U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers has granted the Obama administration more time to process its proposed veto of the largest mountaintop removal coal mine in West Virginia history.
In an order issued today (Subscription required), Judge Chambers gave the federal Environmental Protection Agency up to six more months to complete the legal process of making a final decision on whether to veto the permit for Arch Coal Inc.’s Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County.
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The strip ” miners” should be ashamed of the destruction they are causing
If they wish to make a living doing mining, then they should apply at underground mines for jobs, where the damage is minimal to the earth & waters. And another thing: the coal will be gone in about twenty years ; then you and your sons will have to leave this occupation. Green jobs will replace coal in America’s future ; so get ready for a big change
I completely agree Mr. Shelby. A very good comment. Maybe the coal operators will wake up a little if the Spruce mine is shut down forever.
For as long as coal is needed it should be mined responsibly to 21st century standards utilizing the most modern techniques available. We owe this to future generations and ourselves. Coal presently delivers 50% of the nations electricity; about 50% of that coal comes from eastern states. Improving the scientific capture of methane emissions from coal mines should become West Virginia’s NASA like project.
Change occurs slowly, but change is coming like it or not.
Campaign Seeks to End U.S. Dependency on Coal
Interview with Mary Anne Hitt,
director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign
http://btlonline.org/2010/btlqahitt043010.html
I completely disagree, pushing the miners back underground will only cause more tragedies like the one at the upper big branch mine. I was told the same thing eleven years ago by Mr Ward,” find a new occupation, cause the jig is up” and here we are still. Oh btw my daughter had just started grade school back then and now is in college,and Arch Coal is still trying to obtain this permit.
It’s very disturbing that there is no mention of a Clean Air Act construction permit. A facility as big as described would certainly be a major source of particulate matter (PM), a criteria pollutant under the Act. The large surface mines out west have emission factors listed in EPA’s AP-42 for their operations but none for the east. Kanawha County is (was, the last time I checked) non-attainment for PM and Logan County is close enough to suspect a modeled impact. Curious.
The large surface mines out waste are on a much larger scale and also include blasting of the coal due to the extreme thicknesses – Arch’s black thunder operation is 50 sq miles and has mined over 85 million tons of coal in 1 year. If you want to be fair then why not hold every mine and industry to the same water standards as is currently being applied to MTR operations. As for mining this coal thru deep mining methods would result is less coal recovery due to several factors including – narrow ridges, insufficient cover and pillars left behind. This doesn’t even account for seams that are not thick enough to be mined or contain large partings. The large majority of surface coal is shipped clean and not require being washed versus washing almost nearly 100% of deepmined coal – this would result in increased slurry damns.
Dont blame the companies or the miners for not having other jobs in the area – the state has long lived off the taxes put on coal and did not put the money back into the communities where it came from.
There may be a Clean Air Act citizen suit in their future. They need a permit if they are a source of air pollution. EPA regulates dry cleaners, for crying out loud..
They regulate them because Dry cleaners are a major source of perchloroethylene (also referred to as PCE, PERC, tetrachloroethene, and tetrachloroethylene) , one of the toxic air pollutants Congress has required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate under the Clean Air Act of 1990. PCE is known to cause cancer in animals and is suspected to cause cancer in humans. PCE also has non-cancer toxic effects that make it desirable to minimize PCE emissions.
The EPA cannot be objective on the mining industry at all. The Obama administration and tha EPA is coordinating with left wing environmental groups to launch protests of mtr in W V and are attempting to identify ways to fund such groups as Coal River Mountain Watch and Appalachian Voices. Quoting a white house aide”If we had our way we’d be mourning the mining industry not miners” .http://spectator.org/archives/2010/04/26/what-lies-beneath
[...] The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set the date for its public hearing on the possible veto of the largest mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia history. [...]
There are no easy answers. Underground mining will inevitably result in more fatalities and serious injuries. that cannot be ignored. It’s also false to suggest underground mining does not involve serious localized environmental damage including stream damage.
Dirty as it is, coal is going to be a primary energy source for many years. That can’t be avoided.
Mountaintop removal (and smaller scale strip-mining) cannot be accomplished without extreme environmental damage and it is probably not practically let alone financially feasible to truly mitigate that damage.
Like it or not, WV is and will remain heavily dependent on coal for the forseeable future. There in no plan B or magic diversity wand. Curtailing coal production would have a profound negative impact on the economy and the State treasury.
If we are going to talk honestly about the future of the industry we have to acknowledge all of those (and other) facts.
I have heard reasonable, but far from perfect, compromise proposals along the lines of allowing MTR to continue in areas it has already degraded in exchange for a ban on its spread beyond those areas. It sounds cold, but there is some merit in that proposal. It may be late in the day to talk about preserving the environment West of the Turnpike and South of Rt. 60. A “laissez-faire” approach there and a prohibition of new mines outside the region might be the best of a poor lot of choices.