Steam and smoke is seen over the coal burning power plant in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009. Coal power plants are among the biggest producer of CO2, that is believed to be responsible for climate change. Delegates from 193 nations at a U.N. climate talks conference in Copenhagen are deadlocked in talks on a deal to curb global warming. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
It’s been an interesting year — to say the least — here in the Appalachian coalfields.
So what do Coal Tattoo readers think are the biggest coal-related stories of 2009? Please join in with your comments, and provide links to articles that illustrate your point. To get things started, here are some ideas, offered in no particular order — and without defining what is meant by the “biggest” story … I’ll leave that to you to decide. Here we go:
– The U.S. House and a Senate committee moved forward with strong legislation to try to deal with global warming. Despite the United Mine Workers union’s statement that the House bill would ensure the future of coal, many industry officials continue to oppose congressional action. Some factions in the coal industry, led by Massey’s Don Blankenship, try to convince coalfield residents there’s no such thing as global warming and sponsor rallies against any action on the issue.
– The Obama administration announced plans for a crackdown on mountaintop removal, saying various agencies would be taking unprecedented steps to reduce the impacts of this form of mining.
– A variety of factors – the economic downturn, declining reserves, and concerns about global warming — are major setbacks for the coal industry, especially in Central Appalachia. More and more, analysts are talking about the region soon reaching “Peak Coal” and then seeing production and jobs steadily decline. No new coal-fired power plants were started in 2009.
– Coalfield residents and activists from around the country carried out a series of peaceful civil disobedience protests aimed at shutting down mountaintop removal operations and pressuring government agencies to ban mountaintop removal.
– Coal miners, their families and supporters fought back, mounting counter-protests and, according to the latest dispatch by the AP’s Vicki Smith, creating fears that violence would erupt as the mountaintop removal issue continues to heat up.
– Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., issues a harsh criticism of the industry’s tactics, warning that the coal industry must “embrace the future,” but also chiding environmentalists who argue that coal-fired power can be eliminated altogether.
– American Electric Power launched the largest-ever demonstration project of Carbon Capture and Storage technology, while AEP President Mike Morris and some coal industry leaders support action on climate change, as long as it includes strong provisions to encourage CCS.
– President Obama’s choice to protect the health and safety of the nation’s miners was Joe Main, longtime safety director of the United Mine Workers union. Main takes office and quickly announces a plan to “End black lung,” but then appears to back off a proposal to cut the legal limit of dust that causes the deadly disease.
– The proposed PATH power line, which critics believe is little more than a giant extension cord for Ohio Valley coal-fired power plants, faces continuing delays and other hurdles.
– While the TVA continues to try to clean up the mess left from its huge coal-ash disaster in East Tennessee last December, the Obama administration promises tough regulation of the handling and storage of this power plant waste — but then delays action on the matter.
– The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issues a ban on new permits that would allow the underground discharge of coal slurry, and The New York Times cites pollution from such practices in a nationwide story on contaminated drinking water supplies. Protests continue against what critics say are WVDEP’s lax enforcement policies concerning the coal industry, and local citizens seek a federal takeover of the program.
– A West Virginia University researcher publishes a landmark, peer-reviewed paper that outlines why the coal industry costs the Appalachian region more in adverse health effects than it provides in jobs, taxes and other economic benefits. Coal industry officials try to attack the study, but offer little evidence to show why the conclusions are wrong. (If you haven’t read the study yet, you need to — it’s available online here).
– Coal industry revenues help West Virginia weather the economic downturn better than many other states, a fact that Gov. Joe Manchin and other coal supporters point to when pressing for federal regulators to drop plans for tougher permit standards and greenhouse gas limits.
– The U.S. Supreme Court rules that West Virginia Chief Justice Brent Benjamin wrongly took part in deciding a case involving Massey Energy, whose chief executive’s independent expenditures largely bankrolled Benjamin’s 2004 election victory. The West Virginia Supreme Court later rules the same way in the Harman Mining vs. Massey Energy case, without Benjamin and with only Justice Margaret Workman voting against Massey. Workman was also the only dissenting vote when the Court blocked the public release of former Justice Spike Maynard’s e-mail discussions with Blankenship.
– Coal-mine drainage is at least partly to blame for the destruction of Dunkard Creek along the West Virginia-Pennsylvania line, an incident citizen groups hope will be a warning to the WVDEP and other regulators about long-time inaction on mining-related water pollution issues.
– Massey and the United Mine Workers union continued their more than 25-year fight, with court battles over the failure by Massey to rehire union employees when it bought the Cannelton operations out of bankruptcy, and with a settlement of an age discrimination case miners at that site brought against Massey.
– The Walker family decided to sell its huge mining machinery business, which provides hundreds of local jobs in the Charleston area, but has been the target of protests for its ads promoting mountaintop removal and calling coal “carbon neutral.”
– And across the world, workers continue to pay the ultimate price for our society’s demand for coal. Major disasters occurred this year in Poland, China, Turkey, Ukraine, and Colombia.
Please add your suggestions (with links!) for the biggest coal news of 2009.
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Climate Ground Zero! Their passion and willingness to put it all on the line.
vote for coal tattoo & mountaintop removal!
I think the biggest coal story of the year was the big Jib-Jab snowball fight over at wvared when Don, Shelly and Joe ganged up on Barack and Ken, and used lumps of coal in their snowballs. http://www.wvared.com/?p=3940
Ken’s got a pretty good arm hurling those white glacier balls and is pretty darn good with the written word too but it’s a shame for many that he uses a green keyboard (mine’s black).
OSM oversight inspector shrinkage
What OSM says:
“OSM employed as many as 107 active oversight inspectors in the 1990s compared to 47 in 2008, a 56% decline.”
http://www.osmre.gov/topic/Oversight/SCM/OversightInspections.pdf
What the OSM inspection database actually shows:
During the 2008 Evaluation Year (July 2007 through June 2008), OSM had 28 active oversight inspectors — being those doing twelve or more oversight inspections during that year. [An additional 13 inspectors each did fewer than twelve inspections that year.] (more)
http://groups.google.com/group/bob-mooney/web/osm-inspecting-inspectors
The “I was in the pool” excuse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cUNNKzj_Nc (24 seconds)
2009 is a watershed year in coal’s history. US coal use peaked in 2008 and then declined more than 1o percent in 2009. Citizen opposition stopped new coal plants coming on line in 2009, and in 2010 we are poised to begin the systematic replacement of the existing coal fleet with clean energy alternatives that create jobs w/o sacrificing our health and our future. By getting off of coal over the next two decades our water and air will be cleaner, our communities safer, and workers won’t have to be work for union-busting thugs like Don Blankenship @ Massey.
There were many big coal stories, and that is the big story. Long hidden away in places like rural West Virginia, the coal industry is now in the spotlight, and things will never be the same. And I do believe real reform is coming. Happy New Year!
I tried to post this entry on where voices were being solicited for your paper on the most important coal stories in 2009, but it won’t let me post, said I’m flagged as “spam” and to contact the webmaster. Please post my vote and comments!
Elisa Young
elisayoung1@yahoo.com
http://www.meigscan.org
All of the above injustices can easily be distilled down to the common denominator of our country’s insatiable hunger to maintain the status quo and generate more coal-fired power.
As imperitive as the “no new coal” efforts are, I would argue that the most meaningful “coal” stories to highlight in 2009 are not the efforts to stop individual mining methods or even the construction of more power plants (which must be done and incidentally we DID in my community!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ToEl9FWiSs
http://www.ecowatch.org/pubs/dec09/ampcoalplant.htm
But rather the stories of the young people who are taking on the initiative that my generation is saying can’t be done – to repower America from the roots up – starting with the communities that have been generationally held in coal’s economic stranglehold.
Can anyone say “Power Shift”?
I’ve been to this gathering as a grassroots activist and speaker since its inception. Seeing 12,000 young people stream in from every state in the nation to actively participate in creating a just energy transition in early 2009 was an honor and a sight to behold.
A few months ago, they held state-wide breakout gatherings to work on addressing regional energy issues – over 400 young people in Ohio alone. The wave of the future is here, and we should not be abandoning our young people to singlehandedly trying to figure out how to create and fund these energy solutions on their own!
When I formed our grassroots community group, Meigs Citizens Action Now, to stop the proliferation of coal industry proposals across our community, we asked one direct question, “If you had the choice between building more coal plants or clean renewable energy jobs…” 100% of the people asked said they’d choose renewable energy. In order for us to MAKE a choice, there has to BE a choice. I think these students deserve our vote, our hopes, and undying support in 2009 and beyond. Take a peek at their work:
http://www.energyactioncoalition.org/campaignhome
http://www.oberlin.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/ocreview/20091113.php?a=n_powershift&sec=news
http://energyactioncoalition.org/Regional
If the decision is made to give an award to American Electric Power for using taxpayer/ratepayer funding to keep coal on life support – we are doing worse than sending the wrong message – we are condemning our children to problems we do not have the courage and spine to take on ourselves.
As someone from the state that uses more coal than any other in the United States, I vote the most meaningful story of 2009 is POWER SHIFT!!!
Sincerely
Elisa Young
Meigs County, Ohio
One other story which is kind of sidebar to some of the others is the sell out by Congress that attempts to assure the continuing destructive practices of coal mining, burning and waste disposal by giving the coal industry billions of dollars of subsidies.
Coal is the problem but Congress has far less guts than those people who have placed their lives on the line to stop destructive mining practices and power plant construction.
Congress fiddles while the world turns to ash is one BIG story. Throw in a gutless administration which knows that coal is our demise but still chooses to squander our earth and our wealth on a dinosaur industry and the story enlarges to gross dimension.