Wind turbines could have been standing here, turning in the strong winds streaming over the hills. But on the grounds of being noisy and unsightly, Merthyr Tydfil council overturned a planning application for a wind farm on the site of what is to be one of the largest opencast coalmines in Europe. Explosives blasting twice a day, massive machinery will then dig and scrape out an estimated 150 million tonnes of rock to reach the 10.8 million tonnes of coal buried here.

It’s a couple of months old, having appeared in the magazine in March. But it should sound familiar to anyone who has followed the Coal River Wind Project efforts. (See here, here and here for previous posts).

Posted in Media coverage | 1 Comment »

Judge: Mountaintop removal ‘product of shortsightedness’

Friday, May 29, 2009

“It is often easier in the short run to diminish natural resources, but then environmental degradation is so often the product of short-sightedness.”

– Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson

Today’s decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not to reconsider its latest mountaintop removal decision is a loss for environmental groups and citizens who are fighting thisÂ practice.

But the eight-page order from the Richmond, Va.-based court is worth giving a read, especially is you take the time to look at the dissents by Judge M. Blane MichaelÂ (left) and J. Harvie Wilkinson (above), both of whom wanted the full 4th Circuit to rehear the case.

Michael, a Clinton appointtee, noted that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulations require the agency to assess both stream structure and stream function before it approves Clean Water Act permits for valley fills that would permanently bury those streams. The Corps’ “failure to assess stream function in this case and its later claim that an assessment of stream structure provides an adequate substitute cannot amount to a permissible construction of the regulations.”

Michael continued:

The ecological impact of filling headwater streams with mining overburden is both profound and irreversible.

(more…)

Posted in Legal actions, Mountaintop Removal | 7 Comments »

Breaking news: Rehearing denied in MTR case

Friday, May 29, 2009

Photo by Antrim Caskey

Just in from Richmond, Va. — The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a petition from environmental groups to reconsider its ruling overturning a lower court decision that would have curbed mountaintop removal coal mining.

I’ve posted a copy of the 4th Circuit’s decision here.

To briefly catch readers up:

Back in March 2007, U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers in Huntington has issued a ruling that required the federal Army Corps of Engineers to perform more detailed environmental reviews before it issued Clean Water Act permits for mountaintop removal valley fills.Â The coal industry and the Bush administration appealed (with help from a friend of the court brief from West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin). And in February, a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit overturned Chambers’ decision.

Posted in Legal actions, Mountaintop Removal | 2 Comments »

Breaking news: Gee resigns from Massey board

Friday, May 29, 2009

Massey Energy Co. has announced that E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University, has resigned from the coal company’s board of directors. The move comes as Gee faced growing pressure from environmentalists (and from OSU students) to break his ties with the controversial coal giant.

According to the Massey release, Gee said this in a letter to Massey CEO Don Blankenship:

My service on the Massey Board has provided me with a unique perspective to learn the problems and opportunities facing the nation’s energy sector. It has also given me the opportunity to work with people, both within the company, and on the Board, whom I appreciate and admire.

Blankenship responded:

…That Gee brought an important quality to the Massey board that is made up of a significant cross section of opinions on the important issues facing American energy producers today. “Coal is an essential, abundant American resource that keeps the national power grid humming,” Blankenship said. “We will certainly miss Gordon, who was a dynamic force in the free and open debate at our board meetings on our role as a major American energy force and how we can serve our nation.”

Posted in Business, Politics | 11 Comments »

DEP issues slurry study

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Better late than never, I guess … the state Department of Environmental Protection just now released copies of its long-awaited study on underground injection of coal slurry.

The study itself is available here.~~, and a press release here.~~

I just got this material and need to get something done for our print edition pretty quickly to meet out deadlines. But this appears to be the thrust of DEP’s announcement:

While the study found no evidence that coal slurry injection, by itself, affects surface water quality, Huffman is issuing a moratorium on the approval of coal slurry injection into mine voids in which it has not previously been approved.

â€œNone of the sites chosen for the hydrologic assessment showed water quality impacts to surface waters caused by coal slurry injection alone,â€ Huffman said. â€œHowever, the study did point out areas where improvements can be made in the Underground Injection Program. While the Department of Health and Human Resources conducts its portion of the study, we will be making changes to our permitting program and gathering more information from the operators.â€

Read previous posts on this topic here, here, here and here.

I’d be very interested in thoughts from readers who have followed this issue closely.

UPDATED:

After reading the study, I’m finding it very unsatisfying, especially given DEP’s delays in getting it done. That’s because, for the most part, DEP officials simply said they don’t have enough information to really answer the main questions posed to them.

Posted in Slurry impoundments | 8 Comments »

AEP wants to enlarge John Amos coal-ash dump

Thursday, May 28, 2009

American Electric Power is looking to enlarge and combine two coal-ash impoundments located adjacent to the company’s John Amos Power Plant, located along the Kanawha River across from Poca, W.Va.

The proposal was announced in a legal ad published in today’s Charleston Gazette, and is currently pending before the state Department of Environmental Protection.

According to the ad, AEP wants to increase the dam height by about 4 feet to 28 feet.

Brian Long, head of DEP’s Dam Safety section, told me this morning the move would allow AEP to continue to put more power plant waste into the impoundment, but also help the company — for the first time — to obtain a certificate showing theÂ dump meets West Virginia’s dam safety standards. Among other things, the changes would allow the impoundment to store or discharge a storm that dumps 13.75 inches of rain.

Posted in Coal ash | 6 Comments »

It’s back — Manchin’s power line tax bill

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Gazette statehouse reporter AlisonÂ Knezevich revealed today that Gov. Joe Manchin’s power line tax is among the bills that are likely to be considered during the upcoming special session.

This bill, HB 3000, died during the regular session, as I reported previously.

Manchin argues that his legislation is a way to ensure that West Virginians benefit from construction of high-voltage transmission lines like TrAIL and PATH.

But Bill Howley, who writes The Power Line blog,Â thinks the bill is a scam, and he’s offered some interesting reasons why here and here. Read his most recent post, about Manchin including this bill in the special session, here.

Posted in Legislature, Power lines | 2 Comments »

National Geographic on “Repowering the Planet”

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I’ve been reading through my copy of National Geographic’s special issue, “Energy for Tomorrow: Repowering the Plant,” and wanted to pass on some things I found interesting about it.

Of course, it’s got great photographs and interesting graphics. But most of all, I think the special issue underscores what a huge, huge challenge the planet is facing in trying to deal with global warming and our energy supply. As Coal Tattoo has mentioned many times, this effort is incredibly important to coalfield communities, where so much of the world’s energy is produced.

Posted in Media coverage | 1 Comment »

Coal dam update: What’s up with the OSMRE study?

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Photo by Lawrence Pierce, Charleston Gazette

Appalachian Voices is reporting today on its Front Porch blog about its objections to what is says is the secrecy surrounding an ongoing federal government study of the safety of coal-slurry dams:

The study, by the federal Office of Surface Mine and Reclamation Enforcement, will be the first to combine elements of dam volume and downstream populations in a risk assessment.Â Although the engineering work is complete, release of the study is being held up so that coal companies and the state of West Virginia can review it, OSMRE said.Â

(more…)

Posted in Media coverage, Slurry impoundments | 1 Comment »

Massey settles another water pollution suit

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

A federal judge has approved a deal that requires Massey Energy to clean up some of the pollution problems affecting a trout stream in Nicholas County, W.Va.

U.S. Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. approved the settlement between Massey and the Hominy Creek Preservation Association on Friday, ending a two-year-old lawsuit that is part of a larger and longer battle over Massey’s Green Valley Coal Co. operations along Hominy Creek.

Charlottesville, Va., Attorney Walt Morris, along with Derek Teaney and Joe Lovett of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment,Â filed suit against Green Valley back in May 2007.Â The original complaint alleged that the company was violating Clean Water Act pollution limits at a coal-refuse dump built in the original streambed of Coal Branch, a Hominy Creek tributary.

Under the settlement,Â Massey will excavate part of the area, and is required to pump and treat the water so that its discharge complies with pollution limits. Also, Massey must pay the citizen group’s $165,000 in legal fees and costs. The deal did not include any civil penalties.

Posted in Legal actions, Water pollution | 1 Comment »

What did EPA’s Jackson see in Wyoming?

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

“Wyoming is the heart of our energy future. That’s why I’m here.” — Lisa Jackson

I’ve been looking through the coverage of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s visit last week to Wyoming, and a couple of things struck me.

First, if you look at the page where EPA’s PR staff posted photos of the visit, you’ll see two photos of the wind-energy production site (like the one I’ve posted above) and one of a natural gas development site. What’s missing? No shots of Jackson visiting a huge surface mine in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. Apparently, EPA got the photos from Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s Web site, but picked only the three that did’nt relate to coal.

You can read some of the news coverage yourself:Â Here, here, here and here.

Posted in Media coverage | 4 Comments »

Special session update: Clean energy and green jobs?

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Lawmakers are back in town here in West Virginia’s Capital City, for their inevitable special session — required because they’re too busy scarfing down Tudor’s biscuits to get a budget passed or to make sure they don’t write legislation for state agencies that haven’t existed for years.

Coal Tattoo readers should know there are two bills likely to resurface that affect the mining industry and — at least as written — don’t help West Virginia move as far as it could toward clean energy and green jobs. Both bills are proposals from Gov. Joe Manchin.

First, there’s SB 375, Manchin’s post-mining land use legislation. This bill passed the Senate, but died in the House on the last night of the regular session.

I’ve written before that I didn’t really understand the need for or purpose of this bill. Existing law requires mountaintop removal mine operators to develop flattened last after they blow up hilltops and bury streams. The problem is state regulators have just never enforced that requirement.

But several folks who have taken a closer look at that billÂ pointed out language that might explain things. It’s this proposed language to create a new section at W.Va. Code 22-3-10(a)(3)(c) that would say:

By complying with a master land use plan that has been approved in accordance with article two-a, chapter five-b of this code, a post-mining land use satisfies the requirements for an alternative post-mining land use and satisfies the variance requirements set forth in subsection (c), section thirteen, article three, chapter twenty-two of this code if applicable to the proposed use;

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Coal Tattoo update: Back online now

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Anti-mountaintop removal protesters were arrested at the Kayford Mountain mining operation as part of several peaceful actions against the coal industry over the holiday weekend. Photo by Antrim Caskey, via Climate Ground Zero.

OK, folks, sorry for my disengagement there for several days. But I’m back and there’s lots of news to pass on …

First, the peaceful civil disobedience against mountaintop removal coal-mining continued over the Memorial Day weekend, with 17 arrests at three different sites: the Kayford Mountain mine (see photo above), the Brushy Fork impoundment, and outside Massey’s Marfork operation (which includes Brush Fork).

Climate Ground Zero, which is organizing the protest actions, hasÂ descriptions of what happened at each site here, along with video and photo slide shows. The Gazette had a report on the events on Sunday, and The Associated Press did a brief follow-up story. There’s also more on the site of Mountain Justice, another group involved in organizing the protests.

One interesting point, I thought, was that the Kayford protest — a “lockdown” in which activists chained themselves to a giant dump truck — targeted not Massey Energy, but Patriot Coal.

Sunday’s paper also featured a front-page article by Associated Press business writer Tim Huber outlining the coal industry’s complaints about the Obama administration’s policies on strip mining and global warming, and a piece by the Gazette’s Paul Nyden about the new coal tax report issued byÂ the West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy and Downstream Strategies.

Thanks to all you folks who commented and kept is clean and thoughtful over the long weekend. Unfortunately, there were some readers who weren’t so well behaved. So in the future, when I’m going to be off line for a couple of days, I think we’re going to have to put a “time out” on the blog comment section.

Posted in Blog business, Coal business, Mountaintop Removal, Protest actions | 4 Comments »

Friday roundup, May 22, 2009

Friday, May 22, 2009

After this post, Coal Tattoo is going to take a few days off for Memorial Day. I’m posting above a photo of the new Sago Memorial that was dedicated in Philippi yesterday, in honor of the 12 miners killed in the Jan. 2, 2006, disaster. Four of the 12 men killed were from the Barbour County community. More information about the memorial is available here, on the Web site of artist Ross Straight.

It might be appropriate this Memorial DayÂ to remember the folks in Southern West Virginia who have been hard hit by flooding. Visit this Red Cross site to find out how you can help.

Flooding has been getting a lot of attention over the last two weeks, and I’ll try to round up a little bit of the news for you.

First, Massey Energy rightly got some positive media coverage from The Associated Press and from the Gazette for calling back some laid-off workers to help with flood cleanup projects.

But Erica Peterson over at West Virginia Public Broadcasting reminded us (as the Gazette has previously reported) that Massey’s strip mining was at least partly responsible for some of the damage.

Posted in Media coverage | 6 Comments »

Shocking news: Big coal still opposes climate bill

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Photo by David Grubbs/Billings Gazette, via Associated Press, of a strip mine northeast of Hardin, Montana.

As I mentioned in a story for today’s Gazette, the coal industry continues to oppose the Waxman-Markey climate change bill — this despite the long list of sweeteners added by Virginia Congressman Rick Boucher to help mining companies and coal-fired utilities remain competitive in a carbon-constrained world.

I heard that Republican Congressman Joe Barton, the ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, read most of my story into the hearing record on Thursday. Apparently, Barton thought the story made a good case for why the current legislation would kill off the coal industry.

I guess I was kind of surprised he read it that way, because I thought I did a pretty good job outlining all of the ways (including $181 billion in free greenhouse pollution permits) that the bill’s authors have tried to give coal an even chance of remaining competitive — if the industry comes up with a way to deploy carbon capture and sequestration technology on a broad scale.

Boucher himself — a major friend of coal — outlined these pro-coal amendments pretty clearly on Monday, during his opening statement on the committee markup hearings. Boucher and the United Mine Workers, though, plan to continue to try to further weaken the near-term emissions reductions requirement, from 17 percent to 14 percent (at least) between now and 2020.

Posted in Climate policy, Congress, Politics | 7 Comments »

PSC to AEP: Turn over documents on efficiency

Thursday, May 21, 2009

An interesting little breaking news item:

The West Virginia Public Service Commission has ordered American Electric Power to turn over documents concerning its demands-demand side management and energy efficiency programs.

The PSC order is available here,Â and it is the result of an effort by the West Virginia-Citizen Action Group to have conservancy and energy efficiency be a bigger part of the commission’s consideration of AEP’s huge rate increase request, currently pending before the PSC.

Lawyers for AEP opposed the WV-CAG request, but Citizen Action lawyer (and loyal Coal Tattoo reader) Tom Rodd explained that the PSC had already granted WV-CAG’s request to intervene in the case for the central purpose of arguing that AEP can and should reduce costs to its customers with better conservation and efficiency measures.

Hearings on the rate request are scheduled for next month.

Posted in Alternative energy, Power lines | 2 Comments »

Big protest set for Saturday at Massey site

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Photo by Vivian Stockman, flyover courtesy Southwings.

Environmental activists are spreading the word that they’re planning a big protest this Saturday outside one of Massey Energy’s Southern West Virginia operations.

The event is scheduled for noon outside Massey’s Marfork Complex near Pettus, home of the company’s huge Brushy Fork slurry impoundment (photo above).Â The announcement I got said:

The picketers will bring nearly 1,000 pairs of shoes to the site at noon to represent the number of people killed if the Brushy Fork Slurry Impoundment were to burst. This number â€“ taken from one of Massey Energy’s filings with the W.Va. Department of Environmental Protection â€“ is the minimum number of potential deaths in case of a catastrophic breach, and the company holds permits to blast for coal extraction within a football field’s distance of the impoundment’s retaining wall.

Posted in Protest actions, Slurry impoundments | 4 Comments »