Recent News on Coal, Energy and Mountaintop Removal Mining and Valley Fills

The following are news articles and blog posts about coal, mountaintop removal mining and valley fills, and energy from a regional, national and global perspective.

The Price of Central Appalachian Coal:

•  According to the Federal Energy Information Administration the current spot market price for a short ton of central Appalachian coal is $140.


• Last year at this time the spot market price for a short tom of central Appalachian coal was $50.
  

Articles about Coal:

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   On July 31 of this year President Bush took held a meeting with the West Virginia Coal Association and Congressman Nick Rahall, and here is the transcript of what President Bush had to say.

This year-I mean, since we've been in office, we've spent $2.5 billion on clean coal research. Why? Because it's a good investment to make sure that an abundant supply of energy is available and is in use for a long time coming. That's why we're doing it.

• Unfortunately there always seems to be a series of coal mining accidents in China:

1. Flood in Chinese coal mine traps 18 people


2. Mine gas outburst toll rises to 13 in SW China


3. 27 die in China coal mine blast

Articles about Mountaintop Removal Mining and Valley Fills:

• Word about Mountaintop Removal mining is spreading on college campuses. Here is an article from the University of Maryland's Student Newspaper.
  

The people of Appalachia have worked in the coal mines for decades. They've been the lifeblood of this country, and the reason our energy is cheap. Now they're being exploited for profit. This is the economic argument that says we should burn coal rather than use cleaner and more socially just alternatives, which would actually be the economic shot in the arm these people need. So much attention is focused on the pollution from burning coal that it's too easy for the casualties of its extraction to be swept under the rug.

•  Dave Cooper to start another year of Mountaintop Removal Roadshow
  

Articles about Energy:

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  This is a good article comparing the permitting Carbo power-plant in south west Virginia in the late 1950's with the current fights around the permitting of the Dominion Virginia Power’s Virginia City power-plant.

Had I known what I know now, I think I would’ve protested, just because of the land and everything they took,â€ said Shirley Parrott Purcell, who grew up in this small Russell County community.  (Referring to the Carbo power-plant built in the late 1950's)

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   Here is an article about a 100 million dollar pilot project in Germany to capture 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year from a coal fired power-plant, compress the carbon into a liquid and pump it 3000 feet underground. This will provide 12MW of electricity and 30MW of thermal power, enough for more about 1,000 homes. (That's about a million dollars per home. Sounds like an expensive electricity bill.)

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  In Albuquerque NM, PNM Plans Energy Future ; Renewables Fill In For Coal, Nuclear. The Albuquerque power company made this decision after anticipating that federal global warming legislation will make energy from coal very expensive in the future.

"We're very clear," PNM's Wheeler said. "No new coal." Likewise, nuclear power does not look like an economical option, though the PNM analysis holds open the possibility of changing that if electricity demand in New Mexico rises faster than anticipated.

•  Hawaiian plant is latest to convert from coal to biomass.