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:

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   According to Reuters, central Appalachian coal was selling for $128 a short ton on the spot markets on June 11th. Which means metallurgic, the coal that is used to make steel, is probably selling for close to $300 a short ton.

Articles about Coal:

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   Here is a CNN story with the latest news about the search for the remaining 12 miners still missing after a methane gas explosion in a Ukrainian coal mine.

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  Opposition to building new coal fired power plants continues to grow all across the US. Here is a press release from a coalition of groups calling on the Governor of New York to to Ditch plans for a new coal fired power plant in Jamestown New York. I still believe God's method of carbon sequestration is the best. Help save a planet. Coal, leave it in the ground.



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  Many of you may have heard about film maker Morgan Spurlock's newest episode of his hit TV show 30 day where he becomes a deep miner for 30 days. You can watch the hour long episode here. It's a very good program to humanizes the dangerous and difficult work being done daily by deep-miners in central Appalachia.





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  The program reveals the pride that deep-miners have in their work and the work of their family members and friends. But Morgan Spurlock also has conversations with miners who admit that they do not want to see their children go into the mines.  And, in conversations with other miners, they raise concerns about what the long-term damage to the region's environment will be from mining. The program also touches on the destruction being done to the mountains of central Appalachia by mountaintop removal mining. What most people who are not familiar with deep mining will find shocking about this program are the recurring conversations Morgan Spurlock has with his fellow miners about Black Lung. It will be a shock for most people to realize that through their occupation deep miners are slowly committing suicide from Black Lung because of their exposure to coal dust. I came away from the program with a sense of awe of miners who are willing to perform such a dangerous job day-in and day-out, but also a sense of anger at the industry and the county for not making this job safer and for not moving away from our reliance on coal so nobody's children will have to go into the mines. We need to invest in the people of Appalachia so there are more than two choices for people in this region: to either get an education and have to move away to find work or to stay and work in the mines. We can’t continue to live on the backs of their sacrifices.



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  Here is an interesting editorial from the Huntington Herald Dispatch about the need for the country to figure out how we are going to proceed with developing coal fired power plants with carbon capture and sequestration technology. Unfortunately the editorial fails to address the real question, does it make sense for tax payers to throw billions of dollars into developing the process? Nobody disputes that for right now we will continue to use coal, but for the future we need to use our hard earned dollars to invest in safe and clean energy such as solar and wind. We may always need some base load energy to come from coal or natural gas but our dependence on these fossil fuel needs to decrease to around 5 to 10 percent of our electricity production. only then will we have the political will to make our mines safe and to fully enforce all mining regulations.



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  With companies such as James River Coal making money hand over fist they they will be trying to mine as much coal as possible as quickly as possible in order to sell it while the price is so high. According to this article in in Forbes, James River Coals stocks have risen 320% since the beginning of the year, I wonder how much of those profits are being passed on to the miners?



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  Picketing miners at a Montana coal mine vote to continue their strike even though they get on $35 a day on the picket lines. You can read about it here in an article by Tom Lutey in the Billings Gazette.



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  This news story shows that it's even possible for deep mines to reduce their emissions of Green House Gases. Of course if both the coal and the methane were to stay in the ground, but at least they trying. Removing the methane from a deep mine and burning is is not only better for an increasingly hot planet, it is also safer for the miners. Now that companies see they can make money on removing the methane from deep mines maybe they will really try. And according to this website, methane gas is 20 times stronger as a Green House Gas than CO2. Think for a minute about how much methane gas is released from a strip mine where they have no way of collecting the methane gas.



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  Here is a great article written by Jeff Goodell, the author of the book Big Coal's Dirty Secret. The title of the piece says it all How Clean Coal Cooks Your Brain. And some of the videos at the top of the page are pretty good too. For that matter just take a while and explore the whole website www.coal-is-dirty.com, it's work a look.

"Clean coal" is not an actual invention, a physical thing – it is an advertising slogan. Like "fat-free donuts" or "interest-free loans."

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  More news about coal industry stock prices rising, Business Week says stocks for Alpha Natural Resources, which operates 64 mines in central Appalachia, have tripled since December of '07 and they are likely to go much higher due to China's demand for metallurgic coal-used to make steal. Once again I wonder if the coal miners will see any of these gains in profits or if that will only go to the stockholders.

Articles about Mountaintop Removal Mining and Valley Fills:

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   This is an editorial in the News & Observer from Dr. Matt Wasson, a staff person with our ally organization Appalachian Voices. In the editorial he takes Duke Energy to task for saying one thing to get a coal power plant approved and then reversing its position to fight legislation to prevent public utilities in NC from burning coal from mining methods that blowup mountains and bury streams.



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  This is an important article everyone should read. Here is further evidence that coal mine valley fills are seriously impacting the streams of central Appalachia. It's a story from Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette about a recent study complete by the Federal EPA that finds valley fills from coal mines are eliminating mayflies in the creeks downstream of the fills. Mayflies are a key indicator species that lets scientists know if the stream is health or polluted.

While habitat degradation from mountaintop mining is what one sees on the surface, we found that chemical effects are quite pronounced and limit much of the expected biodiversity from what were once naturally rich, diverse Appalachian stream systems," [Greg] Pond said in the EPA news release.

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   And here is an article in the Appalachian New Express out of Pikeville that once again shows coal companies willingness to break the law and enforcement agencies willingness to let them do it. The Army Corps of Engineers has known about the illegal valley fills since March and so far they haven't lifted a finger . What would happen to someone if they stole a car, then called the police and told them they stole the car? Do you think the police would let them continue to drive the car around for 3 months?



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  By following this link you can read about an interesting effort by business leaders in southwest Virginia to oppose Dominion's proposed coal fired power plant. The news story also talks about the efforts of the Blue-Green Alliance, an alliance between the steelworker's union and the sierra club, to propose Virginia invest in clean renewable energy rather than Dominion's dirty coal plant.

As a business leader in Virginia, an electric power consumer and concerned citizen, I strongly urge you to halt plans to build a controversial coal burning power plant in Wise County.

Articles about Energy:

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  I've had a few conversations recently with people who have questions about how a cap and trade system would work for limiting CO2 and other global warming Green House Gases. Here is an article from Catalyst, the magazine of the Union of Concerned Scientists that describes how a Cap and Trade system to limit CO2 would likely work in the United States. It should be noted that KFTC at this point does not have a position supporting or opposing a Cap and Trade policy for limiting Green House Gases. Here is a link to a web site describing who the Union of Concerned Scientists is and what they do.



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  It should be noted that a Cap and Trade system is not the only method being discussed to limit Global Warming Gases. Another system being heavily discussed is a CO2 Emissions Tax. Here is an article I found on the web site weathervane.rff.org that gives some well thought out reasons for why a CO2 Emissions Tax may be the best option not only for limiting Global Warming Gases but also for generating money to invest in safer and cleaner forms of energy production. The website is sponsored by a organization called Resources For the Future (RFF) and here is a link to their website describing who they are and what they do. Like the Cap and Trade policy, KFTC does not have a position supporting or opposing a CO2 Emissions Tax.