Natural Resources

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Grass roots campaign putting new ‘face’ on coal industry

By Chris Anderson Staff Writer A recent campaign has sought to change the symbolic face of the coal industry from that of a weary, duststained miner to the faces of the wives and children, small business owners and shopkeepers who live in the coalfields.

For more than a year, several groups have taken to the streets to garner support for the coal industry.

Decals and signs with the names of groups such as Friends of Coal, Coal Mining Our Future, and F.A.C.E.S. of Coal, are displayed in the windows of vehicles and businesses all over the region, and representatives of those groups say there is a common goal between them.

David Gooch, the president of Coal Operators and Associates in Pikeville, said pro-coal groups are attempting to put a face on the industry.

“Without people, coal is totally useless, and that’s what we’ve promoted — the people,” he said. “Coal is people.”

Gooch said the statement “coal is

people” is a bit trite, but he said the popular saying, “people are our greatest resource,” is a very true statement with the coal industry.

That sentiment has prompted procoal groups to turn more toward the promotion of the idea of coal and the plight of the people in the coal industry rather the product itself.

Perry County Clerk Haven King, who is the director of Coal Mining Our Future, said the strategy is aimed at getting people to realize the importance of the coal industry in Kentucky. And he says it’s working.

Both King and Gooch said the Friends of Coal campaign has been a huge motivating factor or supporters of the coal industry. Gooch said Friends of Coal, and the issuance of the Friends of Coal license plate in Kentucky, has rallied support statewide for the industry.

“The word is spreading. People are starting to get a realization that the coal industry is important to Kentucky and to the United States,” Gooch said. “That’s part of what we were to trying to do.”

Gooch said nearly 17,000 Friends of Coal license plates have been

issued in Kentucky since being introduced.

Another group, F.A.C.E.S. of Coal, was created as an outgrowth of different coal companies, venders, and suppliers, who wanted to be more aggressive in defending the industry and the means of extraction used by the industry, according to F.A.C.E.S. of Coal spokesperson Phil Osborne. He said the group operates in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia and offers a central-

ized voice for industry supporters in those states.

King said he hopes to counteract some of the negative publicity the coal industry has suffered in the Bluegrass region of the state, and he said that effort has gone well so far.

Gooch said the focus on the people of the industry is still the same.

“We want to put a face to the industry and show people that it’s not about a black substance, but rather it’s about people,” he said.

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Inside This Issue EASTERN KENTUCKY’S

NATURAL RESOURCES FEBRUARY 2010 PUBLISHER JEFF VANDERBECK EDITOR JERRY BOGGS ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MIKE DAVIS COMPOSING MANAGER TINA GAYHEART LAYOUT & AD DESIGN JAMIE BECKETT & DANIEL BUSH SECTION DESIGN AND LAYOUT TRACIE VANDERBECK A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE APPALACHIAN NEWS-EXPRESS COVER PHOTO: In this Dec. 7 photo, pro-coal supporters protesting against Robert Kennedy Jr.'s call for an end to mountaintop removal mining on Coal River Mountain at a rally outside the headquarters of the state Department of Environmental Protection in Charleston, W.Va.(AP Photo/Bob Bird)

16 Environmentalists’ outrage over mountaintop mining still not felt nationwide 20 Environmental Prize Fight Mountaintop mining: Coal baron debates a Kennedy 22 Report suggests that Appalachian states should look beyond coal 26 Natural gas, trucking officials eyeing potential partnership 28 GAO Report: 19 percent of Pike under open surface mine permit 30 Industry leaders: Coal is under attack 34 Affects of new mining regulations 36 Speakers at post-mine land use forum say industry under attack 38 Feds give clean coal project $979M 40 US mine deaths hit record low in 2009 44 Pike County leaders speak at UK coal forum 48 Ky. Senate passes bill to allow nuclear plants 50 Ky. Power officials: Rate hike necessary to ensure reliable service 52 Fiscal Court moves on methane project

6 Gov. announces moves to help coal industry in Pikeville

52 Pikeville seeking to convert police vehicles to propane burners

9 The federalization of the Central Appalachian coal industry David Gooch, COA

54 Chamber of Commerce guest speaker says climate change not a big issue

12 Obama pushing clean coal and green jobs

56 Mingo County CTL construction to include union workers

13 Beshear urges Obama to help coal states

57 Exxon to partner on Mingo County CTL project

14 W. Va.gov slams federal ‘cap and trade’

62 Grass roots campaign putting new ‘face’ on coal industry

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Gov. announces moves to help coal industry in Pike visit

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer Gov. Steve Beshear made clear that his stance on coal is one of support, with a stop in Pikeville, in which he announced two moves intended to help the industry.

One move will mainly help small operators, and one could make the process of getting a state surface mine permit move more quickly.

Beshear announced the measures before a large crowd of local officials and coal industry supporters at the Pike County Airport in November.

The first measure, which began with an emergency regulation, will increase the fees mining companies pay for permit applications and permit changes, and divert the additional funds to finance the hiring of 19 new employees in the state’s Division of Mine Permits.

Beshear said both the 2008 budget cuts and retirements greatly impacted the division of mine permits, and there was an unsuccessful effort to get new employees to fill the positions left open by retirements.

“Despite all of those efforts, staff levels were still inadequate to get permits issued quickly,” Beshear said. “And folks, when you don’t get permits issued quickly, Kentucky’s miners begin to see their work slow down.”

Charles Baird, chairman of Coal Operators and Associates, said that while the industry has recently seen some improvement in the speed at which permits are approved, he said the new employees will definitely help.

“The last several months, they have been focused on that, particularly under (DNR Commissioner) Carl Campbell,” Baird said. “I’m hopeful, and I do think we’re going to see a dramatic improvement there.”

Permits for mining operations, particularly those granted by federal regulatory authorities, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have become a controversial topic lately.

The EPA has asked the Corps of Engineers to hold up 79 of those permits for review, and coal operators have said that other permits are also being held up on various fronts.

Beshear said this will only help with the state permits, but he has asked the EPA to speed up its approval process as well.

“This will allow us to move that

along expeditiously, and to get caught up on the review of these permits and then continue to do them in a timely fashion,” he said.

“We’re going to apply the rules that are in place right now, and we’ve been urging the EPA to get on with

their work and do their review in a reasonable fashion also.”

The governor’s second move will take multi-county coal severance funds to hire 15 new safety inspectors, who also serve as mine rescuers, which officials said will help small operators.

Baird said 64 percent of the operators in Kentucky have 30 miners or less, and federal regulations require that they have two, six-men rescue teams.

“In the first place, many of those mines don’t have a sufficient number of employees to man two rescue teams and the training requirements almost make it prohibitive,” he said.

So, Baird said, the state has made their inspectors also be rescuers, which allows the mines to operate without their own rescue teams.

“I’d like to compliment the governor for taking this step, because I can’t tell you how important of a step this was for the small opera-

tors of our region,” Baird said.

Beshear said the industry faces several challenges, including increasing regulations, but he has pledged to make coal and clean coal technologies a part of his administration’s plan.

“To keep this industry viable, we must be increasingly smart about how we operate, “Beshear said. “All of us; those who burn coal, those who sell it, those who mine in, those who regulate it and those who use it, are aware that the world is changing.

“Even as demand for energy grows, so does demand for things like clean air and clean water,” he continued.

The industry is important, he said, not only to the state’s energy needs, but its economy as well. “(Mining) jobs contribute greatly to the quality and the convenience that we experience in our everyday lives, most of the time not even realizing it depends on what they do,” he said

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Exxon to partner on Mingo County CTL project

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — Exxon Mobile has signed on to partner with the coal-to-gasoline project planned for Mingo County.

Adam Victor, president of New York-based TransGas Development LLC, which is constructing the plant, made the announcement during the 2009 West Virginia Energy Summit held at Roanoke, W.Va., in December.

During last year’s summit, Victor revealed his plans to build the plant in Mingo County.

“Exxon Mobile has only committed to eight such projects worldwide,” Victor said. “The energy company will perform the final part of the coal-toliquid process. This means they will convert the syngas created from coal into gasoline.”

The plant will be located on a 300 acre post-mine land site, approximately six miles north of the junction of West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky near Wharncliffe in Mingo County, W.Va.. The remote site is located along the path of the King Coal Highway and is ideally situated for industrial development. The site is also adjacent to a Norfolk Southern rail spur, within five miles of the Guyandotte River and within the largest coal field in the eastern United States.

Victor also updated on the status of the Mingo Hybrid Energy Center which is expected to provide 3,000 jobs during construction and 300-400 full time unionized jobs once the plant is operational. The facility is expected to turn 3 million tons of coal a year into methanol that would then be converted into as many as 756,000 gallons of gasoline a day.

Randall Harris, projects manager for the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, explained how the coal-togasoline process works.

Harris said coal, water, and oxygen are sent to the gasifier in very controlled amounts where they are converted through a chemical process into a mixture of gases called Syngas.

“Rather than burning, gasification is a chemical process which breaks the coal into its chemical parts,” Harris said. “Coal is exposed to steam and oxygen under high temperatures and pressures. Under these conditions, molecules in the coal are broken apart and undergo chemical reactions that produce a mixture of carbon monox-

ide, hydrogen and other gaseous compounds.”

The gases that are not needed, such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen, are separated and converted into various chemical products, such as sulfur and ammonia.

The chemical reactions in the gasifier create a great deal of heat that can be converted into much of the electricity that the plant needs.

The ash in the coal is converted to slag that is similar to sand used in concrete or asphalt, Harris explained.

“The Syngas is then converted through another chemical process into methanol, which is a simple alcohol,” he said. “A byproduct of this step is water which will be reused on site.

The methanol is finally converted into ultra-clean premium 92 octane gasoline in the last step which also produces a small amount of liquefied petroleum gas.”

Aaron Daley, manager of development for TransGas, said the company will meet or exceed all state and federal regulations.

“The W.Va. DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) has reviewed the design and issued a draft air quality permit upon finding that the regulated emissions for the plant are low enough to meet all environmental requirements, placing it in the minor source category,” Daley said. “The environmental benefits of gasification stem from the capability to achieve extremely low emissions.”

A public hearing to discuss air quality permits is set for 6 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 17, at the Larry Joe Harless Community Center at Gilbert, W.Va. Representatives of the state Division of Air Quality will accept comments on the permit and provide information about the project. Written comments can be submitted until 5 p.m. Dec. 18.

The regional project is expected to impact West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio.

Mine faces sactions after spring flooding

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer A Mingo County mine in which seven men were trapped for nearly 24 hours by floodwaters last May is facing sanctions by federal investigators.

Cobra Resources LLC, a subsidiary of Alpha Natural Resources, has been cited for the two violations that contributed to the flooding, according to a news release from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Fines for the citations have yet to be assessed.

Mountaineer Alma A Mine, located at Wharncliffe, W.Va., is charged with violating runoff control and emergency evacuation rules.

On May 9, after working the midnight shift, the men realized at about 6 a.m., that they could not get out of the mine because of the high water. They sought higer ground and managed to exit safely once the water receded the next morning.

At that time, heavy rainfall had led to widespread flooding in much of Mingo County and other parts of southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.

Officials say the flood waters entered the mine and inundated a low area at the main portal in all 10 entries, preventing the miners from getting out. In some places the depth of the water measured approximately nine feet deep and, was as high as the mine roof.

In the 24-page report, MSHA noted the mine operator did not regularly monitor and properly maintain the mine’s system of diversion ditches. These ditches are designed to route storm runoff surface water away from the mine portals and into ponds constructed to handle runoff.

The second violation cited the operator’s failure to safely maintain the two separate and distinct escapeways.

MSHA concluded that the accident occurred because storm runoff water entered the mine portals after being diverted when culverts underneath the portals were blocked by debris caused by scouring and erosion from a mud slide.

The slide prevented water from flowing through the culverts, which caused the water to back up and enter the mine.

Another contributing factor was the inability of the mine’s system of diversion ditches to handle the storm water flow, as designed.

Joe Main, assistant labor secretary for MSHA, commended the miners for having the wherewithal to move to higher ground.

“Their actions, along with the expertise of federal and state mining officials and mine management, resulted in a positive outcome,” Main said.

“Nevertheless, the mine operator’s failure to properly maintain underground diversion systems and escapeways could just as easily have ended in tragedy.”

Congress OKs funds for 2 W.Va. highway projects BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (AP) — Congress has approved nearly $4 million for the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway in southern West Virginia.

U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd says the funding is included in an appropriations bill that’s awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature.

The bill allocates $1.98 million for the King Coal Highway and $1.98 million for the Coalfields Expressway.

When completed, the 65-mile Coalfields Expressway will run from Raleigh County to Buchanan County, Virginia.

The 95-mile King Coal Highway will run from Bluefield to Williamson, where it will join the Tolsia Highway. The two highways will be part of Interstate 73/74.

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Officials say CTL construction, operation will include union workers

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer With air quality permits still pending for the Mingo County coal-to-gasoline plant, the Affiliated Construction Trades (ACT) Foundation is questioning if union laborers will be used once construction on the facility gets under way.

ACT is a coalition of construction workers’ unions.

Randall Harris, who serves as projects manager for the plant and the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, said he doesn’t understand why this issue is being raised because talks have been ongoing with the Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Council since December.

Harris said from the beginning Adam Victor, CEO of TransGas Development Systems LLC, has said union laborers would be used.

Victor made the announcement of his intention to build the plant during the 2008 West Virginia Energy Summit hosted by Gov. Joe Manchin.

At that time, Victor said approximately 3,000 union employees would be needed during the construction phase and once the plant is completed, 200-300 full-time unionized workers would be hired.

Harris said they are negotiating with the Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Council because it represents workers who live in Mingo and Pike counties and others closer to the plant site, while the ACT Foundation repre-

sents employees from the northern part of the state.

A study conducted at Marshall University predicts that the economical and regional impact from this project will be farreaching.

The $3 billion Mingo Hybrid Energy Center will be located on a 900-acre site that will eventually house other energy projects, according to Mike Whitt, executive director of the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority.

ACT is also questioning a draft air pollution permit the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has proposed to issue for the plant.

The DEP held a public hearing earlier this month to gather last-minute comments concerning the plant.

More than 600 people packed into the Larry Joe An artist’s rendering shows the layout of the proposed coal-to-liquid plant at the Harless Community Center Mingo Hybrid Energy Center in Mingo County, W.Va. at Gilbert, W.Va., to show their support or opposition review the company’s air pollution approved, Harris said the next steps for the project. include a front-end engineering permit.

ACT officials’ concerns were The DEP is proposing to allow design, or FEED, site characterizoutlined in the latest issue of their the project to be permitted as a ing, which is often called geotech newsletter. “minor source” of air pollution, but studies, and the water permit and “When we looked into at this Carpenter maintains it should be water system design. project, we quickly ran into all subjected to a more rigorous “Since the objective is zero sorts of problems,” the newsletter “major source” permit process. water discharge, there will most said. “If they won’t use local workDuring the public hearing, DEP likely be no discharge permit, but ers, we usually find they are cutting officials outlined why this was that is yet to be determined,” Harris corners elsewhere.” being considered a “minor source” said. “All of these things will be ACT hired consultant Carpenter facility. going on at same time, so it will get Environmental Associates to Once the air quality permit is very busy.”

Wood-fired plant to be bigger than planned

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The $150 million wood-fired electricitygenerating plant being proposed for Mingo County is going to be more than twice the size originally projected.

Charleston businessman Thomas Loehr, president of American Clean Energy, revealed his plans to expand during the December meeting of the West Virginia Economic Development Authority.

The power plant, which would convert wood waste to electricity, will be located at the Harless Wood Products Industrial Park.

Mike Whitt, executive director

of the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, said they looked at the plant’s footprint and realized American Electric Power wanted more for their portfolio and 28-megawatt wasn’t large enough.

“We knew three weeks ago it would have to be expanded,” Whitt said. “So this is good news for Mingo County.”

The plant will provide 40 direct jobs, which will pay very good wages, Whitt said.

“We have been working on alternative energy projects for a long time, and this is one of the best opportunities to come before us,” Whitt said. “It’s carbon neutral, green energy and hopefully this one will come to fruition.”

This type of diversification is another step in the right direction for Mingo County, Whitt said.

In October, Loehr announced his plans to build the plant after he successfully sought preliminary approval from the state Economic Development Authority to issue up to $100 million in tax-free bonds.This money will be used to finance a portion of the plant.

Raymond James & Associates have committed to issue the tax-free bonds.

The original plan was to build a 28-megawatt plant which would generate enough power to supply about 20,000 homes while burning 400,000 tons of wood waste per year. The revised plan calls for the

plant to burn 900,000 tons of wood waste per year.

Now, Loehr said they are going to do 60-megawatts in three stages, 20, 20 and 20.

There are many reasons to do it this way, he said including economics and the supply of wood.

He explained it’s a lot easier for the waste wood suppliers to gear up over a year or two than for them to go online with 30 or 40 megawatts right off.

Loehr said everything is ahead of schedule and an agreement has been finalized with independent timbering operations and mills that are within about 50 miles of the plant site to provide wood waste for fuel.

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Chamber of Commerce guest speaker says climate change not a big issue

By Chris Anderson Staff Writer The keynote speaker at the Pike County Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Summit said global warming and climate change is a normal occurrence and the issue has been misrepresented in the media. He also said cap and trade legislation will cost Americans, particularly Eastern Kentuckians, billions of dollars if passed.

Tom Harris, Executive Director of International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC), spoke in November before the Chamber of Commerce at the Energy Summit and warned that legislation governing the emission of carbon and other materials into the atmosphere is the product of misinformation. He also said climate change has been a normal occurrence over time.

“The only constant about climate is change,” he said. “If you look through the history of the earth, every since we’ve had an atmosphere, climate has changed. This whole things is normal.”

ICSC is a Canadian-based group whose mission is to promote better public understanding of climate change science and policy worldwide, according to the group’s Web site. Harris said the international community is being misled by politicians who have made statements not based on fact, but rather flawed information, thus the reason for his appearance in Pikeville.

“Climate change is in an era of negative discovery, which means the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t understand,” he said. “The whole concept of stopping climate change is a bit ridiculous.”

He said politicians such as President Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore have misled the public into believing that a dire emergency exists in regards to climate change. Harris presented a slideshow at the summit to demonstrate his point that climate change is no more than a part of the planet’s normal climate cycle and is not being made worse by humans.

Harris also said the fight against cap and trade legislation cannot be won by arguing about the financial costs of the

News-Express photo by Chris Anderson Tom Harris, of International Climate Science Coalition, was the keynote speaker at the Pike County Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Summit held Thursday evening. Harris told the chamber that climate change was a normal trend for the planet and presented information to refute statements made by political leaders regarding climate change. potential laws.

“Those who argue against cap and trade based only on the costs are going to lose the argument,” he said.

“Because most people, including people who work in the coal industry, don’t want to see the planet destroyed.

“Cost is important because then it becomes a big policy issue (but) in the final analysis, if you ignore the science and you accept the forecast, you end up with the conclusion that you must take severe actions. If you question the science and can show that it’s dubious and the probabilities of these things are low, then everybody — left wing, right wing, it doesn’t make a difference — would say ‘that’s a stupid waste of

money.’”

Harris said several times that his presentation and the information contained within it was not done and gathered with a political agenda. However, he said that once he began gathering the comments made by politicians regarding climate change, the comments made by Democratic politicians were the ones he found to be false and misleading and those comments were meant to cause a “climate change scare” among average citizens.

“I call it a “scare” because scientifically, we don’t know (that climate change is happening), but to say that it’s definite and it’s causing a crisis is, in my opinion, a scare,” he said.

He also presented a slide during his presentation that said cap and trade legislation would cause the coal production in the United States to drop by more than half by 2030 and job losses of 10,000 or more could occur by that time.

Harris said his goal was not to deny global warming was occurring, but to help control the panic over the topic.

The Energy Summit was sponsored by natural gas extraction company EQT. Lloyd Hall, vice president of compression and pipeline operations for EQT, said the gas company and the coal industry are working together to extract minerals from Eastern Kentucky while leaving a small footprint.

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Obama pushing clean coal and green jobs

PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is meeting with governors from coal-producing states, hoping to earn their support for a languishing U.S. energy bill and to bolster his image as a leader willing to work with Republicans as well as Democrats.

Obama planned to announce new steps Wednesday to increase the role of biofuels in powering the nation and to release a report detailing how Washington could increase investments in green technologies, an administration official said. The president was also expected to discuss so-called clean coal technologies, said the official, who spoke ahead of the announcement only on condition of anonymity.

Many pieces of those proposals were likely to win Republican support in Congress, where Republican allies have been elusive for a Democratic White House looking to pass controversial capand-trade legislation that would limit U.S. gas emissions.

Wednesday's plan also was likely to find support from Republican governors in states rich in coal and corn, which can be used to produce ethanol.

Republican Govs. Jim Douglas of Vermont — the chairman of the National Governors Association — Bob Riley of Alabama and Mike Rounds of South Dakota were scheduled to meet with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House. The White House said Democratic governors from Wyoming, the nation's top coalproducing state, and neighboring Montana, home to vast coal reserves, were also expected to attend with six other Democratic governors.

Energy has served as a major plank of the president's domestic agenda, finding places on his travel schedule, in his speeches and in his budget proposal released on Monday. In that plan, Obama's team called for tangible accomplishments that Democrats can champion as they head into a 2010 campaign season that has become more perilous since Republican Scott Brown won a special election

President Barack Obama meets with a bipartisan group of governors in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010, to discuss energy policy.

Governors pictured, from left: Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen; Maine Gov. John Baldacci; Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear; Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (obscured); Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (obscured). From right to left: Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire; Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas; West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin; Alabama Gov. Bob Riley; Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) in Massachusetts to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Democrat.

"Well, you're not going to get any argument from me about the need to create clean energy jobs," Obama said Monday in a YouTube social network forum. "I think this is going to be the driver of our economy over the long term. And that's why we put in record amounts of money for solar and wind and biodiesel and all the other alternative clean energy sources that are out there."

The president added: "In the meantime, though, unfortunately, no matter how fast we ramp up those energy sources, we're still

going to have enormous energy needs that will be unmet by alternative energy. And the question then is, Where will that come from?"

That was a question Obama asked a group — led by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson — to explore.

Officials said their recommendations would build on some $786 million allocated for environmental projects ranging from ethanol research to pilot programs at biorefineries. The plans also would Continued on page 13

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Kentucky plant turns switchgrass into fuel pellets

Fiscal Court moves on methane project

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer

The Pike Fiscal Court moved ahead recently on a proposed methane capture project for the county’s landfill.

The court voted during a special January meeting to conditionally accept a bid from the Baton Rouge, La.- based Shaw Enterprises to complete the project, though the bids came in 19 percent higher than expected, according to Jack Sykes, the project engineer.

Shaw submitted a bid of $971,241, with several alternatives removed. However, Sykes told the court that there is still nearly $185,000 the court must come up with, if the company is not willing to negotiate for the price.

The project would meet a requirement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the county have a method in place to “flare off” or expel, methane gas created by the mountains of trash buried at the county’s landfill.

The project, as it has been proposed, could also result in the coun-

ty being able to capture some of the created gas, which Pike JudgeExecutive Wayne T. Rutherford said could result in the county being able to recoup costs.

“We have the potential to generate carbon credits with this project,” Rutherford said. “We also have the potential to generate electricity that can be sold back to the grid.”

District 6 Magistrate Chris Harris expressed concern over the financing for the project, especially with the court facing shortfalls, such as an expected $2.5 million shortfall in mineral severance taxes.

“We’re going to be facing, in coming months, some very challenging financial times with our budget,” he said. “And trying to come up with $185,000 cash to do this project is just going to be challenging.”

The project is being funded by grants, as well as budgeted funds.

Sykes told the court that Shaw Enterprises is willing to cut costs beyond some of the reductions proposed by county officials, but only after the company had an assurance it would have the bid.

WURTLAND (AP) — Two businessmen have big plans for a Kentucky biofuels plant that converts switchgrass into fuel pellets designed for burning at power plants and other large commercial operations.

Jeff Lowe and Brandon Minix started the Midwestern Biofuels plant in northeastern Kentucky in anticipation of a strong demand for biofuels, The Daily Independent of Ashland reported.

The two believe the plant will be ready to reach full production early next year.

They hope to expand their workforce of about 30 to more than 200 by the end of 2011, working the plant 20 hours a day. If the Wurtland plant works out, they foresee more plants in other areas.

All that depends on finding a market for the pellets. They are in talks with power companies as far away as Dayton, Ohio.

They believe demand will increase in the near term as state legislatures enact requirements for use of renewable energy sources. Biomass is less costly than solar and wind, they said.

What they came up with is a pellet made of pulverized, compressed material. They used

wood chips before and now make the pellets from switchgrass, thanks to an influx of test plots in northeast Kentucky.

A tour of the plant takes visitors past huge stacks of baled switchgrass destined for processing, a machine that pulverizes the grass, conveyors to move the grass particles across the plant, and another machine the size of a truck that turns the particles into pellets for burning.

The power companies can use the pellets as they are in coal-burning power plants. “We needed a product they can burn without upgrades and changes,” said Minix, vice president of Midwestern Biofuels.

Also, the compressed pellets are cheaper to transport than bales of grass, said Lowe, president of Midwestern. That translates into big savings in fuel and handling for moving the pellets.

Midwestern has 200 tons of switchgrass and other grasses in bales. Once final adjustments are made on their equipment, they’ll start making the pellets in production quantities.

Minix and Lowe have hopes that the machine will become an industry standard. Their patents are pending.

Pikeville seeking to convert police vehicles to propane burners

By Chris Anderson Staff Writer

The City of Pikeville is seeking to “go green” with its vehicle fleet, and stage one of that move involves all of the city’s police cruisers.

At a November commission meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to approve a request from City Manager Donavan Blackburn’s office to seek grant funds to convert the city’s vehicle fleet to burn propane rather than gasoline.

The $125,000 grant would be used to convert 20 city vehicles from gasoline to propane and Blackburn said the obvious choice for the first round of conversions is the city police cruisers.

“The vehicles that we drive the most in the city are the police vehicles,” he said. “They’re on the road for the officer’s entire shift.”

Blackburn said the funding the city is seeking comes from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. The conversion to propane will make the city eligible to receive federal rebates awarded to cities that use alternative fuels.

Blackburn’s familiarity with propane makes him confident in the switch. He worked for Ferrellgas for three years previously. Blackburn said a conversion to propane would allow the city to extend the life of its vehicle fleet.

“Looking at an alternative fuel

source that is environmentally friendly, propane obviously burns cleaner,” he said. “And (converting to propane) adds an extra 70to 100,000 miles additional to an engine.”

The police cruisers will also benefit from an increase in power, thanks to the propane. Blackburn said a propane burning engine has more power than a gasoline engine and achieves the same fuel mileage.

Blackburn said propane is cheaper per gallon than gas and the extended life of the city’s vehicles will pass savings down to the taxpayers.

“It’s important to us because not only are we being environmentally conscious, we’re addressing the issue of prolonging the lives of our vehicles and

saving our taxpayers money,” he said.

The propane conversion kits cost approximately $5,800 each and can be moved from one vehicle to the next when the originally converted vehicle is retired.

Blackburn said the only expense associated with the conversion kit is to pay a trained professional to change it over from one vehicle to the next.

There are currently no plans in the immediate future to convert the city’s fire trucks to propane since they are not used as much as police cruisers and ambulances.

The conversion kits for larger engines, such as those in fire trucks, are significantly more expensive, Blackburn said. He said the next conversions will be the city’s ambulances.

mesh with Obama's budgetproposal, which called for ending oil and gas subsidies, a move that could save $36.5 billion over a decade.

The Obama budget proposal, meanwhile, would retrofit 1.1 million housing units to improve energy efficiency through next year and increase batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles to 500,000 a year by 2015. Both are examples of a tangible program that could help residents' pocketbooks and Democrats' chances at the ballot box.

Obama's political team is already making that case. He toured a company that produces energy-efficient light bulbs in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Tuesday and late last month visited an Ohio community college that trains students to work on wind turbines. He has also been talking up the energy sector's potential to move out-ofwork Americans off unemployment rolls.

Beshear urges Obama to help coal states FRANKFORT (AP) — Gov. Steve Beshear says he is encouraging President Barack Obama to protect the energy interests of Kentucky and other coal-producing states.

Beshear and several other governors met Feb. 3 with Obama.

The Democratic Kentucky governor said he told the president that so-called “cap-and-trade” legislation would be a bad deal for Kentucky. And Beshear said he complained to Obama about “unconscionable delays” by federal agencies in deciding whether to approve mining permits in Kentucky.

Beshear said nearly 50 requests for surface mining permits are under review by the Environmental Protection Agency. He said some of the requests were submitted more than five years ago.

Beshear said abrupt changes in coal regulations would balloon energy costs and cripple manufacturing industries in Kentucky, which has relatively low electricity rates.

(AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

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W.Va. gov slams federal 'cap and trade' bill

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (AP Photo/Bob Bird) TOM BREEN,Associated Press Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A day after meeting with environmentalists concerned about surface mining, Gov. Joe Manchin asked the Legislature to approve a symbolic resolution affirming that coal is still king in West Virginia.

Resolutions sought by Manchin were introduced Tuesday in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate.

They condemn federal legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions with so-called "cap and trade" programs, and express support for investment in new energy industry technologies aimed at reducing pollution from coal.

The resolutions warn that the federal legislation, which has passed the U.S. House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate, would cost West Virginia 10,000 jobs by 2020 and shrink its gross domestic product by $750 million in the same period.

They also state with confidence that coal will continue to be a dominant source of electrical power, as overseas demand rises.

"Coal will continue to be a primary energy source to meet these additional demands, and therefore the United States should lead the way in advancing cleaner coal technology," the House resolution says.

The resolutions come a day after Manchin and other political leaders met with members of environmental groups opposed to mountaintop removal mining, a meeting he convened to help bridge the gap between those groups and the coal industry.

"The governor and some of the West Virginia Legislature are completely out of touch with reality and refuse to care for the our future generations or prepare for the near future," said longtime environmental activist Judy Bonds, of Coal River Mountain Watch. "It seems as if the governor did not really hear a word we said yesterday."

Manchin's position on cap and trade should not come as a surprise to anyone, though, spokesman Matt Turner said.

"This is not a new stance for him," Turner said.

"And as far as the issues brought up with the environmental groups yesterday, it's totally separate."

Ironically, many environmentalists share Manchin's opposition to what's known as "cap and trade." Under the plan, a cap would be placed on greenhouse gas emissions, but polluters who exceed the cap could trade for credits from companies whose emissions fall below it.

"We oppose cap and trade, but for very different reasons than the governor," said Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, one of the groups that met with Manchin on Monday.

Environmentalists think such schemes leave the

door open for abuses. But apart from that shared suspicion of "cap and trade," Stockman said there's nothing in the resolutions for environmentalists to support.

"This makes it seem he's still refusing to acknowledge the suffering of people who live in the shadow of mountaintop mining and valley fill operations," she said.

Coal industry figures, who have also had closeddoor meetings with the governor, welcomed his resolutions as a recognition of the vital role coal plays in the state's economy.

"There's an overwhelming number of legislators who are concerned about the cap and trade legislation and the dramatic impact it would have on West Virginia," West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney said.

The resolutions come at a time when climate change legislation may be on hold in Washington, but the future of West Virginia's iconic coal industry is a daily topic of concern here.

Environmentalist groups have stepped up their protests against mountaintop removal mining, incurring dozens of arrests in the past year.

The coal industry, in turn, argues that federal enforcement of mining regulations under President Barack Obama's Environmental Protection Agency has made it nearly impossible to get new mining permits, causing the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Last month, U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd surprised people on both sides of the debate by penning an op-ed piece that called on the industry to change rather than fight battles over climate change and cap and trade.

"To be part of any solution, one must first acknowledge a problem," Byrd wrote. "To deny the mounting science of climate change is to stick our heads in the sand and say 'deal me out.' West Virginia would be much smarter to stay at the table." ___ Associated Press writer Vicki Smith Morgantown contributed to this report.

in

Massey Energy pushes expansion plans

By Tim Huber AP Business Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Mine operator Massey Energy Co. is capitalizing on growing Asian demand for coal used in steelmaking.

The mining company from Richmond, Va., plans to develop a mining complex capable of producing 2 million tons a year of metallurgical coal. The complex announced in January would employ 500 people in southern West Virginia.

Work on the first mine at the site is expected to cost up to $160 million and start in the second quarter. The premium price of metallurgical coal

and rising demand likely make the project a moneymaker for Massey.

The company also announced a deal with India’s Jindal Steel & Power for mines in Asia, Australia and the United States. The deal holds the potential for Massey to move into regions with direct links to the surging coal markets in China and India.

Major coal producers have shifted operations rapidly to accommodate demand from the East with operations in places like Australia that are resource-rich and close to Asia.

St. Louis-based Peabody Energy, acquired Australia operations in 2006.

Yet demand is outstripping sup-

ply there.

Government figures show that while U.S. coal exports plunged 30 percent last year, shipments to China jumped to 386,950 tons last year, from 86,596 in 2008.

Continuing strong Asian demand is expected to push up metallurgical coal prices to an estimated $165 a ton, up from $149.

And those prices typically do not include shipping, which is paid by the buyer.

“We are increasingly optimistic about the strength of the metallurgical coal markets around the world,” Chief Executive Don Blankenship said in a statement.

Massey’s expansion plan is a big

change for a U.S. coal company. The industry chopped production about 8 percent last year as consumption dropped amid weak demand for electricity and cheap natural gas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The industry also slashed capital spending, though Massey said it expects to up its budget this year by about $30 million to pay for the new West Virginia mine. Work is expected to start in the second quarter, with shipments in time for 2011 export.

“We believe the current and forecast shortage of metallurgical coal makes this the right time to proceed with the development of this high quality coal reserve,” Blankenship said.

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Ky. Power officials: Rate hike necessary to ensure reliable service Portion of increase flagged to purchase wind energy

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer In the face of growing opposition, Kentucky Power officials say their proposed rate increase, which could add an extra 35 percent to residential customers’ bills, is necessary for them to both provide reliable service and make a return to their investors.

Earlier this year, several Kentucky Power officials spoke with the News-Express’ editorial board, on several topics, and said the rate hike will be necessary, particularly in the area of residential customers.

Errol Wagner, director of regulatory services for the company, said during the meeting that the company is currently losing money providing residential power, and that cost cannot be made up elsewhere. Wagner said because of rising costs, providing service to residential customers is the most expensive of the compa-

ny’s costs.

“You can’t have rates for the residential class subsidized by the industrials,” Wagner said.

The Kentucky Power officials said several factors are influencing the company’s decision to seek the rate hike, the first the company has requested since 2005.

Wagner said one of the biggest issues impacting the company is a flagging outside sales market.

When the company’s generators are not needed to provide power to its service area, the company sells power to other areas, something that has taken a hit in the current economy.

“That market really dried up last year,” Wagner said. “That’s one of the primary reasons our earnings did drop down to 2.9 percent.”

Under the proposed rate increase, the return for the company’s investors would be expected to rise to eight percent.

According to a filing by Kentucky Power in connection to the rate adjustment proposal, the company expects the adjustment to increase its revenue by approximately $123.6 million a year, or 24.25 percent, bringing the company’s overall revenue to $633.4 million.

The price of coal is not a factor in the rate increase request, Wagner said, because it is reflected in the customers’ monthly billing through the fuel adjustment clause.

The company’s costs for coal are a pass-through item to customers, which means the customers’ bills are adjusted to take the price of coal into account constantly.

Another issue raised in the company’s request for a rate increase is the need to diversify the company’s generation sources away from coal, which may be forced by legislation.

It remains speculative at this

point in some ways, but Wagner said buying the wind generated power now locks in the price for 20 years. Legislation like the proposed cap-and-trade will affect that price without the lock.

“We do know one thing; once that bill passes, then the price goes up,” Wagner said.

Wagner said Kentucky Power is already buying a small amount of power from a wind generation company, at a significant cost to the company. Kentucky Power, he said, is required to get its power for the lowest possible price.

“Clearly this wind power is not (the cheapest source),” Wagner said.

Although the company may be required to diversify its energy sources, the officials said coal remains the biggest part of its generation source.

“AEP and Kentucky Power are going to be burning coal for a long time in the future,” Wagner said.

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Environmentalists’ outrage over mountaintop mining still not felt nationwide

By Vicki Smith Associated Press Writer MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Environmental activists gained more momentum this year than in the past decade against the destructive, uniquely Appalachian form of strip mining known as mountaintop removal, though they have yet to mobilize the millions of supporters they want.

The activists have harnessed the power of the Web, social networking and satellite phones. They’ve chained themselves to heavy equipment, blocked haul roads and climbed trees to stop blasting.

They’ve marched for miles, hung banners and been arrested.

They’ve even enlisted support from celebrities like actress Darryl Hannah, country singer Kathy Mattea and attorney Robert Kennedy Jr. And yet they struggle to overcome the collective indifference of average Americans, plugged in to affordable electricity produced largely by coal-fired power plants.

Consumers, it seems, aren’t debating mountaintop mining at A West Virginia state troopers keeps opposing groups of protestors apart as Robert Kennedy Jr., the son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, calls for an end to mountaintop removal mining on Coal River Mountain at the dinner table.

“It’s not part of the national a rally outside the headquarters of the state Department of Environmental Protection in Charleston, W.Va. conversation yet, but it definitely Monday, Dec. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Bob Bird) needs to be because it’s an indicapeople in Los Angeles don’t know Mountaintop mining occurs in Valley Environmental Coalition in tion of what’s wrong with our about,” says Nell Greenberg of the sparsely populated parts of Huntington. “They wonder out country — corporate greed,” says San Francisco-based Rainforest Appalachia, places tourists don’t loud whether the sort of ‘hillbilly’ ex-Marine Bo Webb, whose Action Network. “We’re trying to visit. It is rugged, unglamorous stereotype helps people dissociate Naoma home sits below a moun- take the shroud off.” country, filled with valuable natu- themselves from what is happening taintop mine and within 10 miles Greenberg says she senses a ral resources, yet slow to inspire here.” of three coal-waste dams. “bubbling up” of national interest passion.

But plenty of people with In mountaintop removal min- that dovetails with growing During the 2008 presidential power are paying attention. ing, forests are clear-cut. demand to replace fossil fuels with campaign, Americans voiced “The practice of mountaintop Explosives blast apart the rock, clean energy sources. One day last strong opinions on whether oil removal mining has a diminishing and machines scoop out the month, she says, more than 65,000 companies should drill in the constituency in Washington,” Sen. exposed coal. The earth left behind people e-mailed the U.S. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., warned is dumped into valleys, covering Environmental Protection Agency.

People cared because the debate recently. “Most members of intermittent streams.

Her group has chapters in pitted $4-per-gallon gasoline Congress, like most Americans, Coal operators say it’s the most Philadelphia and Atlanta taking against Alaska’s majestic, snow- oppose the practice.” efficient way — in some cases, the regular action, “and MTR isn’t capped mountains.

Just before Thanksgiving, a only way — to reach some happening there,” Greenberg says.

But there is no sticker shock at federal judge ruled the Army reserves. They also argue they “But they get the connections.” the light switch. The cost of elec- Corps of Engineers broke the law reclaim the land so it can be redeSo why don’t others? tricity has grown slowly and by failing to give the public veloped. Critics say the land is Although the practice may steadily. Tolerably, even. enough of a say before issuing perruined forever, and that people, seem tailor-made to stoke public “A lot of people who live mits. The corps was already conproperty and the environment suf- outrage, it lacks a cuddly mascot. directly in the shadow of this do sidering rules to end a fast-track fer unnecessarily.

Its victims are not photogenic spend time wondering why the rest system for obtaining such permits, “This is sort of the quiet apoca- polar bears or spotted owls; they of America doesn’t care,” says and the EPA was already holding lypse that is happening in the hills are people and places.

Vivian Stockman, of the Ohio and hollows of West Virginia that Continued on page 17

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Ky. Senate passes bill to allow nuclear plants

By Bruce Schreiner Associated Press Writer FRANKFORT (AP) — Legislation to lift Kentucky’s ban on the construction of nuclear power plants steamed through the Senate earlier this year but could get unplugged in the House.

The bill, which cleared the Senate on a 27-10 vote, is backed

by Gov. Steve Beshear but House Speaker Greg Stumbo said he doesn’t think the measure will pass the House.

State law currently prohibits a nuclear power plant from being built in Kentucky until there is a permanent storage facility to contain the nuclear waste. A proposed high-level radioactive waste facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been discussed for years.

Independent Sen. Bob Leeper of Paducah said Wednesday his bill would put Kentucky on “equal footing” with other states if the federal government ever approves new nuclear plants.

“We must recognize the value of nuclear power and the importance of allowing nuclear power to be a part of the energy mix in our state,” Leeper said.

Leeper’s district in western Kentucky is home to a uranium enrichment plant.

Democratic Sen. Ray Jones of Pikeville, who opposed the bill, called it “ill timed” and said it “turns a blind eye to the reality” that Kentucky relies heavily on coal for its electricity.

Kentucky is among the nation’s top coal producers, and Jones represents a coal-producing region in eastern Kentucky.

Jones said the measure “will basically do nothing to change the direction of Kentucky’s energy policy” because the federal government hasn’t approved any new nuclear plants. Jones also raised concerns about the safety of nuclear power.

Leeper countered that he has been an ally of coal as a legislator, and said that nuclear reactors currently operating in the U.S. are doing so safely.

“It has a very, very admirable record in the United States,” he said.

Leeper also said his constituents recognize the many reg-

Democratic Sen. Ray Jones of Pikeville opposed a bill recently passed by the Senate which whould lift Kentucky’s ban on the construction of nuclear power plants. Jones called it “ill timed” and said it “turns a blind eye to the reality” that Kentucky relies heavily on coal for its electricity. ulatory hurdles that would have to be cleared before any nuclear plants could be built in Kentucky.

Kentucky has not allowed nuclear power plants since 1984, after the General Assembly passed a law barring their construction until a permanent waste storage facility was in place.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said the bill reflects “a broader vision” for the country’s energy needs.

He said the measure would make Kentucky “well situated to continue to be an energy-producing giant.”

Kentucky has its own history

with nuclear waste.

An ill-fated nuclear dump site in Fleming County that opened in the 1960s, Maxey Flats, stored low-level radioactive waste when it was operational. The facility was an attempt to attract the nuclear industry to Kentucky, but it closed in the 1970s because water — contaminated by radiation — was found migrating beyond the site’s borders.

Sen. Robin Webb, DGrayson, cited Maxey Flats in voting against the bill. She said workers there were unknowingly exposed “to things ... that they should not have been exposed to.”

Continued from page 16

up 79 strip mine permits in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee for additional scrutiny.

The environmentalists are “waking up a pretty big industry that has maybe taken the opposition from some of these groups for granted,” says Chris Hamilton, senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.

The industry fights back by equating support for coal with patriotism, and by portraying opposition to mountaintop removal as opposition to gainful employment.

Virginia-based Massey Energy organized a “Friends of America” rally on Labor Day. A “Faces of Coal” ad campaign focuses on people whose jobs the industry says are at risk. TV ads tout the ways the industry benefits communities.

“Although the industry has always had challenges,” Hamilton says, “I’m not sure they’ve been quite as dramatic or as threatening as they are today.”

Ten years ago, when environmentalists began the mountaintop removal fight, few people knew the term. Now they get nods of recognition. But Stockman says cutting through an “infotainment culture ... where news is dominated by what’s going on with Britney Spears’ navel or Tiger Woods’ private life” is still a challenge.

And that, says fellow activist Webb, is why Kennedy’s visit matters.

“We have to play that game, ‘What does America want to watch?’” he says. “Do they want to watch Darryl Hannah get arrested? Yes, they do. Do they want to watch Bobby Kennedy screaming at the DEP headquarters parking lot? Yes, they do.”

With a sign reading "WV Miners Say Go Home Tree Huggers" seen at the center, coal miners and families who support mining stand along the road opposite a mountaintop removal mining protest Tuesday, June 23, 2009 in Naoma, W.Va. Several hundred mountaintop removal mining opponents held a rally outside Marsh Fork Elementary school that sits about 300 feet away from a Massey Energy coal processing plant. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)

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Mountaintop mining: Coal baron debates a Kennedy TIM HUBER,Associated Press Writers TOM BREEN,Associated Press Writers

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The real audience for the debate between coal baron Don Blankenship and conservationist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was not the hundreds who packed the audience at the University of Charleston.

Those people — coal miners and environmentalists, politicians and local residents — heard nothing new in Kennedy's denunciation of mountaintop removal mining nor in Blankenship's defense of the practice.

The real audience extends far beyond West Virginia and central Appalachia; it's the millions of Americans who don't know a strip mine from a slurry impoundment, but whose anger or acceptance of mountaintop mining could tip the political balance one way or the other.

A hand-picked crowd of 950 heard the outspoken Massey Energy chief and the environmental lawyer from America's most famous political clan debate for about 90 minutes Thursday night. Hundreds more watched on closed-circuit TV in a

campus gym.

The debate over mountaintop mining has raged in West Virginia for years. But this was a chance to reach millions of unconverted Americans via the Internet and many more through the dozens of media outlets present — including three documentary film crews.

"I think Don came out ahead, but it's not going to change any minds, unfortunately," Massey Energy miner Jeff Johnson said.

Both men made their cases succinctly, and lightly traded verbal jabs, accusing the other of being fuzzy on facts or unfair in rhetoric.

For Blankenship, mountaintop mining puts food on the table and mortgage checks in the mail. For Kennedy, it defaces majestic scenery, pollutes water and shatters the quiet country existence of people who've called the mountains home for generations.

"The two primary concerns have to be the security of the country and improving the quality of life throughout the country and the world," Blankenship said.

Poverty was a formative experience for Blankenship, who has memories of trudging to an out-

house on frigid winter nights.

"If you haven't had those experiences, you probably don't have the empathy with people going through that even today in West Virginia," said Blankenship, who rose to head Richmond, Va.-based Massey, the region's largest coal operator.

Kennedy countered that surface mining has helped keep West Virginia among the poorest states.

"What we're fighting here is not just the destruction — the massive and worst destruction of our environment," Kennedy said.

For nearly a decade, environmentalists and the mining industry have fought over mountaintop removal.

Over the past year, however, the fight has become more fierce.

There have been nearly 100 arrests at 20 protests, most involving trespassing. Miners respond to environmentalists' rallies with sign-toting hecklers and lines of coal trucks blasting air horns.

Among those who watched the debate, James McGuinness of Rock Creek said the event could be a tipping point for the movement against mountaintop removal mining.

"More and more politicians are starting to understand," he said.

"There are miners against mountaintop removal mining. There are a lot more people who are against it now."

But Massey surface miner Chuck Kelley said it's time for the industry to fight back.

"We've sat on our hands for so long," he said. "We have to get out and take care of ourselves."

While America's hearts and minds may be the prize for the debaters, University President Ed Welch — the night's moderator — said there's also something at stake for society: the ability to have a serious, civil conversation about a contentious issue.

"If we can't have intelligent discourse about the most important issues we face, where are we?" he said. "If we can help people understand it's a hard issue, that's a major step forward."

Photo: Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship debates environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on issues related to coal, coal mining and the environment at the University of Charleston in Charleston, W.Va. Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Bob Bird)

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Pike County leaders speak at UK coal forum

By Jon Hale Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues University of Kentucky LEXINGTON — Some of the most passionate arguments at November’s day-long coal forum at the University of Kentucky came from Pike County.

Pikeville College President Paul Patton, a former governor, coal operator and county judgeexecutive, accused Northeastern politicians of supporting climatechange legislation to raise Kentucky and Midwestern electricity prices, while a local citizen activist said the coal industry was degrading life for Appalachians

and Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford said “Coal is not the villain.”

Patton asserted at the morning session, “A lot of the debate against coal is purely selfish regional economics,” with Northeast interests wanting to improve their economic competitiveness.

That evening, the state’s leading environmentalist, Tom FitzGerald of the Kentucky Resources Council, responded to Patton, saying, “Now is not the time to claim a conspiracy to shift wealth to the coasts … Now is the time for engagement, for creativity” in alternative energy development, which he said would flower

“once you give the right price signal by truly valuing the cost of coal and the cost of other fuels,” including their environmental impacts.

Rutherford, who is promoting a wide range of alternative energy ideas, including several that use coal, told the morning session, “Coal ought to be the hero in this country.”

Patton’s and Rutherford’s views weren’t shared by the other Pike County speaker at the “Coal In Kentucky” forum: Vanessa Hall, a teacher at George F. Johnson Elementary School and member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, who spoke in the afternoon.

“I live in the coalfields of Eastern Kentucky. The quality of life there is not enhanced by the coal industry, it is made significantly worse,” Hall told the crowd, which was mainly UK faculty and people in or associated with the industry. The forum was sponsored by the UK College of Engineering and its Department of Mining Engineering.

The passionate comments from Pike County, the state’s largest coal producer, stood out among the otherwise number-heavy daytime sessions. Following presentations full of bar graphs and pie charts from two economists regarding the economic impacts of coal, Rutherford and Patton offered few numbers but strong feelings and a wealth of experience — which includes the 1981 race for judge-executive, in which Patton ousted Rutherford.

“I may preach a sermon louder that Wayne does,” Patton proclaimed, following Rutherford to the lectern.

Patton said the lack of shortterm alternatives to fuel America’s consumption of electricity is the often-disregarded key in the debate over the future of coal, at least in the near- to mid-term.

“There is no short-term alternative to using coal to generate the electricity this country had become accustomed to using,” he said. “The only real long-term alternative is nuclear fuel. Do you

want a nuclear power plant in your backyard, or would you allow some of the mountains in Eastern Kentucky to be redesigned as future timber land 100 years from now as the alternative?” Another speaker noted that reforestation of strip-mine sites is becoming more popular, thanks to research.

“Those are the issues we really should be debating,” Patton said.

“Twenty-five percent of the methane in our atmosphere comes from cows. Is there anybody advocating not eating steak? I don’t hear that debate.”

But Hall, displaying a Pike County map of coal operations, with strip-mined land in red, said the concerns of citizens need to be heard.

“I want to know if anyone here at the school of engineering has figured out how to stop the effect of explosives at the property line,” she said, referring to blasting damage that citizens say is widespread but hard to prove was caused by strip mining.

Patton said the industry has evolved beyond old stereotypes. “I don’t think coal has ever been the sort of industry some people portray it as,” he said. “And certainly it is not that industry today.”

Despite coal’s reputation as a dirty fuel, Rutherford said Pike County’s goal was to lead the state in environmental conservation. “Our goal is to be a green county,” he said, noting that he drove to the forum in his hybrid vehicle.

Hall said that goal should be reached with alternative fuels. “I want our research and development money to be spent on an economy that will last longer than 20 years,” she said, adding that the university’s commitment to coal research is “throwing good money after bad.” She concluded, “These costs are being paid by the people who live in Appalachia,” Hall concluded.

Despite their disagreements, both sides said the forum was a valuable opportunity for creating an informed debate. Rutherford said, “We should have had more of these over the years.”

Hundreds turn out in W.Va. for mining rally

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — About 300 environmentalists and several hundred miners and coal supporters rallied for, or protested against, surface mining outside the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection headquarters.

Several coal trucks continuously circled the block, blaring their horns, as friends of coal chanted “Go home” and cheered to drown out the environmentalist speakers during the two-hour event.

Coal supporters waved American flags and displayed signs that read “If you’re against coal, then turn off your lights” and “Proud and Loud: WV Coal Miners,” while environmentalists shouted “Save Coal River.”

The activists described pollution which comes from mountaintop removal as a sin against God. They called on the DEP to serve and protect creation as they reminded them of their responsibility to future generations.

“The EPA is supposed to protect the people, not profit,” one environmentalist said.

“We do believe in good jobs that have sustainability and are life-enhancing.”

The two groups were separated by barricades that divided the DEP parking lot. West Virginia State Police troopers patrolled the zone between them.

Environmental activist and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. headlined the demonstration and spent a half-hour debating Mike Snelling, vice president of surface operations for Massey Energy, and others before taking to the podium.

Snelling described Kennedy as being very passionate about what he was doing.

“I have to give him credit for walking through a crowd of a lot of people he would consider adversaries,” Snelling said. “He just keeps talking about the environment and the concern for the environment and the mountains of Appalachia. We tried to tell

News-Express photo by Audrey Carter Environmental activist and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Sr., and nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy, is shown talking with Mike Snelling, Massey Energy vice president of Surface Operations and Logan County businessman Greg Wooten during Monday's mountaintop removal rally held at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection headquarters. At least 300 environmentalists, along with a couple of hundred coal supporters showed up for the demonstration.

him that we are just as concerned about the mountains — even more than he is, for the fact that we live here.”

“We need a dialogue,” Kennedy told the coal supporters. “If we’re separated by barriers, then all you get is people screaming back and forth.”

Logan (W.Va.) County Commission President Art Kirkendoll invited Kennedy to visit areas of the state where mined property has been reclaimed.

“He was very cooperative and said he would come back to look at some things,” Kirkendoll said. “We want to show we do things the right way. We provide jobs and we do it in an environmentally friendly way.”

Logan County Administrator Rocky Adkins said the county could lose 69 percent of its tax base if all mountaintop removal mining was eliminated.

“I think it’s sad we have people coming from other states trying to determine how we run our state,” Adkins said.

Environmentalists have vowed to put a stop to all mountaintop removal and have called on the Obama adminis-

tration to put new rules in place to halt the practice.

Coal industry officials and political allies have criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because new permit issuances have ground to a halt across the Appalachian coalfields, causing numerous layoffs.

When Kennedy took to the podium on the other side, he called mountaintop removal mining a crime and said if the American people could see it, there would be a revolution.

“They are literally liquidating this state for cash,” Kennedy said. “It’s God who made these mountains, and it’s (Massey Energy CEO) Don Blankenship who is cutting them down.”

The environmentalists are seeking to stop blasting on southern West Virginia’s Coal River Mountain.

Massey Energy plans to mine thousands of acres atop the mountain, which has enough coal reserves to feed power plants for 14 years, officials have said.

Environmentalists want Massey to stick with underground mining and allow the ridges to be turned into a 200turbine wind farm.

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Report suggests that Appalachian states should look beyond coal

By Vicki Smith Associated Press Writer

Coal’s Future

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Coal production in Central Appalachia is likely to continue its 12-year decline, and an environmental consulting firm said Tuesday it’s time policy makers and legislators in four states work to diversify the region’s economy.

A report issued by Downstream Strategies of Morgantown predicts production in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee will fall nearly 50 percent within a decade and urges those states to adopt laws, low-interest loan programs and other measures to support the development of renewable energy sources.

The report blames the decline in part on increased competition from other coal-producing regions and other sources of energy, such as natural gas. It also points to the depletion of the most accessible, lowest-cost coal reserves and increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

The coal industry has long been concerned about Central Appalachia’s decline and faces even more challenges as legislators and the public grow interested in global climate change, renewable energy options, and cap-andtrade legislation, said Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.

At the same time, the industry is struggling with a low supply (AP Photo) of qualified workers and record levels of imported coal from Colombia, Venezuela and Indonesia. To protect both the industry’s short- and long-term health, policy makers at all levels must recognize and protect coal’s role in providing low-cost, reliable energy, he said.

The industry does not object to

moderate growth in renewable energy, he added.

“There’s general acceptance that we’re going to need every form of power available to accommodate future growth in our energy demands in our country, and it makes sense to have a balanced energy portfolio,” Hamilton said.

“But coal is a finite resource and it should be managed within the context of an overall energy portfolio based on volume and reserves.”

The new report was authored by Downstream Strategies President Evan Hansen and energy and climate change researcher Rory McIlmoil.

McIlmoil is a former community activist with Whitesville-based Coal River Mountain Watch, which has been advocating construction of a wind farm on a mountaintop destined for strip mining, but Downstream Strategies says its work was not funded by any group.

The report contends new jobs and tax revenues could be created by focusing on renewable energy like wind, solar and hydropower, and it says states should require that 25 percent of their energy portfolios come from renewable sources by 2025.

Last year, West Virginia lawcontinued on page 23 continued from page 22 makers approved a measure requiring that 25 percent of the state’s electrical output come from renewable and alternative energy sources by 2025. The law allows utilities to satisfy the requirement by earning, purchasing or trading credits for power produced by everything from natural gas and nuclear power to burning coal bed methane, waste coal and tirederived fuel.

Continued on page 25

Acceptable Casualties: The federalization of the Central Appalachian coal industry David Gooch Coal Operators and Associates A Washington, DC, insider recently stated in private conversation that the Obama Administration considers the people of Central Appalachia (Eastern Kentucky included) as “acceptable casualties.” The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) continue to cast shadows of doubt about financial security over the lives of thousands of residents in the region who derive their livelihoods from coal mining.

The federal government has turned against its own citizens in a war to end the nation’s reliance upon coal-fired energy — especially coal mined in Eastern Kentucky and the surrounding region. The cause is a just one they say: It will save the planet from self destruction through the burning of fossil fuels. It will lead to a cleaner and greener way of life. It is a war worth fighting, they say. And, as in any war, there are casualties.

We are used to the term “collateral damage” from the news media. That is a term used to describe non-combatant civilian casualties or damage to a nonmilitary target during armed conflict. In this area, coal miners, their dependants, and, many people that supply goods or services to the mining industry have become collateral damage or as stated, acceptable casualties.

The EPA and CEQ have taken aim at the Central Appalachian coal industry with a multi-faceted attack. Most are aware of the 404 permitting issue. EPA unilaterally placed a moratorium on the issuance of those permits under the NWP 21 general permit in six states including East Kentucky.

While the US Army Corps of Engineers got the blame, the EPA ordered the action. The Corps issues those permits under the authority granted by EPA and the Clean Water Act (CWA).

That action was soon followed by placing 79 pending permits

under increased scrutiny. Fortynine were in Eastern Kentucky.

The EPA also decided to suspend a properly issued permit in West Virginia that was more than two years old. These actions were not the result of federal legislation, just the orders of a bureaucrat.

The EPA then involved itself in the issuance of other CWArequired permits that are usually issued by individual states under agreements with the federal agency. Suddenly new conditions of approval have been added, again without any supporting federal legislation, and in most cases, no new regulation promulgated in accordance with law.

The EPA has convinced the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) to leverage the state mining regulatory authorities to cease issuing state mining permits conditioned upon obtaining proper and necessary federal permits.

Permits were often conditionally issued to allow mining company to initiate mining activities in areas not requiring a federal permit, such as building a haul road to access the area to be mined.

The CEQ, EPA, Corps and OSM are now in agreement there must be tighter and more restrictions on mining coal in Central Appalachia. Again, it is a region specific agenda. OSM is reviewing regulatory actions that were finalized in the past with a goal of re-writing them to more restrictive standards.

OSM, under pressure from EPA and CEQ, is re-developing their oversight of state regulatory programs that have primacy under the federal surface mining law (SMCRA). They have stated they will exercise more hands-on control.

In addition to greatly deterring the mining of coal in the region, the EPA is attempting to declare the waste from burning coal as a toxic material. If this occurs it will have a detrimental impact on the use of coal by electric utilities and other commercial customers.

Not only has EPA attacked the industry from the ground through permitting, enforcement and consumption, the agency has launched an air attack. Again, with no action from Congress,

EPA has embarked on a course to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant that needs regulated. Carbon dioxide is one of the gases emitted when fossil fuels are burned.

It is no different that the carbon dioxide we exhale when we breathe, or the gas required by plants to exist.

In spite of many highly publicized incidents of data being destroyed; mistakes made in data interpretation; publication of erroneous science; or, hiding opposing views by reputable scientists, the EPA continues the “air” attack claiming that carbon dioxide from burning coal is going to destroy the planet.

As of this date there have been few losses of coal jobs. There are companies that have altered their mining plans and work assignments while waiting on a much needed permit. However, several companies, some in Eastern Kentucky, will run out of acreage covered by the necessary permits within a few months. That will mean layoffs. It will place workers on an already over-burdened unemployment compensation system increasing the doubledigit joblessness the state and nation now suffers.

As miners lose jobs, retailers of goods and services lose business. Some of their employees become expendable. Local and state government loses tax dollars in a time of increased budgetary need and shrinking revenue.

This is all being done without the action of Congress or the will of the people being expressed.

War is about subjugation; placing one group of people under the control and will of another group. Some would say the statement that the federal government has declared war on Central Appalachian coal is overly dramatic. It isn’t. The federal government has clearly declared war on the Central Appalachian coal industry and those who live in the region are acceptable casualties.

——— David Gooch is the president of Coal Operators & Associates, Inc., a coal trade association based in Pikeville, Ky.

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US mine deaths hit record low of 34 in 2009

By Roger Alford Associated Press Writer FRANKFORT (AP) — The number of miners killed on the job in the United States fell for a second straight year to 34, the fewest since officials began keeping records nearly a century ago.

That was down from the previous low of 52 in 2008.

U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration documents show 18 of the deaths occurred in coal mines, down from 29 in 2008; and 16 were in gold, copper and other types of mines, down from 22 in 2008. Most involved aboveground truck accidents on mine property, though some of the deaths resulted from rock falls and being struck by machinery.

Obama administration mine safety czar Joe Main said the numbers are encouraging, but he won’t be satisfied until no miners are killed on the job.

“I think that’s accomplishable, if you look at where we came from, and where we’ve come to,” Main said.

The latest statistics are vastly improved, he said, from a century ago when hundreds, sometimes thousands of miners were killed each year.

The deadliest year in recorded U.S. coal mining history was 1907, when 3,242 deaths were reported. That year, the nation’s most deadly mine explosion killed 358 people near Monongah, W.Va. Main credits the decrease in deaths over the past year to beefed-up enforcement and stricter regulations in the wake of a series of mining disasters over the past four years in Kentucky, Utah and West Virginia.

In 2006, 73 miners were killed, including 12 who died in a methane explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia and five who died in a similar explosion at the Darby Mine in Kentucky. In 2007, 67 miners died, including six who were killed in the collapse of the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah.

Coal states reacted by revamping their mine safety laws, and Congress toughened federal rules that that brought a variety of advances. Among the improvements are caches of oxygen stashed in underground mines in

case miners are trapped, refuge chambers to provide shelter in emergencies, and a communications system to allow underground miners to talk with colleagues on the surface.

Steve Earle, United Mine Workers of America international vice president for the Midwest, said while those were important improvements, getting inspectors into the field is the key.

“I can say without reservation that the safest day coal miners have is when inspectors are in the mines,” he said. “The more we can put our inspectors in the mines, the safer those mines will become and the closer we will come to zero fatalities.”

Mine safety advocate Tony Oppegard, who has successfully lobbied to triple the number mine inspections conducted in Kentucky, said mining remains a dangerous occupation.

“Everyone who’s involved in mine safety has to be extremely vigilant,” he said. “There’s very small margin for error in coal mining. The smallest mistake can cost a miner his life.”

Kentucky led the nation in mining deaths last year with six in coal mines and one in a limestone quarry. That was followed

by West Virginia and Alabama, each of which had three coal miners killed.

Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas each had two miners killed in coal, salt, alumina, zinc or sand and gravel operations.

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and Puerto Rico had one miner killed in either clay, copper, gold, lime or sand and gravel operations.

“It’s never positive when you have numbers like that, but it could have been worse,” said David Moss, spokesman for the Kentucky Coal Association.

“We’re always striving for that goal of zero. That’s what we work toward every single day.”

Main credited cooperation between regulatory agencies, coal companies and miners with making mines safer, which led the decrease in workplace deaths.

“It is historic,” he said. “And it does tell us we can achieve a point in time when we have no fatalities.”

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 25 Continued from page 22

The new report also calls for tax credits, clean energy bonds, mapping projects and other measures to encourage investment in alternatives to coal, including state-funded programs to measure wind speeds that would help evaluate wind farm sites.

On Monday, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell called on lawmakers in that state to approve a tax credit of $500 per position for employers who create green jobs over the next five years. McDonnell also said he wanted to turn Virginia into an energy leader by leasing off-shore drilling rights and increasing coal, natural gas and biofuel production.

Annual coal production in Central Appalachia last peaked in 1997 at 290 million tons, but fell to 235 million tons by 2008 even as national production climbed, the report said. It also says new projections suggest the region’s production may drop another 46 percent by 2020, and 58 percent by 2035, to just 99 million tons.

Data on the federal Energy

Information A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ’s Web site shows variations among the Appalachian states in recent years.

While 2008 production levels in Kentucky and West Virginia were up 4.4 percent and 2.8 percent respectively from the previous year, production fell 2.5 percent in Virginia and 12.1 percent in Tennessee. Statistics for 2009 were not yet posted, but the EIA estimates production fell more than 7 percent nationwide as consumption declined.

Power plants, in particular, cut coal consumption by 10 percent last year, the agency said.

The agency predicts coal production in 2010 will still be down by about 4.6 percent.

Coal’s effect on the region,

however, is clear: In 2008, the industry employed some 37,000 people directly or indirectly, sometimes as much as 40 percent of a county’s work force.

Severance taxes generate hundreds of millions of dollars for state governments.

Yet some coalfields counties

have the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the region, the new report says, “and due to the dependence on coal for economic development, any changes in coal production will have significant impacts on local economies.”

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Natural gas, trucking officials eyeing potential partnership; liquid natural gas could be used to fuel coal trucks, equipment

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer The coal industry has come under increased scrutiny for the effects of mining and its resultant products on the environment.

However, in an October meeting hosted by the Pike County Office of Energy and Community Development, discussions focused on an idea which may help make one part of the industry greener and more cost efficient, while also benefiting Pike County's other, growing, natural resource industry — natural gas.

In the meeting, held at the Landmark Inn, representatives from the natural gas and trucking industries discussed both the possibilities and realities of using liquid and compressed natural gas to supplement or replace diesel fuel in trucks and equipment.

Kelly Mills, sales director for Westport HD, said the company has developed the technology for manufacturing natural gas engines based on the engine most commonly used in the coal trucks ubiquitous to the region. Mill said the technology is already in use in engines which are manufactured by Kenworth and Peterbilt for the types of trucks used in the mining industry.

“It operates in a similar manner to diesel,” Mills said.

The Westport HD engines are already in use in several non-mining industries, Mills said, and have been demonstrated in the mining industry in Utah. Mills said the test in Utah, which saw the trucks hauling loads of coal, showed that the trucks could haul the necessary weights, including one test Mills saw at 136,000 pounds, and keep up with their diesel counterparts. “(The engine) can do it,” he said. “It can do the job.”

The $75,000 cost of the engine, Mills said, which is currently only available in new truck builds, is recouped by the buyer through energy tax credits, which currently stand at $28,800, as well as fuel savings, which can be as much as $50,000 per year per truck, depending on market conditions. Within a year, Mills said, Westport HD hopes to be able to begin retro-

fitting existing engines to run on liquid natural gas.

While Westport HD builds the engines, Mills said the issue remains getting a supply of the necessary liquid natural gas fuel.”

“We built the solution,” Mills said. “Now we just need to have the infrastructure to fuel it.”

And one participant in Monday's meeting also presented a possible solution to that problem.

According to James Turvey, who works in market development for NexGen Energy. this region is particularly “prime” to begin using the natural gas technologies to run freight vehicles.

NexGen Energy manufactures the technology used in natural gas vehicles, and manufactures and supplies the natural gas fueling stations.

One thing that makes the area suited to use the natural gas technology is the nature of much of the trucking done here, Turvey said. In the case of a coal truck, they are typically not used for long hauls.

“In most cases, the truck goes back to base,” he said.

That, he said, is the ideal situation for using the natural gas technologies, not least of all because of the current lack of fueling stations.

However, Turvey also said his company provides several options for setting up stations for customers.

The other thing that makes Kentucky ideally situated to use natural gas fueling technologies is the vast reserves underneath the state.

“Kentucky's sitting on (natural gas), and a lot of it,” he said.

The key, Turvey said later, is to “pull all the fleet operators together.”

After the meeting, several participants took a tour of MarkWest Energy's natural gas liquid (NGL) processing plant located at Boldman. According to Keith Hayes, the facility, located at the Columbia Natural Gas facility on the Pike-Floyd County line, takes natural gas from Columbia and separates the liquids from it, sending the gas back to Columbia's pipelines, and processing, then selling the remaining materials.

Turvey said during the meeting

News-Express photo by Russ Cassady Natural gas and other industry representatives tour the MarkWest NGL Processing Plant at Boldman Monday as a part of a presentation and discussion on the potential of converting coal truck fleets to run on natural gas, instead of diesel fuel. that the MarkWest facility was very interesting in terms of the liquid natural gas technology because the processing done at the facility is much the same as what is done to produce the liquid natural gas which can be used for vehicles.

“How many clicks are they away from sub-cooling that pipeline natural gas even further and manufacturing (liquid natural gas) right here?” he said.

Local officials spoke on how the partnership between coal and natural gas could benefit the county.

Pike Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford spoke on the numerous new energy projects on which the county is working, and mentioned natural gas as a key component of that.

“The Devonian Shale (upon which Pike County and much of the region is situated) is the richest deposit of natural gas in the world,” Rutherford said.

Dennis Rohrer, who, in addition to working directly in the natural gas industry, is also working as a consultant for a vehicle natural gas company, American Clean Air, said the fuel is a vital part of the region and country’s future.

Using natural gas for vehicles, he said, is better for the environment, would be good for the local economy and would reduce the country’s dependence on foreign sources of oil.

“Basically, we’re addicted to that foreign oil,” he said.

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Feds give clean coal projects $979M

By Tim Huber AP Business Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Multibillion-dollar clean coal projects in West Virginia, Texas and Alabama are getting $979 million in federal stimulus funding, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said late last year.

The money will go toward retrofitting existing coal-fired power plants owned by American Electric Power, Southern Co. and Summit Texas Clean Energy to capture and store carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas linked to climate change. The Energy Department is aiming to have the technology available commercially — and to share with other big coal-using countries — in eight to 10 years “Coal is a very important mix of our power. It generates over 50 percent of our electricity. The United States has 25 percent of the entire coal reserves in the world,” Chu

said. “We don’t plan to turn our back on coal. Neither will China. Neither will India.”

American Electric Power already is capturing and storing carbon dioxide at its Mountaineer power plant in Mason County. The federal stimulus funding is aimed at allowing the plant to capture and store 90 percent of carbon emissions from the plant.

“It is very important that we test these technologies and make them affordable,” AEP Chief Executive Mike Morris said. “We can help others clean up coal use as well.”

Southern Co. is getting $295 million for carbon capture at an Alabama power plant north of Mobile and Summit Texas is getting $350 million for work on a 400-megawatt plant planned for MidlandOdessa. The DOE says carbon dioxide from that plant will be piped underground to increase oil recovery in the Permian Basin.

The projects are expected to use an additional $2.2 billion in private capital.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, DW.Va., called the investments critical “If we’re going to really improve our economy for decades to come, we have to have really substantial environmental investments,” Rockefeller said. “Today’s announcement is all about promise for our future.”

Sierra Club spokesman Oliver Bernstein said the organization would prefer investments in green energy and jobs.

“We don’t have any problems with research and investments in research and development, but, really, we see an energy future that moves beyond coal,” he said. “Until coal can be burned cleanly and mined responsibly and not contribute to global warming, it shouldn’t play a key role in our energy future.”

28 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 37 Continued from page 36

with Penn Virginia Resource Partners told the group. “All use of land calls for flattening and infrastructure.”

Corsaro said it sounds ludicrous, but one objection the EPA used to deny a permit was that it would lead to economic development.

“How can anyone object to economic development?” he asked.

Corsaro commended the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority (MCRA) for leading the way in establishing a workable Land Use Master Plan that others can emulate.

Randy Harris, manager of projects for the MCRA, took umbrage with those who say people of Appalachia are poor because of coal.

“I’m trying to find the link between coal and poverty,” Harris said. “There are W.Va. counties with greater poverty rates that don’t produce coal.”

GAO Report: 19 percent of Pike under open surface mine permit

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer A recently-released report shows that more than 19 percent of Pike County’s total acreage is under surface mine permit, more than triple the amount of what was permitted in 1990.

The numbers were found through a News-Express analysis of a recently-released report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a government-run congressional watchdog agency.

The numbers, according to one environmental attorney, should “embarrass” the regulatory agencies responsible for issuing permits.

In 1990, a total of 27,500 of Pike County’s 504,858 total land acres were under open surface mine permit, the report shows. In July of 2008, that number of acres under permit had grown to 96,300, or 19 percent of the county’s total land area.

Pike County ranks third in the state for the percentage of its total acreage under open surface mine permit. Martin County has the highest percentage with 23.22 percent, and

Perry County ranks second with 22.85 percent.

The GAO issued the report, entitled “Characteristics of Mining in Mountainous Areas of Kentucky and West Virginia,” was issued early this month by the agency.

The most heavily-reported aspect of the report was the GAO’s finding that the number of surface mines in Kentucky and West Virginia have become concentrated in particular areas over the past 18 years.

However, the report also shows that, in several counties locally, the amount of those counties’ total acreage under open surface mine permits doubled or tripled over the same 18 year period.

The report also shows that Mingo County, W.Va.’s total surface acreage under open permit doubled over that 18-year period, growing from 16,900 acres, or 6.23 percent of its total land area, to 32,900, or 12.13 percent.

Attorney Joe Lovett, with the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, said the analysis shows the regulatory agencies are not following requirements when

considering permits.

Lovett said one of the requirements for an agency to grant any surface mining permit is that they perform a cumulative hydrologic impact assessment. “(The numbers reported by the GAO) show the cumulative impacts are tremendous,” he said. “We’ve had testimony in cases that, typically, when you see more than 10 percent of a watershed impacted by activities like mining, that’s a huge problem.

So now, if you’re seeing 20 percent of your entire county or more impacted, that should raise red flags.”

Those red flags, however, should not only extend to the people living in the affected areas, but also to the agencies responsible for examining surface mine permits.

“I think that this is a great failure of our agencies and I think they’re intentionally not looking at it,” Lovett said. “They’re afraid of what they’ll find.”

A representative of the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources said the agency does look at the cumulative impact, and does take into account the total area of the county

under permit.

“We actually try to look at cumulative hydrologic impacts out there,” said Paul Rothman, an environmental scientist with the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources.

“You look at current mining, past mining and potential mining and try to get a handle on what the impacts, in fact, may be to both surface and ground water.”

The agency, according to the GAO report, issued several objections to the GAO’s examination, including what is being considered an “open permit.”

According to a letter from Kentucky Natural Resources Commissioner Carl E. Campbell, the term “open permit” is one that was crafted by the GAO for the purposes of the report and includes areas that are not going to be mined, and are under reclamation.

It does not designate that all of the permitted acres are actually being mined.

Rothman reflected the comments in that letter, saying that Continued on page 29

West Virginia Manchin said counties have coal has few things to helped build attract new busithe guns and nesses, so they ships used to have to grow defend the their own from country and what they have, has been the Harris said. catalyst “It is a slow behind its process, but it industrial works,” he said. strength and “The new coalstability. to-liquid facility “However, planned for as we are all Mingo County is aware of by an example of a now, coal has long term invest- “Coal will continue to play a vital certainly had ment.” its challenges, role, if we expect this nation to G o v . ever reach energy independence.” despite what it -WV Governor, Joe Manchin M a n c h i n has consisdescribed coal as tently provid(AP Photo/Bob Bird) ed that has one of the most dependable kept this resources the country has ever used. country strong for the past 100-plus As far as securing the nation, years,” Manchin said. “Many people

have put coal in the hot seat. It has been widely discussed, along with the climate change debates going on.”

Manchin said coal will continue to play a vital role, if we expect this nation to ever reach energy independence.

“I’m committed to making West Virginia the leader in clean coal technology,” the governor said. “We have the resources and expertise to achieve any goal that we set. We can mine smarter, safer, cleaner, and more efficiently than ever before.”

West Virginia is moving forward with advanced coal technology, Manchin said.

“Companies have been willing to partner with us and the results are there,” he said. “Until we are able to find that sustainable resource of the future, coal will continue to provide a reliable and constant energy source. And, coal will continue to bridge the gap.”

36 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

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Speakers at post-mine land use forum say industry under attack

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer LOGAN, W.Va. — Many in the industry believe coal mining is under attack from the federal government and wonder if it will have a future in Appalachia.

The uncertainty surrounding coal, as well as the benefits which are derived from surface mining, dominated a forum held in November with representatives of the regulatory agencies, coal and land company owners, county officials, and the governor of West Virginia.

Sponsored by the Corridor G Regional Development Authority (CGRDA), the 5th Annual Post Mine Land Use Forum convened at the Earl Ray Tomblin Convention Center in Logan, W.Va. Post-mine land use occurs after a company has removed coal or other minerals from a property and then reconfigures the site for economic development.

Examples of several projects in Mingo County made possible because of the practice are the Twisted Gun Golf Course, Air Transportation Park, new high school, Wood Products Industrial Park, a 12-mile section of the King Coal Highway and the Mingo County Hybrid Energy Center.

CGRDA Chairman Howard Sammons said the authority’s purpose is to promote economic and community development.

“What we try to do is help local development authorities along Corridor G with economic development and diversity,” Sammons said.

“One way to get funding for projects is through post-mine land use which is a critical component. To get variances, coal companies have to show equal or better use to the existing land once it’s mined.”

Forum participants also shared other pertinent information concerning the mining industry.

Randy Huffman, cabinet secretary for the W.Va. Department of

The Air Transportation Park, currently under construction on the ridge tops of Mingo County, is the result of a public/private partnership with Alpha Natural Resources, the Mingo County Airport Authority, and the state and federal aviation agencies. This project will allow Mingo County to relocate their county airport to a post-mined site that is being created as a result of coal mining. The new airport will boast a state of the art 7,000’ runway, lighting, and instrumentation once funding is secured, and an additional 800 acres of developable property are being created adjacent to the airport site which will allow for the recruitment of even more business and industry to Mingo County.

Environmental Protection, spoke of permitting issues and new requirements being handed down federally.

“Large scale and surface mining has fundamentally change forever,” Huffman warned. “There is a change in society — it is what it is. We have to make concessions and we need to deal with it.”

Huffman said he feels the EPA needs to communicate with mining officials to ensure all parties involved know what is required of them.

“There are processes in place to comply with permits.” Huffman said.

“Whenever a permit application has been made in the past, everyone knew the rules. Then, after the inauguration, the EPA turned that on its

head.”

Nationally, Huffman said there are 79 surface mining permit applications that have been red flagged or delayed by the EPA. Twenty-one of those permits are in West Virginia.

The list the EPA is giving for the delays include water quality, forest fragmentation, cumulative impact, mitigation, monitoring and minimizing the environmental footprint, Huffman said.

When he asked an EPA official why there were so many, Huffman said he was told the agency included a long list “because they didn’t know what would stick.”

“The EPA says they are not trying to stop surface mining,” Huffman said, “But their actions have not

backed up their words.”

The group was told that the Sierra Club had submitted a letter asking that all of Appalachia be declared an environmental justice community so no one could mine coal.

“Where are we and where can we go?” asked Terry Clarke, project manger for the Corps of Engineers.

“What will the practice be for new permits going forward?”

Clarke told the group the EPA was using its veto powers freely when it comes to issuing permits.

Continued on page 35 Continued from page 34 “Post mine land use may be becoming an oxymoron,” Jim Corsaro, vice president of Operations Continued on page 37

Continued from page 28 the numbers do not show which permits are actually being mined.

“What that shows is that, at some point in time, 27-some thousand acres in Pike County have been permitted, and have either been permitted for mining and unmined, been mined and reclaimed or (is being) actively mined,” he said.

The numbers take on a greater relevance considering the current tone of the debate over surface mine permits. The possibility that agencies may not grant permits has sparked controversy, as mining industry officials say the lack of permits may cause layoffs and have serious economic impacts.

Lovett, however, said he is not surprised that, despite the amount of area under open permit, mining companies are still seeking new and expanded permits.

“It doesn’t surprise me that they’re asking for more,” he said.

“But what surprises me is that anybody is considering giving it to them.

“I think the industry acts perfectly rationally given the regulatory environment that they operate in,” he continued. “If I were a coal operator, I would try to get more permits too.”

Rothman said the Department of Natural Resources is in the process of revising its permitting process, including instituting a fill minimization protocol which will limit or control hollow fills.

But, he said, there is not, nor will there ever be a protocol in place which will set out that after a certain percentage of a county is under open permit, no new permits can be granted.

“We’ve never identified a bright line like that,” Rothman said. “I’ve never heard of us identifying a bright line like that, that says when you’ve permitted 20 percent of the area, that you will issue no more permits,” Rothman said. “That’s akin to saying that only 20 percent of the people who live in Pike County can have a driver’s license.

We will evaluate every permit on its own merits.”

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February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 35

Industry leaders: Coal is under attack

By Jerry Boggs Editor Coal industry leaders didn’t mince words as they spoke at a November town hall forum in Pikeville. Their message was that coal mining is under attack by the federal government.

“The national administration does have as its goal to put coal mining out of business,” said Charles Baird, a Pikeville attorney and chairman of Coal Operators and Associates.

Baird said current political leaders have shown themselves willing to sacrifice their elected positions by introducing so-called cap-andtrade legislation so early in the Obama administration.

“These people are true believers,” he said. “Just like myself and gentlemen here are true believers in coal. They’re willing to sacrifice their jobs to end carbon emissions.”

The forum was the most recent in a series of topical town-hall meetings held by the Pike County Chamber of Commerce. Tuesday’s discussion was held at the Big Sandy Community and Technical College and featured simulators and other equipment used by the Kentucky Coal Academy to train miners.

Also speaking were the academy’s director, Dr. Bill Higgenbotham; the director of Coal Mining — Our Future, Haven King; and the president of Coal Operators and Associates, David Gooch.

King and Gooch echoed Baird’s concerns about coal’s future in today’s political climate.

“The greatest challenge facing coal is the federal government,” said Gooch. “The bureaucrats are in a position where they can pass on their own personal agenda against the coal industry.

“The inmates are running the asylum.”

He said the threat to coal has produced nervousness among those who make their living in the mining industry.

“At a rally here in Pikeville, we had more than 5,000 people gathered who were worried about their jobs,” he said in reference to a

Kentucky's Lt. Gov. and Senate candidate Daniel Mongiardo, standing center and microphone, receives a standing ovation for his comments in support of mountaintop removal mining during a public hearing on the issue, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009, at the East Kentucky Exposition Center in Pikeville, Ky. The hearing was hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to collect statements on a proposed change to a streamlined mine permitting process. (AP Photo/Appalachian News-Express, Jerry Boggs) recent hearing hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“They’re worried that this administration is trying to take away their jobs instead of protecting them.”

He also decried cap-and-trade as a hidden, selective tax increase.

“I call it the Electric Utility Equalization Act. It’s not going to make power in California or Massachusetts cheaper, but it’s going to make power here and in West Virginia more expensive.”

He also indicated recent mine safety regulations were little more than political grandstanding which has proven costly to the coal industry.

“The Miner Act, which was passed after the disaster at Sago and in Darby, cost mine operators, by an estimate from the National Mining Association, $8 million,” he said.

“It does nothing to prevent mine accidents. It does nothing to prevent fatalities. It just closes the barn door after the horse has already

escaped.”

Both Gooch and King spoke strongly, urging industry supporters in the coal fields to speak out in defense of coal mining.

“We’re sitting here in Eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia with, as my great-granddaddy would have said, a bunch of carpet baggers telling us what to do,” said Gooch.

King, who also serves as the Perry County Clerk, said miners need to take pride in their profession and get angry about what’s happening in the coal industry.

“What is our problem? We’re not proud to be coal miners,” he said. “We’ve got to stand up. You can make a difference.”

King also stressed the importance of commerce from Eastern Kentucky in other parts of the state and region.

“We need to shop locally and when we do have to go to Lexington or Knoxville, when you lay that $100 bill on the counter,

tell them, ‘This is Eastern Kentucky money, this is coal money,’ If you cut off Lexington’s money, they will back us,” he said.

King also criticized elected officials who he said have not supported the coal industry and encouraged those in attendance to cast their votes based on energy.

“If you have a politician in this area against coal, you need to vote him out,” he said. “(Congressman) Ben Chandler had to make a tough decision (on cap-and-trade legislation). Obama bought him.

“He said he has to do what’s best for his children. What about what’s best for your children and grandchildren?”

King stressed the need for miners and their families to be active in defending the coal industry.

“If we stand together, we can make a change,” he said. “It’s time for us to get angry.”

continued from page 34 they’re going to light them on fire before we can all jump through them.”

The EPA’s decision to have the mountaintop removal permits held up, he said, came as a surprise to the industry.

“People were moving along, in good faith, with the rules the way they were,” Gooch said. “And, all of a sudden, ‘No, we’re going to pull these things out and make you change mid-stream.’”

Mary Anne Hitt, deputy director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, said while it’s important to note that the regulations are just proposed, the landscape is turning in favor of the environmentalists on the issue of mountaintop removal laws.

“We’re seeing more regulations now because we’re realizing that the existing regulations that were in place were not adequately protecting public health and the environment,” she said. “People are being harmed and they’re finding that current laws just aren’t doing the job.”

Hitt said the Sierra Club and other organizations are prepared to fight to ensure the regulations go further, and will have to.

“Obviously the industry’s going to push very hard to keep things the way

they are,” she said.

But, she said, things are tilted in favor of those opposed to the practice.

“I think there’s maybe a better chance now,” she said. “I think it’s less because of who’s in Washington D.C., but more because just more and more people are being impacted and are realizing the impacts of the mining.”

To Gooch, the expanded regulations continue to cause the industry issues in several areas. He said one problem faced by investor-run companies is explaining the regulatory issues to investors not familiar to the industry and to financial institutions with which the mining industry is attempting to do business.

“Everything’s totally uncertain right now,” he said.

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 31

34 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

Affects of new mining regulations unclear to many

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer The implications of new regulations handed down at the state level still remain unclear, but industry officials say they add to the confusion and uncertainty coal operators are facing as they attempt to lead their businesses through a tough economic landscape.

David Gooch, president of the Pikeville-based Coal Operators and Associates said that the “Fill Placement Optimization Process,” announced Jan. 8 by the Kentucky Energy Environment Cabinet is still an unknown.

“There’s varying opinions on it,” he said. “Some of the people that were involved with it thought that was the inevitable. On the other hand, we have some field engineers that say that principle and application are two different things.”

According to environmental advocate Tom FitzGerald, with the Kentucky Resources Council, the “Fill Placement Optimization Process” gives mining companies a protocol for disposing of spoil, which moves them away from valley

fills.

Valley fills are where the “spoil,” or dirt and rock removed from the top of the coal seams, is dumped in nearby hollows, burying intermittent streams.

The protocol requires the maximum safe retention of the soil and rock on the mined area. Also, it requires that any excess spoil, left over after the approximate original contour of the mountain is achieved, be disposed of on any upland location where it can be placed.

FitzGerald said this could mean abandoned mine benches nearby, as well as areas within the permitted area.

Some within the industry say it is a good compromise, according to Gooch, but others say there is no way they can practically apply the guidelines.

“There’s been no firm consensus on this thing one way or another,” he said.

However, Gooch said one thing not in question about the process is that it will cost coal companies more money, and not just in doing the actual mining, but also in the application process.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies has asked that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hold up 49 mountaintop removal permits for further review. Those would be affected under the new protocol, if it is required, Gooch said.

For those applications to be redone to reflect the new guidelines, he said, will be costly and complicated, with no guarantees that following the new protocol will ensure approval of the permit, though FitzGerald said in a recent interview that all agencies have agreed on the protocol, and following it will help mining companies get their permits approved.

“There’s no iron-clad guarantee that if, I do that, I’ll be O.K. and they’ll give me a permit,” he said.

“The proof is in the doing of it.”

While some environmental advocates have praised the protocol, others are more skeptical about its effect.

Teri Blanton, a fellow with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, said the protocol does not change the way things should have been done all along.

“If you really look at (the Surface Mine Reclamation and Enforcement

Act of 1977), mining and valley fills at that time, were supposed to have a minimal impact on the land,” she said. “Spoil minimization is really nothing new. This is a law that should have been enforced since the 1970s.”

Blanton pointed out that the protocol, as it is currently enacted, carries no weight of law.

“It’s just a memorandum of understanding that’s not enforceable,” she said.

And toward that end, she said, KFTC will push for the passage of the Stream Saver Bill during the current session of the Kentucky General Assembly. The measure would basically make the provisions of the Fill Placement Optimization Process the law.

The Stream Saver Bill is just one of many possible new or enhanced regulations the industry is facing, and, according to Gooch, the regulatory landscape is creating problems in the industry.

“It’s contributing to the regulatory uncertainty,” Gooch said. “We don’t know what hoops to jump through.

We don’t know how big they are, or whether contined on page 35

32 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 33

32 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 33

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 31

34 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

Affects of new mining regulations unclear to many

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer The implications of new regulations handed down at the state level still remain unclear, but industry officials say they add to the confusion and uncertainty coal operators are facing as they attempt to lead their businesses through a tough economic landscape.

David Gooch, president of the Pikeville-based Coal Operators and Associates said that the “Fill Placement Optimization Process,” announced Jan. 8 by the Kentucky Energy Environment Cabinet is still an unknown.

“There’s varying opinions on it,” he said. “Some of the people that were involved with it thought that was the inevitable. On the other hand, we have some field engineers that say that principle and application are two different things.”

According to environmental advocate Tom FitzGerald, with the Kentucky Resources Council, the “Fill Placement Optimization Process” gives mining companies a protocol for disposing of spoil, which moves them away from valley

fills.

Valley fills are where the “spoil,” or dirt and rock removed from the top of the coal seams, is dumped in nearby hollows, burying intermittent streams.

The protocol requires the maximum safe retention of the soil and rock on the mined area. Also, it requires that any excess spoil, left over after the approximate original contour of the mountain is achieved, be disposed of on any upland location where it can be placed.

FitzGerald said this could mean abandoned mine benches nearby, as well as areas within the permitted area.

Some within the industry say it is a good compromise, according to Gooch, but others say there is no way they can practically apply the guidelines.

“There’s been no firm consensus on this thing one way or another,” he said.

However, Gooch said one thing not in question about the process is that it will cost coal companies more money, and not just in doing the actual mining, but also in the application process.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies has asked that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hold up 49 mountaintop removal permits for further review. Those would be affected under the new protocol, if it is required, Gooch said.

For those applications to be redone to reflect the new guidelines, he said, will be costly and complicated, with no guarantees that following the new protocol will ensure approval of the permit, though FitzGerald said in a recent interview that all agencies have agreed on the protocol, and following it will help mining companies get their permits approved.

“There’s no iron-clad guarantee that if, I do that, I’ll be O.K. and they’ll give me a permit,” he said.

“The proof is in the doing of it.”

While some environmental advocates have praised the protocol, others are more skeptical about its effect.

Teri Blanton, a fellow with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, said the protocol does not change the way things should have been done all along.

“If you really look at (the Surface Mine Reclamation and Enforcement

Act of 1977), mining and valley fills at that time, were supposed to have a minimal impact on the land,” she said. “Spoil minimization is really nothing new. This is a law that should have been enforced since the 1970s.”

Blanton pointed out that the protocol, as it is currently enacted, carries no weight of law.

“It’s just a memorandum of understanding that’s not enforceable,” she said.

And toward that end, she said, KFTC will push for the passage of the Stream Saver Bill during the current session of the Kentucky General Assembly. The measure would basically make the provisions of the Fill Placement Optimization Process the law.

The Stream Saver Bill is just one of many possible new or enhanced regulations the industry is facing, and, according to Gooch, the regulatory landscape is creating problems in the industry.

“It’s contributing to the regulatory uncertainty,” Gooch said. “We don’t know what hoops to jump through.

We don’t know how big they are, or whether contined on page 35

30 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 35

Industry leaders: Coal is under attack

By Jerry Boggs Editor Coal industry leaders didn’t mince words as they spoke at a November town hall forum in Pikeville. Their message was that coal mining is under attack by the federal government.

“The national administration does have as its goal to put coal mining out of business,” said Charles Baird, a Pikeville attorney and chairman of Coal Operators and Associates.

Baird said current political leaders have shown themselves willing to sacrifice their elected positions by introducing so-called cap-andtrade legislation so early in the Obama administration.

“These people are true believers,” he said. “Just like myself and gentlemen here are true believers in coal. They’re willing to sacrifice their jobs to end carbon emissions.”

The forum was the most recent in a series of topical town-hall meetings held by the Pike County Chamber of Commerce. Tuesday’s discussion was held at the Big Sandy Community and Technical College and featured simulators and other equipment used by the Kentucky Coal Academy to train miners.

Also speaking were the academy’s director, Dr. Bill Higgenbotham; the director of Coal Mining — Our Future, Haven King; and the president of Coal Operators and Associates, David Gooch.

King and Gooch echoed Baird’s concerns about coal’s future in today’s political climate.

“The greatest challenge facing coal is the federal government,” said Gooch. “The bureaucrats are in a position where they can pass on their own personal agenda against the coal industry.

“The inmates are running the asylum.”

He said the threat to coal has produced nervousness among those who make their living in the mining industry.

“At a rally here in Pikeville, we had more than 5,000 people gathered who were worried about their jobs,” he said in reference to a

Kentucky's Lt. Gov. and Senate candidate Daniel Mongiardo, standing center and microphone, receives a standing ovation for his comments in support of mountaintop removal mining during a public hearing on the issue, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009, at the East Kentucky Exposition Center in Pikeville, Ky. The hearing was hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to collect statements on a proposed change to a streamlined mine permitting process. (AP Photo/Appalachian News-Express, Jerry Boggs) recent hearing hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“They’re worried that this administration is trying to take away their jobs instead of protecting them.”

He also decried cap-and-trade as a hidden, selective tax increase.

“I call it the Electric Utility Equalization Act. It’s not going to make power in California or Massachusetts cheaper, but it’s going to make power here and in West Virginia more expensive.”

He also indicated recent mine safety regulations were little more than political grandstanding which has proven costly to the coal industry.

“The Miner Act, which was passed after the disaster at Sago and in Darby, cost mine operators, by an estimate from the National Mining Association, $8 million,” he said.

“It does nothing to prevent mine accidents. It does nothing to prevent fatalities. It just closes the barn door after the horse has already

escaped.”

Both Gooch and King spoke strongly, urging industry supporters in the coal fields to speak out in defense of coal mining.

“We’re sitting here in Eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia with, as my great-granddaddy would have said, a bunch of carpet baggers telling us what to do,” said Gooch.

King, who also serves as the Perry County Clerk, said miners need to take pride in their profession and get angry about what’s happening in the coal industry.

“What is our problem? We’re not proud to be coal miners,” he said. “We’ve got to stand up. You can make a difference.”

King also stressed the importance of commerce from Eastern Kentucky in other parts of the state and region.

“We need to shop locally and when we do have to go to Lexington or Knoxville, when you lay that $100 bill on the counter,

tell them, ‘This is Eastern Kentucky money, this is coal money,’ If you cut off Lexington’s money, they will back us,” he said.

King also criticized elected officials who he said have not supported the coal industry and encouraged those in attendance to cast their votes based on energy.

“If you have a politician in this area against coal, you need to vote him out,” he said. “(Congressman) Ben Chandler had to make a tough decision (on cap-and-trade legislation). Obama bought him.

“He said he has to do what’s best for his children. What about what’s best for your children and grandchildren?”

King stressed the need for miners and their families to be active in defending the coal industry.

“If we stand together, we can make a change,” he said. “It’s time for us to get angry.”

continued from page 34 they’re going to light them on fire before we can all jump through them.”

The EPA’s decision to have the mountaintop removal permits held up, he said, came as a surprise to the industry.

“People were moving along, in good faith, with the rules the way they were,” Gooch said. “And, all of a sudden, ‘No, we’re going to pull these things out and make you change mid-stream.’”

Mary Anne Hitt, deputy director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, said while it’s important to note that the regulations are just proposed, the landscape is turning in favor of the environmentalists on the issue of mountaintop removal laws.

“We’re seeing more regulations now because we’re realizing that the existing regulations that were in place were not adequately protecting public health and the environment,” she said. “People are being harmed and they’re finding that current laws just aren’t doing the job.”

Hitt said the Sierra Club and other organizations are prepared to fight to ensure the regulations go further, and will have to.

“Obviously the industry’s going to push very hard to keep things the way

they are,” she said.

But, she said, things are tilted in favor of those opposed to the practice.

“I think there’s maybe a better chance now,” she said. “I think it’s less because of who’s in Washington D.C., but more because just more and more people are being impacted and are realizing the impacts of the mining.”

To Gooch, the expanded regulations continue to cause the industry issues in several areas. He said one problem faced by investor-run companies is explaining the regulatory issues to investors not familiar to the industry and to financial institutions with which the mining industry is attempting to do business.

“Everything’s totally uncertain right now,” he said.

36 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 29

Speakers at post-mine land use forum say industry under attack

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer LOGAN, W.Va. — Many in the industry believe coal mining is under attack from the federal government and wonder if it will have a future in Appalachia.

The uncertainty surrounding coal, as well as the benefits which are derived from surface mining, dominated a forum held in November with representatives of the regulatory agencies, coal and land company owners, county officials, and the governor of West Virginia.

Sponsored by the Corridor G Regional Development Authority (CGRDA), the 5th Annual Post Mine Land Use Forum convened at the Earl Ray Tomblin Convention Center in Logan, W.Va. Post-mine land use occurs after a company has removed coal or other minerals from a property and then reconfigures the site for economic development.

Examples of several projects in Mingo County made possible because of the practice are the Twisted Gun Golf Course, Air Transportation Park, new high school, Wood Products Industrial Park, a 12-mile section of the King Coal Highway and the Mingo County Hybrid Energy Center.

CGRDA Chairman Howard Sammons said the authority’s purpose is to promote economic and community development.

“What we try to do is help local development authorities along Corridor G with economic development and diversity,” Sammons said.

“One way to get funding for projects is through post-mine land use which is a critical component. To get variances, coal companies have to show equal or better use to the existing land once it’s mined.”

Forum participants also shared other pertinent information concerning the mining industry.

Randy Huffman, cabinet secretary for the W.Va. Department of

The Air Transportation Park, currently under construction on the ridge tops of Mingo County, is the result of a public/private partnership with Alpha Natural Resources, the Mingo County Airport Authority, and the state and federal aviation agencies. This project will allow Mingo County to relocate their county airport to a post-mined site that is being created as a result of coal mining. The new airport will boast a state of the art 7,000’ runway, lighting, and instrumentation once funding is secured, and an additional 800 acres of developable property are being created adjacent to the airport site which will allow for the recruitment of even more business and industry to Mingo County.

Environmental Protection, spoke of permitting issues and new requirements being handed down federally.

“Large scale and surface mining has fundamentally change forever,” Huffman warned. “There is a change in society — it is what it is. We have to make concessions and we need to deal with it.”

Huffman said he feels the EPA needs to communicate with mining officials to ensure all parties involved know what is required of them.

“There are processes in place to comply with permits.” Huffman said.

“Whenever a permit application has been made in the past, everyone knew the rules. Then, after the inauguration, the EPA turned that on its

head.”

Nationally, Huffman said there are 79 surface mining permit applications that have been red flagged or delayed by the EPA. Twenty-one of those permits are in West Virginia.

The list the EPA is giving for the delays include water quality, forest fragmentation, cumulative impact, mitigation, monitoring and minimizing the environmental footprint, Huffman said.

When he asked an EPA official why there were so many, Huffman said he was told the agency included a long list “because they didn’t know what would stick.”

“The EPA says they are not trying to stop surface mining,” Huffman said, “But their actions have not

backed up their words.”

The group was told that the Sierra Club had submitted a letter asking that all of Appalachia be declared an environmental justice community so no one could mine coal.

“Where are we and where can we go?” asked Terry Clarke, project manger for the Corps of Engineers.

“What will the practice be for new permits going forward?”

Clarke told the group the EPA was using its veto powers freely when it comes to issuing permits.

Continued on page 35 Continued from page 34 “Post mine land use may be becoming an oxymoron,” Jim Corsaro, vice president of Operations Continued on page 37

Continued from page 28 the numbers do not show which permits are actually being mined.

“What that shows is that, at some point in time, 27-some thousand acres in Pike County have been permitted, and have either been permitted for mining and unmined, been mined and reclaimed or (is being) actively mined,” he said.

The numbers take on a greater relevance considering the current tone of the debate over surface mine permits. The possibility that agencies may not grant permits has sparked controversy, as mining industry officials say the lack of permits may cause layoffs and have serious economic impacts.

Lovett, however, said he is not surprised that, despite the amount of area under open permit, mining companies are still seeking new and expanded permits.

“It doesn’t surprise me that they’re asking for more,” he said.

“But what surprises me is that anybody is considering giving it to them.

“I think the industry acts perfectly rationally given the regulatory environment that they operate in,” he continued. “If I were a coal operator, I would try to get more permits too.”

Rothman said the Department of Natural Resources is in the process of revising its permitting process, including instituting a fill minimization protocol which will limit or control hollow fills.

But, he said, there is not, nor will there ever be a protocol in place which will set out that after a certain percentage of a county is under open permit, no new permits can be granted.

“We’ve never identified a bright line like that,” Rothman said. “I’ve never heard of us identifying a bright line like that, that says when you’ve permitted 20 percent of the area, that you will issue no more permits,” Rothman said. “That’s akin to saying that only 20 percent of the people who live in Pike County can have a driver’s license.

We will evaluate every permit on its own merits.”

28 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 37 Continued from page 36

with Penn Virginia Resource Partners told the group. “All use of land calls for flattening and infrastructure.”

Corsaro said it sounds ludicrous, but one objection the EPA used to deny a permit was that it would lead to economic development.

“How can anyone object to economic development?” he asked.

Corsaro commended the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority (MCRA) for leading the way in establishing a workable Land Use Master Plan that others can emulate.

Randy Harris, manager of projects for the MCRA, took umbrage with those who say people of Appalachia are poor because of coal.

“I’m trying to find the link between coal and poverty,” Harris said. “There are W.Va. counties with greater poverty rates that don’t produce coal.”

GAO Report: 19 percent of Pike under open surface mine permit

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer A recently-released report shows that more than 19 percent of Pike County’s total acreage is under surface mine permit, more than triple the amount of what was permitted in 1990.

The numbers were found through a News-Express analysis of a recently-released report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a government-run congressional watchdog agency.

The numbers, according to one environmental attorney, should “embarrass” the regulatory agencies responsible for issuing permits.

In 1990, a total of 27,500 of Pike County’s 504,858 total land acres were under open surface mine permit, the report shows. In July of 2008, that number of acres under permit had grown to 96,300, or 19 percent of the county’s total land area.

Pike County ranks third in the state for the percentage of its total acreage under open surface mine permit. Martin County has the highest percentage with 23.22 percent, and

Perry County ranks second with 22.85 percent.

The GAO issued the report, entitled “Characteristics of Mining in Mountainous Areas of Kentucky and West Virginia,” was issued early this month by the agency.

The most heavily-reported aspect of the report was the GAO’s finding that the number of surface mines in Kentucky and West Virginia have become concentrated in particular areas over the past 18 years.

However, the report also shows that, in several counties locally, the amount of those counties’ total acreage under open surface mine permits doubled or tripled over the same 18 year period.

The report also shows that Mingo County, W.Va.’s total surface acreage under open permit doubled over that 18-year period, growing from 16,900 acres, or 6.23 percent of its total land area, to 32,900, or 12.13 percent.

Attorney Joe Lovett, with the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, said the analysis shows the regulatory agencies are not following requirements when

considering permits.

Lovett said one of the requirements for an agency to grant any surface mining permit is that they perform a cumulative hydrologic impact assessment. “(The numbers reported by the GAO) show the cumulative impacts are tremendous,” he said. “We’ve had testimony in cases that, typically, when you see more than 10 percent of a watershed impacted by activities like mining, that’s a huge problem.

So now, if you’re seeing 20 percent of your entire county or more impacted, that should raise red flags.”

Those red flags, however, should not only extend to the people living in the affected areas, but also to the agencies responsible for examining surface mine permits.

“I think that this is a great failure of our agencies and I think they’re intentionally not looking at it,” Lovett said. “They’re afraid of what they’ll find.”

A representative of the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources said the agency does look at the cumulative impact, and does take into account the total area of the county

under permit.

“We actually try to look at cumulative hydrologic impacts out there,” said Paul Rothman, an environmental scientist with the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources.

“You look at current mining, past mining and potential mining and try to get a handle on what the impacts, in fact, may be to both surface and ground water.”

The agency, according to the GAO report, issued several objections to the GAO’s examination, including what is being considered an “open permit.”

According to a letter from Kentucky Natural Resources Commissioner Carl E. Campbell, the term “open permit” is one that was crafted by the GAO for the purposes of the report and includes areas that are not going to be mined, and are under reclamation.

It does not designate that all of the permitted acres are actually being mined.

Rothman reflected the comments in that letter, saying that Continued on page 29

West Virginia Manchin said counties have coal has few things to helped build attract new busithe guns and nesses, so they ships used to have to grow defend the their own from country and what they have, has been the Harris said. catalyst “It is a slow behind its process, but it industrial works,” he said. strength and “The new coalstability. to-liquid facility “However, planned for as we are all Mingo County is aware of by an example of a now, coal has long term invest- “Coal will continue to play a vital certainly had ment.” its challenges, role, if we expect this nation to G o v . ever reach energy independence.” despite what it -WV Governor, Joe Manchin M a n c h i n has consisdescribed coal as tently provid(AP Photo/Bob Bird) ed that has one of the most dependable kept this resources the country has ever used. country strong for the past 100-plus As far as securing the nation, years,” Manchin said. “Many people

have put coal in the hot seat. It has been widely discussed, along with the climate change debates going on.”

Manchin said coal will continue to play a vital role, if we expect this nation to ever reach energy independence.

“I’m committed to making West Virginia the leader in clean coal technology,” the governor said. “We have the resources and expertise to achieve any goal that we set. We can mine smarter, safer, cleaner, and more efficiently than ever before.”

West Virginia is moving forward with advanced coal technology, Manchin said.

“Companies have been willing to partner with us and the results are there,” he said. “Until we are able to find that sustainable resource of the future, coal will continue to provide a reliable and constant energy source. And, coal will continue to bridge the gap.”

38 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 27

Feds give clean coal projects $979M

By Tim Huber AP Business Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Multibillion-dollar clean coal projects in West Virginia, Texas and Alabama are getting $979 million in federal stimulus funding, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said late last year.

The money will go toward retrofitting existing coal-fired power plants owned by American Electric Power, Southern Co. and Summit Texas Clean Energy to capture and store carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas linked to climate change. The Energy Department is aiming to have the technology available commercially — and to share with other big coal-using countries — in eight to 10 years “Coal is a very important mix of our power. It generates over 50 percent of our electricity. The United States has 25 percent of the entire coal reserves in the world,” Chu

said. “We don’t plan to turn our back on coal. Neither will China. Neither will India.”

American Electric Power already is capturing and storing carbon dioxide at its Mountaineer power plant in Mason County. The federal stimulus funding is aimed at allowing the plant to capture and store 90 percent of carbon emissions from the plant.

“It is very important that we test these technologies and make them affordable,” AEP Chief Executive Mike Morris said. “We can help others clean up coal use as well.”

Southern Co. is getting $295 million for carbon capture at an Alabama power plant north of Mobile and Summit Texas is getting $350 million for work on a 400-megawatt plant planned for MidlandOdessa. The DOE says carbon dioxide from that plant will be piped underground to increase oil recovery in the Permian Basin.

The projects are expected to use an additional $2.2 billion in private capital.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, DW.Va., called the investments critical “If we’re going to really improve our economy for decades to come, we have to have really substantial environmental investments,” Rockefeller said. “Today’s announcement is all about promise for our future.”

Sierra Club spokesman Oliver Bernstein said the organization would prefer investments in green energy and jobs.

“We don’t have any problems with research and investments in research and development, but, really, we see an energy future that moves beyond coal,” he said. “Until coal can be burned cleanly and mined responsibly and not contribute to global warming, it shouldn’t play a key role in our energy future.”

26 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 39

Natural gas, trucking officials eyeing potential partnership; liquid natural gas could be used to fuel coal trucks, equipment

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer The coal industry has come under increased scrutiny for the effects of mining and its resultant products on the environment.

However, in an October meeting hosted by the Pike County Office of Energy and Community Development, discussions focused on an idea which may help make one part of the industry greener and more cost efficient, while also benefiting Pike County's other, growing, natural resource industry — natural gas.

In the meeting, held at the Landmark Inn, representatives from the natural gas and trucking industries discussed both the possibilities and realities of using liquid and compressed natural gas to supplement or replace diesel fuel in trucks and equipment.

Kelly Mills, sales director for Westport HD, said the company has developed the technology for manufacturing natural gas engines based on the engine most commonly used in the coal trucks ubiquitous to the region. Mill said the technology is already in use in engines which are manufactured by Kenworth and Peterbilt for the types of trucks used in the mining industry.

“It operates in a similar manner to diesel,” Mills said.

The Westport HD engines are already in use in several non-mining industries, Mills said, and have been demonstrated in the mining industry in Utah. Mills said the test in Utah, which saw the trucks hauling loads of coal, showed that the trucks could haul the necessary weights, including one test Mills saw at 136,000 pounds, and keep up with their diesel counterparts. “(The engine) can do it,” he said. “It can do the job.”

The $75,000 cost of the engine, Mills said, which is currently only available in new truck builds, is recouped by the buyer through energy tax credits, which currently stand at $28,800, as well as fuel savings, which can be as much as $50,000 per year per truck, depending on market conditions. Within a year, Mills said, Westport HD hopes to be able to begin retro-

fitting existing engines to run on liquid natural gas.

While Westport HD builds the engines, Mills said the issue remains getting a supply of the necessary liquid natural gas fuel.”

“We built the solution,” Mills said. “Now we just need to have the infrastructure to fuel it.”

And one participant in Monday's meeting also presented a possible solution to that problem.

According to James Turvey, who works in market development for NexGen Energy. this region is particularly “prime” to begin using the natural gas technologies to run freight vehicles.

NexGen Energy manufactures the technology used in natural gas vehicles, and manufactures and supplies the natural gas fueling stations.

One thing that makes the area suited to use the natural gas technology is the nature of much of the trucking done here, Turvey said. In the case of a coal truck, they are typically not used for long hauls.

“In most cases, the truck goes back to base,” he said.

That, he said, is the ideal situation for using the natural gas technologies, not least of all because of the current lack of fueling stations.

However, Turvey also said his company provides several options for setting up stations for customers.

The other thing that makes Kentucky ideally situated to use natural gas fueling technologies is the vast reserves underneath the state.

“Kentucky's sitting on (natural gas), and a lot of it,” he said.

The key, Turvey said later, is to “pull all the fleet operators together.”

After the meeting, several participants took a tour of MarkWest Energy's natural gas liquid (NGL) processing plant located at Boldman. According to Keith Hayes, the facility, located at the Columbia Natural Gas facility on the Pike-Floyd County line, takes natural gas from Columbia and separates the liquids from it, sending the gas back to Columbia's pipelines, and processing, then selling the remaining materials.

Turvey said during the meeting

News-Express photo by Russ Cassady Natural gas and other industry representatives tour the MarkWest NGL Processing Plant at Boldman Monday as a part of a presentation and discussion on the potential of converting coal truck fleets to run on natural gas, instead of diesel fuel. that the MarkWest facility was very interesting in terms of the liquid natural gas technology because the processing done at the facility is much the same as what is done to produce the liquid natural gas which can be used for vehicles.

“How many clicks are they away from sub-cooling that pipeline natural gas even further and manufacturing (liquid natural gas) right here?” he said.

Local officials spoke on how the partnership between coal and natural gas could benefit the county.

Pike Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford spoke on the numerous new energy projects on which the county is working, and mentioned natural gas as a key component of that.

“The Devonian Shale (upon which Pike County and much of the region is situated) is the richest deposit of natural gas in the world,” Rutherford said.

Dennis Rohrer, who, in addition to working directly in the natural gas industry, is also working as a consultant for a vehicle natural gas company, American Clean Air, said the fuel is a vital part of the region and country’s future.

Using natural gas for vehicles, he said, is better for the environment, would be good for the local economy and would reduce the country’s dependence on foreign sources of oil.

“Basically, we’re addicted to that foreign oil,” he said.

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US mine deaths hit record low of 34 in 2009

By Roger Alford Associated Press Writer FRANKFORT (AP) — The number of miners killed on the job in the United States fell for a second straight year to 34, the fewest since officials began keeping records nearly a century ago.

That was down from the previous low of 52 in 2008.

U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration documents show 18 of the deaths occurred in coal mines, down from 29 in 2008; and 16 were in gold, copper and other types of mines, down from 22 in 2008. Most involved aboveground truck accidents on mine property, though some of the deaths resulted from rock falls and being struck by machinery.

Obama administration mine safety czar Joe Main said the numbers are encouraging, but he won’t be satisfied until no miners are killed on the job.

“I think that’s accomplishable, if you look at where we came from, and where we’ve come to,” Main said.

The latest statistics are vastly improved, he said, from a century ago when hundreds, sometimes thousands of miners were killed each year.

The deadliest year in recorded U.S. coal mining history was 1907, when 3,242 deaths were reported. That year, the nation’s most deadly mine explosion killed 358 people near Monongah, W.Va. Main credits the decrease in deaths over the past year to beefed-up enforcement and stricter regulations in the wake of a series of mining disasters over the past four years in Kentucky, Utah and West Virginia.

In 2006, 73 miners were killed, including 12 who died in a methane explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia and five who died in a similar explosion at the Darby Mine in Kentucky. In 2007, 67 miners died, including six who were killed in the collapse of the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah.

Coal states reacted by revamping their mine safety laws, and Congress toughened federal rules that that brought a variety of advances. Among the improvements are caches of oxygen stashed in underground mines in

case miners are trapped, refuge chambers to provide shelter in emergencies, and a communications system to allow underground miners to talk with colleagues on the surface.

Steve Earle, United Mine Workers of America international vice president for the Midwest, said while those were important improvements, getting inspectors into the field is the key.

“I can say without reservation that the safest day coal miners have is when inspectors are in the mines,” he said. “The more we can put our inspectors in the mines, the safer those mines will become and the closer we will come to zero fatalities.”

Mine safety advocate Tony Oppegard, who has successfully lobbied to triple the number mine inspections conducted in Kentucky, said mining remains a dangerous occupation.

“Everyone who’s involved in mine safety has to be extremely vigilant,” he said. “There’s very small margin for error in coal mining. The smallest mistake can cost a miner his life.”

Kentucky led the nation in mining deaths last year with six in coal mines and one in a limestone quarry. That was followed

by West Virginia and Alabama, each of which had three coal miners killed.

Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas each had two miners killed in coal, salt, alumina, zinc or sand and gravel operations.

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and Puerto Rico had one miner killed in either clay, copper, gold, lime or sand and gravel operations.

“It’s never positive when you have numbers like that, but it could have been worse,” said David Moss, spokesman for the Kentucky Coal Association.

“We’re always striving for that goal of zero. That’s what we work toward every single day.”

Main credited cooperation between regulatory agencies, coal companies and miners with making mines safer, which led the decrease in workplace deaths.

“It is historic,” he said. “And it does tell us we can achieve a point in time when we have no fatalities.”

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 25 Continued from page 22

The new report also calls for tax credits, clean energy bonds, mapping projects and other measures to encourage investment in alternatives to coal, including state-funded programs to measure wind speeds that would help evaluate wind farm sites.

On Monday, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell called on lawmakers in that state to approve a tax credit of $500 per position for employers who create green jobs over the next five years. McDonnell also said he wanted to turn Virginia into an energy leader by leasing off-shore drilling rights and increasing coal, natural gas and biofuel production.

Annual coal production in Central Appalachia last peaked in 1997 at 290 million tons, but fell to 235 million tons by 2008 even as national production climbed, the report said. It also says new projections suggest the region’s production may drop another 46 percent by 2020, and 58 percent by 2035, to just 99 million tons.

Data on the federal Energy

Information A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ’s Web site shows variations among the Appalachian states in recent years.

While 2008 production levels in Kentucky and West Virginia were up 4.4 percent and 2.8 percent respectively from the previous year, production fell 2.5 percent in Virginia and 12.1 percent in Tennessee. Statistics for 2009 were not yet posted, but the EIA estimates production fell more than 7 percent nationwide as consumption declined.

Power plants, in particular, cut coal consumption by 10 percent last year, the agency said.

The agency predicts coal production in 2010 will still be down by about 4.6 percent.

Coal’s effect on the region,

however, is clear: In 2008, the industry employed some 37,000 people directly or indirectly, sometimes as much as 40 percent of a county’s work force.

Severance taxes generate hundreds of millions of dollars for state governments.

Yet some coalfields counties

have the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the region, the new report says, “and due to the dependence on coal for economic development, any changes in coal production will have significant impacts on local economies.”

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Report suggests that Appalachian states should look beyond coal

By Vicki Smith Associated Press Writer

Coal’s Future

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Coal production in Central Appalachia is likely to continue its 12-year decline, and an environmental consulting firm said Tuesday it’s time policy makers and legislators in four states work to diversify the region’s economy.

A report issued by Downstream Strategies of Morgantown predicts production in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee will fall nearly 50 percent within a decade and urges those states to adopt laws, low-interest loan programs and other measures to support the development of renewable energy sources.

The report blames the decline in part on increased competition from other coal-producing regions and other sources of energy, such as natural gas. It also points to the depletion of the most accessible, lowest-cost coal reserves and increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

The coal industry has long been concerned about Central Appalachia’s decline and faces even more challenges as legislators and the public grow interested in global climate change, renewable energy options, and cap-andtrade legislation, said Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.

At the same time, the industry is struggling with a low supply (AP Photo) of qualified workers and record levels of imported coal from Colombia, Venezuela and Indonesia. To protect both the industry’s short- and long-term health, policy makers at all levels must recognize and protect coal’s role in providing low-cost, reliable energy, he said.

The industry does not object to

moderate growth in renewable energy, he added.

“There’s general acceptance that we’re going to need every form of power available to accommodate future growth in our energy demands in our country, and it makes sense to have a balanced energy portfolio,” Hamilton said.

“But coal is a finite resource and it should be managed within the context of an overall energy portfolio based on volume and reserves.”

The new report was authored by Downstream Strategies President Evan Hansen and energy and climate change researcher Rory McIlmoil.

McIlmoil is a former community activist with Whitesville-based Coal River Mountain Watch, which has been advocating construction of a wind farm on a mountaintop destined for strip mining, but Downstream Strategies says its work was not funded by any group.

The report contends new jobs and tax revenues could be created by focusing on renewable energy like wind, solar and hydropower, and it says states should require that 25 percent of their energy portfolios come from renewable sources by 2025.

Last year, West Virginia lawcontinued on page 23 continued from page 22 makers approved a measure requiring that 25 percent of the state’s electrical output come from renewable and alternative energy sources by 2025. The law allows utilities to satisfy the requirement by earning, purchasing or trading credits for power produced by everything from natural gas and nuclear power to burning coal bed methane, waste coal and tirederived fuel.

Continued on page 25

Acceptable Casualties: The federalization of the Central Appalachian coal industry David Gooch Coal Operators and Associates A Washington, DC, insider recently stated in private conversation that the Obama Administration considers the people of Central Appalachia (Eastern Kentucky included) as “acceptable casualties.” The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) continue to cast shadows of doubt about financial security over the lives of thousands of residents in the region who derive their livelihoods from coal mining.

The federal government has turned against its own citizens in a war to end the nation’s reliance upon coal-fired energy — especially coal mined in Eastern Kentucky and the surrounding region. The cause is a just one they say: It will save the planet from self destruction through the burning of fossil fuels. It will lead to a cleaner and greener way of life. It is a war worth fighting, they say. And, as in any war, there are casualties.

We are used to the term “collateral damage” from the news media. That is a term used to describe non-combatant civilian casualties or damage to a nonmilitary target during armed conflict. In this area, coal miners, their dependants, and, many people that supply goods or services to the mining industry have become collateral damage or as stated, acceptable casualties.

The EPA and CEQ have taken aim at the Central Appalachian coal industry with a multi-faceted attack. Most are aware of the 404 permitting issue. EPA unilaterally placed a moratorium on the issuance of those permits under the NWP 21 general permit in six states including East Kentucky.

While the US Army Corps of Engineers got the blame, the EPA ordered the action. The Corps issues those permits under the authority granted by EPA and the Clean Water Act (CWA).

That action was soon followed by placing 79 pending permits

under increased scrutiny. Fortynine were in Eastern Kentucky.

The EPA also decided to suspend a properly issued permit in West Virginia that was more than two years old. These actions were not the result of federal legislation, just the orders of a bureaucrat.

The EPA then involved itself in the issuance of other CWArequired permits that are usually issued by individual states under agreements with the federal agency. Suddenly new conditions of approval have been added, again without any supporting federal legislation, and in most cases, no new regulation promulgated in accordance with law.

The EPA has convinced the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) to leverage the state mining regulatory authorities to cease issuing state mining permits conditioned upon obtaining proper and necessary federal permits.

Permits were often conditionally issued to allow mining company to initiate mining activities in areas not requiring a federal permit, such as building a haul road to access the area to be mined.

The CEQ, EPA, Corps and OSM are now in agreement there must be tighter and more restrictions on mining coal in Central Appalachia. Again, it is a region specific agenda. OSM is reviewing regulatory actions that were finalized in the past with a goal of re-writing them to more restrictive standards.

OSM, under pressure from EPA and CEQ, is re-developing their oversight of state regulatory programs that have primacy under the federal surface mining law (SMCRA). They have stated they will exercise more hands-on control.

In addition to greatly deterring the mining of coal in the region, the EPA is attempting to declare the waste from burning coal as a toxic material. If this occurs it will have a detrimental impact on the use of coal by electric utilities and other commercial customers.

Not only has EPA attacked the industry from the ground through permitting, enforcement and consumption, the agency has launched an air attack. Again, with no action from Congress,

EPA has embarked on a course to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant that needs regulated. Carbon dioxide is one of the gases emitted when fossil fuels are burned.

It is no different that the carbon dioxide we exhale when we breathe, or the gas required by plants to exist.

In spite of many highly publicized incidents of data being destroyed; mistakes made in data interpretation; publication of erroneous science; or, hiding opposing views by reputable scientists, the EPA continues the “air” attack claiming that carbon dioxide from burning coal is going to destroy the planet.

As of this date there have been few losses of coal jobs. There are companies that have altered their mining plans and work assignments while waiting on a much needed permit. However, several companies, some in Eastern Kentucky, will run out of acreage covered by the necessary permits within a few months. That will mean layoffs. It will place workers on an already over-burdened unemployment compensation system increasing the doubledigit joblessness the state and nation now suffers.

As miners lose jobs, retailers of goods and services lose business. Some of their employees become expendable. Local and state government loses tax dollars in a time of increased budgetary need and shrinking revenue.

This is all being done without the action of Congress or the will of the people being expressed.

War is about subjugation; placing one group of people under the control and will of another group. Some would say the statement that the federal government has declared war on Central Appalachian coal is overly dramatic. It isn’t. The federal government has clearly declared war on the Central Appalachian coal industry and those who live in the region are acceptable casualties.

——— David Gooch is the president of Coal Operators & Associates, Inc., a coal trade association based in Pikeville, Ky.

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Pike County leaders speak at UK coal forum

By Jon Hale Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues University of Kentucky LEXINGTON — Some of the most passionate arguments at November’s day-long coal forum at the University of Kentucky came from Pike County.

Pikeville College President Paul Patton, a former governor, coal operator and county judgeexecutive, accused Northeastern politicians of supporting climatechange legislation to raise Kentucky and Midwestern electricity prices, while a local citizen activist said the coal industry was degrading life for Appalachians

and Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford said “Coal is not the villain.”

Patton asserted at the morning session, “A lot of the debate against coal is purely selfish regional economics,” with Northeast interests wanting to improve their economic competitiveness.

That evening, the state’s leading environmentalist, Tom FitzGerald of the Kentucky Resources Council, responded to Patton, saying, “Now is not the time to claim a conspiracy to shift wealth to the coasts … Now is the time for engagement, for creativity” in alternative energy development, which he said would flower

“once you give the right price signal by truly valuing the cost of coal and the cost of other fuels,” including their environmental impacts.

Rutherford, who is promoting a wide range of alternative energy ideas, including several that use coal, told the morning session, “Coal ought to be the hero in this country.”

Patton’s and Rutherford’s views weren’t shared by the other Pike County speaker at the “Coal In Kentucky” forum: Vanessa Hall, a teacher at George F. Johnson Elementary School and member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, who spoke in the afternoon.

“I live in the coalfields of Eastern Kentucky. The quality of life there is not enhanced by the coal industry, it is made significantly worse,” Hall told the crowd, which was mainly UK faculty and people in or associated with the industry. The forum was sponsored by the UK College of Engineering and its Department of Mining Engineering.

The passionate comments from Pike County, the state’s largest coal producer, stood out among the otherwise number-heavy daytime sessions. Following presentations full of bar graphs and pie charts from two economists regarding the economic impacts of coal, Rutherford and Patton offered few numbers but strong feelings and a wealth of experience — which includes the 1981 race for judge-executive, in which Patton ousted Rutherford.

“I may preach a sermon louder that Wayne does,” Patton proclaimed, following Rutherford to the lectern.

Patton said the lack of shortterm alternatives to fuel America’s consumption of electricity is the often-disregarded key in the debate over the future of coal, at least in the near- to mid-term.

“There is no short-term alternative to using coal to generate the electricity this country had become accustomed to using,” he said. “The only real long-term alternative is nuclear fuel. Do you

want a nuclear power plant in your backyard, or would you allow some of the mountains in Eastern Kentucky to be redesigned as future timber land 100 years from now as the alternative?” Another speaker noted that reforestation of strip-mine sites is becoming more popular, thanks to research.

“Those are the issues we really should be debating,” Patton said.

“Twenty-five percent of the methane in our atmosphere comes from cows. Is there anybody advocating not eating steak? I don’t hear that debate.”

But Hall, displaying a Pike County map of coal operations, with strip-mined land in red, said the concerns of citizens need to be heard.

“I want to know if anyone here at the school of engineering has figured out how to stop the effect of explosives at the property line,” she said, referring to blasting damage that citizens say is widespread but hard to prove was caused by strip mining.

Patton said the industry has evolved beyond old stereotypes. “I don’t think coal has ever been the sort of industry some people portray it as,” he said. “And certainly it is not that industry today.”

Despite coal’s reputation as a dirty fuel, Rutherford said Pike County’s goal was to lead the state in environmental conservation. “Our goal is to be a green county,” he said, noting that he drove to the forum in his hybrid vehicle.

Hall said that goal should be reached with alternative fuels. “I want our research and development money to be spent on an economy that will last longer than 20 years,” she said, adding that the university’s commitment to coal research is “throwing good money after bad.” She concluded, “These costs are being paid by the people who live in Appalachia,” Hall concluded.

Despite their disagreements, both sides said the forum was a valuable opportunity for creating an informed debate. Rutherford said, “We should have had more of these over the years.”

Hundreds turn out in W.Va. for mining rally

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — About 300 environmentalists and several hundred miners and coal supporters rallied for, or protested against, surface mining outside the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection headquarters.

Several coal trucks continuously circled the block, blaring their horns, as friends of coal chanted “Go home” and cheered to drown out the environmentalist speakers during the two-hour event.

Coal supporters waved American flags and displayed signs that read “If you’re against coal, then turn off your lights” and “Proud and Loud: WV Coal Miners,” while environmentalists shouted “Save Coal River.”

The activists described pollution which comes from mountaintop removal as a sin against God. They called on the DEP to serve and protect creation as they reminded them of their responsibility to future generations.

“The EPA is supposed to protect the people, not profit,” one environmentalist said.

“We do believe in good jobs that have sustainability and are life-enhancing.”

The two groups were separated by barricades that divided the DEP parking lot. West Virginia State Police troopers patrolled the zone between them.

Environmental activist and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. headlined the demonstration and spent a half-hour debating Mike Snelling, vice president of surface operations for Massey Energy, and others before taking to the podium.

Snelling described Kennedy as being very passionate about what he was doing.

“I have to give him credit for walking through a crowd of a lot of people he would consider adversaries,” Snelling said. “He just keeps talking about the environment and the concern for the environment and the mountains of Appalachia. We tried to tell

News-Express photo by Audrey Carter Environmental activist and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Sr., and nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy, is shown talking with Mike Snelling, Massey Energy vice president of Surface Operations and Logan County businessman Greg Wooten during Monday's mountaintop removal rally held at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection headquarters. At least 300 environmentalists, along with a couple of hundred coal supporters showed up for the demonstration.

him that we are just as concerned about the mountains — even more than he is, for the fact that we live here.”

“We need a dialogue,” Kennedy told the coal supporters. “If we’re separated by barriers, then all you get is people screaming back and forth.”

Logan (W.Va.) County Commission President Art Kirkendoll invited Kennedy to visit areas of the state where mined property has been reclaimed.

“He was very cooperative and said he would come back to look at some things,” Kirkendoll said. “We want to show we do things the right way. We provide jobs and we do it in an environmentally friendly way.”

Logan County Administrator Rocky Adkins said the county could lose 69 percent of its tax base if all mountaintop removal mining was eliminated.

“I think it’s sad we have people coming from other states trying to determine how we run our state,” Adkins said.

Environmentalists have vowed to put a stop to all mountaintop removal and have called on the Obama adminis-

tration to put new rules in place to halt the practice.

Coal industry officials and political allies have criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because new permit issuances have ground to a halt across the Appalachian coalfields, causing numerous layoffs.

When Kennedy took to the podium on the other side, he called mountaintop removal mining a crime and said if the American people could see it, there would be a revolution.

“They are literally liquidating this state for cash,” Kennedy said. “It’s God who made these mountains, and it’s (Massey Energy CEO) Don Blankenship who is cutting them down.”

The environmentalists are seeking to stop blasting on southern West Virginia’s Coal River Mountain.

Massey Energy plans to mine thousands of acres atop the mountain, which has enough coal reserves to feed power plants for 14 years, officials have said.

Environmentalists want Massey to stick with underground mining and allow the ridges to be turned into a 200turbine wind farm.

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Mountaintop mining: Coal baron debates a Kennedy TIM HUBER,Associated Press Writers TOM BREEN,Associated Press Writers

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The real audience for the debate between coal baron Don Blankenship and conservationist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was not the hundreds who packed the audience at the University of Charleston.

Those people — coal miners and environmentalists, politicians and local residents — heard nothing new in Kennedy's denunciation of mountaintop removal mining nor in Blankenship's defense of the practice.

The real audience extends far beyond West Virginia and central Appalachia; it's the millions of Americans who don't know a strip mine from a slurry impoundment, but whose anger or acceptance of mountaintop mining could tip the political balance one way or the other.

A hand-picked crowd of 950 heard the outspoken Massey Energy chief and the environmental lawyer from America's most famous political clan debate for about 90 minutes Thursday night. Hundreds more watched on closed-circuit TV in a

campus gym.

The debate over mountaintop mining has raged in West Virginia for years. But this was a chance to reach millions of unconverted Americans via the Internet and many more through the dozens of media outlets present — including three documentary film crews.

"I think Don came out ahead, but it's not going to change any minds, unfortunately," Massey Energy miner Jeff Johnson said.

Both men made their cases succinctly, and lightly traded verbal jabs, accusing the other of being fuzzy on facts or unfair in rhetoric.

For Blankenship, mountaintop mining puts food on the table and mortgage checks in the mail. For Kennedy, it defaces majestic scenery, pollutes water and shatters the quiet country existence of people who've called the mountains home for generations.

"The two primary concerns have to be the security of the country and improving the quality of life throughout the country and the world," Blankenship said.

Poverty was a formative experience for Blankenship, who has memories of trudging to an out-

house on frigid winter nights.

"If you haven't had those experiences, you probably don't have the empathy with people going through that even today in West Virginia," said Blankenship, who rose to head Richmond, Va.-based Massey, the region's largest coal operator.

Kennedy countered that surface mining has helped keep West Virginia among the poorest states.

"What we're fighting here is not just the destruction — the massive and worst destruction of our environment," Kennedy said.

For nearly a decade, environmentalists and the mining industry have fought over mountaintop removal.

Over the past year, however, the fight has become more fierce.

There have been nearly 100 arrests at 20 protests, most involving trespassing. Miners respond to environmentalists' rallies with sign-toting hecklers and lines of coal trucks blasting air horns.

Among those who watched the debate, James McGuinness of Rock Creek said the event could be a tipping point for the movement against mountaintop removal mining.

"More and more politicians are starting to understand," he said.

"There are miners against mountaintop removal mining. There are a lot more people who are against it now."

But Massey surface miner Chuck Kelley said it's time for the industry to fight back.

"We've sat on our hands for so long," he said. "We have to get out and take care of ourselves."

While America's hearts and minds may be the prize for the debaters, University President Ed Welch — the night's moderator — said there's also something at stake for society: the ability to have a serious, civil conversation about a contentious issue.

"If we can't have intelligent discourse about the most important issues we face, where are we?" he said. "If we can help people understand it's a hard issue, that's a major step forward."

Photo: Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship debates environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on issues related to coal, coal mining and the environment at the University of Charleston in Charleston, W.Va. Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Bob Bird)

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Ky. Senate passes bill to allow nuclear plants

By Bruce Schreiner Associated Press Writer FRANKFORT (AP) — Legislation to lift Kentucky’s ban on the construction of nuclear power plants steamed through the Senate earlier this year but could get unplugged in the House.

The bill, which cleared the Senate on a 27-10 vote, is backed

by Gov. Steve Beshear but House Speaker Greg Stumbo said he doesn’t think the measure will pass the House.

State law currently prohibits a nuclear power plant from being built in Kentucky until there is a permanent storage facility to contain the nuclear waste. A proposed high-level radioactive waste facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been discussed for years.

Independent Sen. Bob Leeper of Paducah said Wednesday his bill would put Kentucky on “equal footing” with other states if the federal government ever approves new nuclear plants.

“We must recognize the value of nuclear power and the importance of allowing nuclear power to be a part of the energy mix in our state,” Leeper said.

Leeper’s district in western Kentucky is home to a uranium enrichment plant.

Democratic Sen. Ray Jones of Pikeville, who opposed the bill, called it “ill timed” and said it “turns a blind eye to the reality” that Kentucky relies heavily on coal for its electricity.

Kentucky is among the nation’s top coal producers, and Jones represents a coal-producing region in eastern Kentucky.

Jones said the measure “will basically do nothing to change the direction of Kentucky’s energy policy” because the federal government hasn’t approved any new nuclear plants. Jones also raised concerns about the safety of nuclear power.

Leeper countered that he has been an ally of coal as a legislator, and said that nuclear reactors currently operating in the U.S. are doing so safely.

“It has a very, very admirable record in the United States,” he said.

Leeper also said his constituents recognize the many reg-

Democratic Sen. Ray Jones of Pikeville opposed a bill recently passed by the Senate which whould lift Kentucky’s ban on the construction of nuclear power plants. Jones called it “ill timed” and said it “turns a blind eye to the reality” that Kentucky relies heavily on coal for its electricity. ulatory hurdles that would have to be cleared before any nuclear plants could be built in Kentucky.

Kentucky has not allowed nuclear power plants since 1984, after the General Assembly passed a law barring their construction until a permanent waste storage facility was in place.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said the bill reflects “a broader vision” for the country’s energy needs.

He said the measure would make Kentucky “well situated to continue to be an energy-producing giant.”

Kentucky has its own history

with nuclear waste.

An ill-fated nuclear dump site in Fleming County that opened in the 1960s, Maxey Flats, stored low-level radioactive waste when it was operational. The facility was an attempt to attract the nuclear industry to Kentucky, but it closed in the 1970s because water — contaminated by radiation — was found migrating beyond the site’s borders.

Sen. Robin Webb, DGrayson, cited Maxey Flats in voting against the bill. She said workers there were unknowingly exposed “to things ... that they should not have been exposed to.”

Continued from page 16

up 79 strip mine permits in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee for additional scrutiny.

The environmentalists are “waking up a pretty big industry that has maybe taken the opposition from some of these groups for granted,” says Chris Hamilton, senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.

The industry fights back by equating support for coal with patriotism, and by portraying opposition to mountaintop removal as opposition to gainful employment.

Virginia-based Massey Energy organized a “Friends of America” rally on Labor Day. A “Faces of Coal” ad campaign focuses on people whose jobs the industry says are at risk. TV ads tout the ways the industry benefits communities.

“Although the industry has always had challenges,” Hamilton says, “I’m not sure they’ve been quite as dramatic or as threatening as they are today.”

Ten years ago, when environmentalists began the mountaintop removal fight, few people knew the term. Now they get nods of recognition. But Stockman says cutting through an “infotainment culture ... where news is dominated by what’s going on with Britney Spears’ navel or Tiger Woods’ private life” is still a challenge.

And that, says fellow activist Webb, is why Kennedy’s visit matters.

“We have to play that game, ‘What does America want to watch?’” he says. “Do they want to watch Darryl Hannah get arrested? Yes, they do. Do they want to watch Bobby Kennedy screaming at the DEP headquarters parking lot? Yes, they do.”

With a sign reading "WV Miners Say Go Home Tree Huggers" seen at the center, coal miners and families who support mining stand along the road opposite a mountaintop removal mining protest Tuesday, June 23, 2009 in Naoma, W.Va. Several hundred mountaintop removal mining opponents held a rally outside Marsh Fork Elementary school that sits about 300 feet away from a Massey Energy coal processing plant. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)

16 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

Environmentalists’ outrage over mountaintop mining still not felt nationwide

By Vicki Smith Associated Press Writer MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Environmental activists gained more momentum this year than in the past decade against the destructive, uniquely Appalachian form of strip mining known as mountaintop removal, though they have yet to mobilize the millions of supporters they want.

The activists have harnessed the power of the Web, social networking and satellite phones. They’ve chained themselves to heavy equipment, blocked haul roads and climbed trees to stop blasting.

They’ve marched for miles, hung banners and been arrested.

They’ve even enlisted support from celebrities like actress Darryl Hannah, country singer Kathy Mattea and attorney Robert Kennedy Jr. And yet they struggle to overcome the collective indifference of average Americans, plugged in to affordable electricity produced largely by coal-fired power plants.

Consumers, it seems, aren’t debating mountaintop mining at A West Virginia state troopers keeps opposing groups of protestors apart as Robert Kennedy Jr., the son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, calls for an end to mountaintop removal mining on Coal River Mountain at the dinner table.

“It’s not part of the national a rally outside the headquarters of the state Department of Environmental Protection in Charleston, W.Va. conversation yet, but it definitely Monday, Dec. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Bob Bird) needs to be because it’s an indicapeople in Los Angeles don’t know Mountaintop mining occurs in Valley Environmental Coalition in tion of what’s wrong with our about,” says Nell Greenberg of the sparsely populated parts of Huntington. “They wonder out country — corporate greed,” says San Francisco-based Rainforest Appalachia, places tourists don’t loud whether the sort of ‘hillbilly’ ex-Marine Bo Webb, whose Action Network. “We’re trying to visit. It is rugged, unglamorous stereotype helps people dissociate Naoma home sits below a moun- take the shroud off.” country, filled with valuable natu- themselves from what is happening taintop mine and within 10 miles Greenberg says she senses a ral resources, yet slow to inspire here.” of three coal-waste dams. “bubbling up” of national interest passion.

But plenty of people with In mountaintop removal min- that dovetails with growing During the 2008 presidential power are paying attention. ing, forests are clear-cut. demand to replace fossil fuels with campaign, Americans voiced “The practice of mountaintop Explosives blast apart the rock, clean energy sources. One day last strong opinions on whether oil removal mining has a diminishing and machines scoop out the month, she says, more than 65,000 companies should drill in the constituency in Washington,” Sen. exposed coal. The earth left behind people e-mailed the U.S. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., warned is dumped into valleys, covering Environmental Protection Agency.

People cared because the debate recently. “Most members of intermittent streams.

Her group has chapters in pitted $4-per-gallon gasoline Congress, like most Americans, Coal operators say it’s the most Philadelphia and Atlanta taking against Alaska’s majestic, snow- oppose the practice.” efficient way — in some cases, the regular action, “and MTR isn’t capped mountains.

Just before Thanksgiving, a only way — to reach some happening there,” Greenberg says.

But there is no sticker shock at federal judge ruled the Army reserves. They also argue they “But they get the connections.” the light switch. The cost of elec- Corps of Engineers broke the law reclaim the land so it can be redeSo why don’t others? tricity has grown slowly and by failing to give the public veloped. Critics say the land is Although the practice may steadily. Tolerably, even. enough of a say before issuing perruined forever, and that people, seem tailor-made to stoke public “A lot of people who live mits. The corps was already conproperty and the environment suf- outrage, it lacks a cuddly mascot. directly in the shadow of this do sidering rules to end a fast-track fer unnecessarily.

Its victims are not photogenic spend time wondering why the rest system for obtaining such permits, “This is sort of the quiet apoca- polar bears or spotted owls; they of America doesn’t care,” says and the EPA was already holding lypse that is happening in the hills are people and places.

Vivian Stockman, of the Ohio and hollows of West Virginia that Continued on page 17

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 49

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February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 15

Ky. Power officials: Rate hike necessary to ensure reliable service Portion of increase flagged to purchase wind energy

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer In the face of growing opposition, Kentucky Power officials say their proposed rate increase, which could add an extra 35 percent to residential customers’ bills, is necessary for them to both provide reliable service and make a return to their investors.

Earlier this year, several Kentucky Power officials spoke with the News-Express’ editorial board, on several topics, and said the rate hike will be necessary, particularly in the area of residential customers.

Errol Wagner, director of regulatory services for the company, said during the meeting that the company is currently losing money providing residential power, and that cost cannot be made up elsewhere. Wagner said because of rising costs, providing service to residential customers is the most expensive of the compa-

ny’s costs.

“You can’t have rates for the residential class subsidized by the industrials,” Wagner said.

The Kentucky Power officials said several factors are influencing the company’s decision to seek the rate hike, the first the company has requested since 2005.

Wagner said one of the biggest issues impacting the company is a flagging outside sales market.

When the company’s generators are not needed to provide power to its service area, the company sells power to other areas, something that has taken a hit in the current economy.

“That market really dried up last year,” Wagner said. “That’s one of the primary reasons our earnings did drop down to 2.9 percent.”

Under the proposed rate increase, the return for the company’s investors would be expected to rise to eight percent.

According to a filing by Kentucky Power in connection to the rate adjustment proposal, the company expects the adjustment to increase its revenue by approximately $123.6 million a year, or 24.25 percent, bringing the company’s overall revenue to $633.4 million.

The price of coal is not a factor in the rate increase request, Wagner said, because it is reflected in the customers’ monthly billing through the fuel adjustment clause.

The company’s costs for coal are a pass-through item to customers, which means the customers’ bills are adjusted to take the price of coal into account constantly.

Another issue raised in the company’s request for a rate increase is the need to diversify the company’s generation sources away from coal, which may be forced by legislation.

It remains speculative at this

point in some ways, but Wagner said buying the wind generated power now locks in the price for 20 years. Legislation like the proposed cap-and-trade will affect that price without the lock.

“We do know one thing; once that bill passes, then the price goes up,” Wagner said.

Wagner said Kentucky Power is already buying a small amount of power from a wind generation company, at a significant cost to the company. Kentucky Power, he said, is required to get its power for the lowest possible price.

“Clearly this wind power is not (the cheapest source),” Wagner said.

Although the company may be required to diversify its energy sources, the officials said coal remains the biggest part of its generation source.

“AEP and Kentucky Power are going to be burning coal for a long time in the future,” Wagner said.

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W.Va. gov slams federal 'cap and trade' bill

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (AP Photo/Bob Bird) TOM BREEN,Associated Press Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A day after meeting with environmentalists concerned about surface mining, Gov. Joe Manchin asked the Legislature to approve a symbolic resolution affirming that coal is still king in West Virginia.

Resolutions sought by Manchin were introduced Tuesday in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate.

They condemn federal legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions with so-called "cap and trade" programs, and express support for investment in new energy industry technologies aimed at reducing pollution from coal.

The resolutions warn that the federal legislation, which has passed the U.S. House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate, would cost West Virginia 10,000 jobs by 2020 and shrink its gross domestic product by $750 million in the same period.

They also state with confidence that coal will continue to be a dominant source of electrical power, as overseas demand rises.

"Coal will continue to be a primary energy source to meet these additional demands, and therefore the United States should lead the way in advancing cleaner coal technology," the House resolution says.

The resolutions come a day after Manchin and other political leaders met with members of environmental groups opposed to mountaintop removal mining, a meeting he convened to help bridge the gap between those groups and the coal industry.

"The governor and some of the West Virginia Legislature are completely out of touch with reality and refuse to care for the our future generations or prepare for the near future," said longtime environmental activist Judy Bonds, of Coal River Mountain Watch. "It seems as if the governor did not really hear a word we said yesterday."

Manchin's position on cap and trade should not come as a surprise to anyone, though, spokesman Matt Turner said.

"This is not a new stance for him," Turner said.

"And as far as the issues brought up with the environmental groups yesterday, it's totally separate."

Ironically, many environmentalists share Manchin's opposition to what's known as "cap and trade." Under the plan, a cap would be placed on greenhouse gas emissions, but polluters who exceed the cap could trade for credits from companies whose emissions fall below it.

"We oppose cap and trade, but for very different reasons than the governor," said Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, one of the groups that met with Manchin on Monday.

Environmentalists think such schemes leave the

door open for abuses. But apart from that shared suspicion of "cap and trade," Stockman said there's nothing in the resolutions for environmentalists to support.

"This makes it seem he's still refusing to acknowledge the suffering of people who live in the shadow of mountaintop mining and valley fill operations," she said.

Coal industry figures, who have also had closeddoor meetings with the governor, welcomed his resolutions as a recognition of the vital role coal plays in the state's economy.

"There's an overwhelming number of legislators who are concerned about the cap and trade legislation and the dramatic impact it would have on West Virginia," West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney said.

The resolutions come at a time when climate change legislation may be on hold in Washington, but the future of West Virginia's iconic coal industry is a daily topic of concern here.

Environmentalist groups have stepped up their protests against mountaintop removal mining, incurring dozens of arrests in the past year.

The coal industry, in turn, argues that federal enforcement of mining regulations under President Barack Obama's Environmental Protection Agency has made it nearly impossible to get new mining permits, causing the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Last month, U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd surprised people on both sides of the debate by penning an op-ed piece that called on the industry to change rather than fight battles over climate change and cap and trade.

"To be part of any solution, one must first acknowledge a problem," Byrd wrote. "To deny the mounting science of climate change is to stick our heads in the sand and say 'deal me out.' West Virginia would be much smarter to stay at the table." ___ Associated Press writer Vicki Smith Morgantown contributed to this report.

in

Massey Energy pushes expansion plans

By Tim Huber AP Business Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Mine operator Massey Energy Co. is capitalizing on growing Asian demand for coal used in steelmaking.

The mining company from Richmond, Va., plans to develop a mining complex capable of producing 2 million tons a year of metallurgical coal. The complex announced in January would employ 500 people in southern West Virginia.

Work on the first mine at the site is expected to cost up to $160 million and start in the second quarter. The premium price of metallurgical coal

and rising demand likely make the project a moneymaker for Massey.

The company also announced a deal with India’s Jindal Steel & Power for mines in Asia, Australia and the United States. The deal holds the potential for Massey to move into regions with direct links to the surging coal markets in China and India.

Major coal producers have shifted operations rapidly to accommodate demand from the East with operations in places like Australia that are resource-rich and close to Asia.

St. Louis-based Peabody Energy, acquired Australia operations in 2006.

Yet demand is outstripping sup-

ply there.

Government figures show that while U.S. coal exports plunged 30 percent last year, shipments to China jumped to 386,950 tons last year, from 86,596 in 2008.

Continuing strong Asian demand is expected to push up metallurgical coal prices to an estimated $165 a ton, up from $149.

And those prices typically do not include shipping, which is paid by the buyer.

“We are increasingly optimistic about the strength of the metallurgical coal markets around the world,” Chief Executive Don Blankenship said in a statement.

Massey’s expansion plan is a big

change for a U.S. coal company. The industry chopped production about 8 percent last year as consumption dropped amid weak demand for electricity and cheap natural gas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The industry also slashed capital spending, though Massey said it expects to up its budget this year by about $30 million to pay for the new West Virginia mine. Work is expected to start in the second quarter, with shipments in time for 2011 export.

“We believe the current and forecast shortage of metallurgical coal makes this the right time to proceed with the development of this high quality coal reserve,” Blankenship said.

52 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 • Natural Resources • 13 Continued from page 12

Kentucky plant turns switchgrass into fuel pellets

Fiscal Court moves on methane project

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer

The Pike Fiscal Court moved ahead recently on a proposed methane capture project for the county’s landfill.

The court voted during a special January meeting to conditionally accept a bid from the Baton Rouge, La.- based Shaw Enterprises to complete the project, though the bids came in 19 percent higher than expected, according to Jack Sykes, the project engineer.

Shaw submitted a bid of $971,241, with several alternatives removed. However, Sykes told the court that there is still nearly $185,000 the court must come up with, if the company is not willing to negotiate for the price.

The project would meet a requirement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the county have a method in place to “flare off” or expel, methane gas created by the mountains of trash buried at the county’s landfill.

The project, as it has been proposed, could also result in the coun-

ty being able to capture some of the created gas, which Pike JudgeExecutive Wayne T. Rutherford said could result in the county being able to recoup costs.

“We have the potential to generate carbon credits with this project,” Rutherford said. “We also have the potential to generate electricity that can be sold back to the grid.”

District 6 Magistrate Chris Harris expressed concern over the financing for the project, especially with the court facing shortfalls, such as an expected $2.5 million shortfall in mineral severance taxes.

“We’re going to be facing, in coming months, some very challenging financial times with our budget,” he said. “And trying to come up with $185,000 cash to do this project is just going to be challenging.”

The project is being funded by grants, as well as budgeted funds.

Sykes told the court that Shaw Enterprises is willing to cut costs beyond some of the reductions proposed by county officials, but only after the company had an assurance it would have the bid.

WURTLAND (AP) — Two businessmen have big plans for a Kentucky biofuels plant that converts switchgrass into fuel pellets designed for burning at power plants and other large commercial operations.

Jeff Lowe and Brandon Minix started the Midwestern Biofuels plant in northeastern Kentucky in anticipation of a strong demand for biofuels, The Daily Independent of Ashland reported.

The two believe the plant will be ready to reach full production early next year.

They hope to expand their workforce of about 30 to more than 200 by the end of 2011, working the plant 20 hours a day. If the Wurtland plant works out, they foresee more plants in other areas.

All that depends on finding a market for the pellets. They are in talks with power companies as far away as Dayton, Ohio.

They believe demand will increase in the near term as state legislatures enact requirements for use of renewable energy sources. Biomass is less costly than solar and wind, they said.

What they came up with is a pellet made of pulverized, compressed material. They used

wood chips before and now make the pellets from switchgrass, thanks to an influx of test plots in northeast Kentucky.

A tour of the plant takes visitors past huge stacks of baled switchgrass destined for processing, a machine that pulverizes the grass, conveyors to move the grass particles across the plant, and another machine the size of a truck that turns the particles into pellets for burning.

The power companies can use the pellets as they are in coal-burning power plants. “We needed a product they can burn without upgrades and changes,” said Minix, vice president of Midwestern Biofuels.

Also, the compressed pellets are cheaper to transport than bales of grass, said Lowe, president of Midwestern. That translates into big savings in fuel and handling for moving the pellets.

Midwestern has 200 tons of switchgrass and other grasses in bales. Once final adjustments are made on their equipment, they’ll start making the pellets in production quantities.

Minix and Lowe have hopes that the machine will become an industry standard. Their patents are pending.

Pikeville seeking to convert police vehicles to propane burners

By Chris Anderson Staff Writer

The City of Pikeville is seeking to “go green” with its vehicle fleet, and stage one of that move involves all of the city’s police cruisers.

At a November commission meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to approve a request from City Manager Donavan Blackburn’s office to seek grant funds to convert the city’s vehicle fleet to burn propane rather than gasoline.

The $125,000 grant would be used to convert 20 city vehicles from gasoline to propane and Blackburn said the obvious choice for the first round of conversions is the city police cruisers.

“The vehicles that we drive the most in the city are the police vehicles,” he said. “They’re on the road for the officer’s entire shift.”

Blackburn said the funding the city is seeking comes from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. The conversion to propane will make the city eligible to receive federal rebates awarded to cities that use alternative fuels.

Blackburn’s familiarity with propane makes him confident in the switch. He worked for Ferrellgas for three years previously. Blackburn said a conversion to propane would allow the city to extend the life of its vehicle fleet.

“Looking at an alternative fuel

source that is environmentally friendly, propane obviously burns cleaner,” he said. “And (converting to propane) adds an extra 70to 100,000 miles additional to an engine.”

The police cruisers will also benefit from an increase in power, thanks to the propane. Blackburn said a propane burning engine has more power than a gasoline engine and achieves the same fuel mileage.

Blackburn said propane is cheaper per gallon than gas and the extended life of the city’s vehicles will pass savings down to the taxpayers.

“It’s important to us because not only are we being environmentally conscious, we’re addressing the issue of prolonging the lives of our vehicles and

saving our taxpayers money,” he said.

The propane conversion kits cost approximately $5,800 each and can be moved from one vehicle to the next when the originally converted vehicle is retired.

Blackburn said the only expense associated with the conversion kit is to pay a trained professional to change it over from one vehicle to the next.

There are currently no plans in the immediate future to convert the city’s fire trucks to propane since they are not used as much as police cruisers and ambulances.

The conversion kits for larger engines, such as those in fire trucks, are significantly more expensive, Blackburn said. He said the next conversions will be the city’s ambulances.

mesh with Obama's budgetproposal, which called for ending oil and gas subsidies, a move that could save $36.5 billion over a decade.

The Obama budget proposal, meanwhile, would retrofit 1.1 million housing units to improve energy efficiency through next year and increase batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles to 500,000 a year by 2015. Both are examples of a tangible program that could help residents' pocketbooks and Democrats' chances at the ballot box.

Obama's political team is already making that case. He toured a company that produces energy-efficient light bulbs in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Tuesday and late last month visited an Ohio community college that trains students to work on wind turbines. He has also been talking up the energy sector's potential to move out-ofwork Americans off unemployment rolls.

Beshear urges Obama to help coal states FRANKFORT (AP) — Gov. Steve Beshear says he is encouraging President Barack Obama to protect the energy interests of Kentucky and other coal-producing states.

Beshear and several other governors met Feb. 3 with Obama.

The Democratic Kentucky governor said he told the president that so-called “cap-and-trade” legislation would be a bad deal for Kentucky. And Beshear said he complained to Obama about “unconscionable delays” by federal agencies in deciding whether to approve mining permits in Kentucky.

Beshear said nearly 50 requests for surface mining permits are under review by the Environmental Protection Agency. He said some of the requests were submitted more than five years ago.

Beshear said abrupt changes in coal regulations would balloon energy costs and cripple manufacturing industries in Kentucky, which has relatively low electricity rates.

(AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

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Obama pushing clean coal and green jobs

PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is meeting with governors from coal-producing states, hoping to earn their support for a languishing U.S. energy bill and to bolster his image as a leader willing to work with Republicans as well as Democrats.

Obama planned to announce new steps Wednesday to increase the role of biofuels in powering the nation and to release a report detailing how Washington could increase investments in green technologies, an administration official said. The president was also expected to discuss so-called clean coal technologies, said the official, who spoke ahead of the announcement only on condition of anonymity.

Many pieces of those proposals were likely to win Republican support in Congress, where Republican allies have been elusive for a Democratic White House looking to pass controversial capand-trade legislation that would limit U.S. gas emissions.

Wednesday's plan also was likely to find support from Republican governors in states rich in coal and corn, which can be used to produce ethanol.

Republican Govs. Jim Douglas of Vermont — the chairman of the National Governors Association — Bob Riley of Alabama and Mike Rounds of South Dakota were scheduled to meet with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House. The White House said Democratic governors from Wyoming, the nation's top coalproducing state, and neighboring Montana, home to vast coal reserves, were also expected to attend with six other Democratic governors.

Energy has served as a major plank of the president's domestic agenda, finding places on his travel schedule, in his speeches and in his budget proposal released on Monday. In that plan, Obama's team called for tangible accomplishments that Democrats can champion as they head into a 2010 campaign season that has become more perilous since Republican Scott Brown won a special election

President Barack Obama meets with a bipartisan group of governors in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010, to discuss energy policy.

Governors pictured, from left: Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen; Maine Gov. John Baldacci; Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear; Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (obscured); Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (obscured). From right to left: Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire; Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas; West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin; Alabama Gov. Bob Riley; Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) in Massachusetts to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Democrat.

"Well, you're not going to get any argument from me about the need to create clean energy jobs," Obama said Monday in a YouTube social network forum. "I think this is going to be the driver of our economy over the long term. And that's why we put in record amounts of money for solar and wind and biodiesel and all the other alternative clean energy sources that are out there."

The president added: "In the meantime, though, unfortunately, no matter how fast we ramp up those energy sources, we're still

going to have enormous energy needs that will be unmet by alternative energy. And the question then is, Where will that come from?"

That was a question Obama asked a group — led by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson — to explore.

Officials said their recommendations would build on some $786 million allocated for environmental projects ranging from ethanol research to pilot programs at biorefineries. The plans also would Continued on page 13

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Chamber of Commerce guest speaker says climate change not a big issue

By Chris Anderson Staff Writer The keynote speaker at the Pike County Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Summit said global warming and climate change is a normal occurrence and the issue has been misrepresented in the media. He also said cap and trade legislation will cost Americans, particularly Eastern Kentuckians, billions of dollars if passed.

Tom Harris, Executive Director of International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC), spoke in November before the Chamber of Commerce at the Energy Summit and warned that legislation governing the emission of carbon and other materials into the atmosphere is the product of misinformation. He also said climate change has been a normal occurrence over time.

“The only constant about climate is change,” he said. “If you look through the history of the earth, every since we’ve had an atmosphere, climate has changed. This whole things is normal.”

ICSC is a Canadian-based group whose mission is to promote better public understanding of climate change science and policy worldwide, according to the group’s Web site. Harris said the international community is being misled by politicians who have made statements not based on fact, but rather flawed information, thus the reason for his appearance in Pikeville.

“Climate change is in an era of negative discovery, which means the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t understand,” he said. “The whole concept of stopping climate change is a bit ridiculous.”

He said politicians such as President Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore have misled the public into believing that a dire emergency exists in regards to climate change. Harris presented a slideshow at the summit to demonstrate his point that climate change is no more than a part of the planet’s normal climate cycle and is not being made worse by humans.

Harris also said the fight against cap and trade legislation cannot be won by arguing about the financial costs of the

News-Express photo by Chris Anderson Tom Harris, of International Climate Science Coalition, was the keynote speaker at the Pike County Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Summit held Thursday evening. Harris told the chamber that climate change was a normal trend for the planet and presented information to refute statements made by political leaders regarding climate change. potential laws.

“Those who argue against cap and trade based only on the costs are going to lose the argument,” he said.

“Because most people, including people who work in the coal industry, don’t want to see the planet destroyed.

“Cost is important because then it becomes a big policy issue (but) in the final analysis, if you ignore the science and you accept the forecast, you end up with the conclusion that you must take severe actions. If you question the science and can show that it’s dubious and the probabilities of these things are low, then everybody — left wing, right wing, it doesn’t make a difference — would say ‘that’s a stupid waste of

money.’”

Harris said several times that his presentation and the information contained within it was not done and gathered with a political agenda. However, he said that once he began gathering the comments made by politicians regarding climate change, the comments made by Democratic politicians were the ones he found to be false and misleading and those comments were meant to cause a “climate change scare” among average citizens.

“I call it a “scare” because scientifically, we don’t know (that climate change is happening), but to say that it’s definite and it’s causing a crisis is, in my opinion, a scare,” he said.

He also presented a slide during his presentation that said cap and trade legislation would cause the coal production in the United States to drop by more than half by 2030 and job losses of 10,000 or more could occur by that time.

Harris said his goal was not to deny global warming was occurring, but to help control the panic over the topic.

The Energy Summit was sponsored by natural gas extraction company EQT. Lloyd Hall, vice president of compression and pipeline operations for EQT, said the gas company and the coal industry are working together to extract minerals from Eastern Kentucky while leaving a small footprint.

10 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

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56 • Natural Resources • February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010• Natural Resources • 9

Officials say CTL construction, operation will include union workers

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer With air quality permits still pending for the Mingo County coal-to-gasoline plant, the Affiliated Construction Trades (ACT) Foundation is questioning if union laborers will be used once construction on the facility gets under way.

ACT is a coalition of construction workers’ unions.

Randall Harris, who serves as projects manager for the plant and the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, said he doesn’t understand why this issue is being raised because talks have been ongoing with the Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Council since December.

Harris said from the beginning Adam Victor, CEO of TransGas Development Systems LLC, has said union laborers would be used.

Victor made the announcement of his intention to build the plant during the 2008 West Virginia Energy Summit hosted by Gov. Joe Manchin.

At that time, Victor said approximately 3,000 union employees would be needed during the construction phase and once the plant is completed, 200-300 full-time unionized workers would be hired.

Harris said they are negotiating with the Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Council because it represents workers who live in Mingo and Pike counties and others closer to the plant site, while the ACT Foundation repre-

sents employees from the northern part of the state.

A study conducted at Marshall University predicts that the economical and regional impact from this project will be farreaching.

The $3 billion Mingo Hybrid Energy Center will be located on a 900-acre site that will eventually house other energy projects, according to Mike Whitt, executive director of the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority.

ACT is also questioning a draft air pollution permit the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has proposed to issue for the plant.

The DEP held a public hearing earlier this month to gather last-minute comments concerning the plant.

More than 600 people packed into the Larry Joe An artist’s rendering shows the layout of the proposed coal-to-liquid plant at the Harless Community Center Mingo Hybrid Energy Center in Mingo County, W.Va. at Gilbert, W.Va., to show their support or opposition review the company’s air pollution approved, Harris said the next steps for the project. include a front-end engineering permit.

ACT officials’ concerns were The DEP is proposing to allow design, or FEED, site characterizoutlined in the latest issue of their the project to be permitted as a ing, which is often called geotech newsletter. “minor source” of air pollution, but studies, and the water permit and “When we looked into at this Carpenter maintains it should be water system design. project, we quickly ran into all subjected to a more rigorous “Since the objective is zero sorts of problems,” the newsletter “major source” permit process. water discharge, there will most said. “If they won’t use local workDuring the public hearing, DEP likely be no discharge permit, but ers, we usually find they are cutting officials outlined why this was that is yet to be determined,” Harris corners elsewhere.” being considered a “minor source” said. “All of these things will be ACT hired consultant Carpenter facility. going on at same time, so it will get Environmental Associates to Once the air quality permit is very busy.”

Wood-fired plant to be bigger than planned

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The $150 million wood-fired electricitygenerating plant being proposed for Mingo County is going to be more than twice the size originally projected.

Charleston businessman Thomas Loehr, president of American Clean Energy, revealed his plans to expand during the December meeting of the West Virginia Economic Development Authority.

The power plant, which would convert wood waste to electricity, will be located at the Harless Wood Products Industrial Park.

Mike Whitt, executive director

of the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, said they looked at the plant’s footprint and realized American Electric Power wanted more for their portfolio and 28-megawatt wasn’t large enough.

“We knew three weeks ago it would have to be expanded,” Whitt said. “So this is good news for Mingo County.”

The plant will provide 40 direct jobs, which will pay very good wages, Whitt said.

“We have been working on alternative energy projects for a long time, and this is one of the best opportunities to come before us,” Whitt said. “It’s carbon neutral, green energy and hopefully this one will come to fruition.”

This type of diversification is another step in the right direction for Mingo County, Whitt said.

In October, Loehr announced his plans to build the plant after he successfully sought preliminary approval from the state Economic Development Authority to issue up to $100 million in tax-free bonds.This money will be used to finance a portion of the plant.

Raymond James & Associates have committed to issue the tax-free bonds.

The original plan was to build a 28-megawatt plant which would generate enough power to supply about 20,000 homes while burning 400,000 tons of wood waste per year. The revised plan calls for the

plant to burn 900,000 tons of wood waste per year.

Now, Loehr said they are going to do 60-megawatts in three stages, 20, 20 and 20.

There are many reasons to do it this way, he said including economics and the supply of wood.

He explained it’s a lot easier for the waste wood suppliers to gear up over a year or two than for them to go online with 30 or 40 megawatts right off.

Loehr said everything is ahead of schedule and an agreement has been finalized with independent timbering operations and mills that are within about 50 miles of the plant site to provide wood waste for fuel.

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Exxon to partner on Mingo County CTL project

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — Exxon Mobile has signed on to partner with the coal-to-gasoline project planned for Mingo County.

Adam Victor, president of New York-based TransGas Development LLC, which is constructing the plant, made the announcement during the 2009 West Virginia Energy Summit held at Roanoke, W.Va., in December.

During last year’s summit, Victor revealed his plans to build the plant in Mingo County.

“Exxon Mobile has only committed to eight such projects worldwide,” Victor said. “The energy company will perform the final part of the coal-toliquid process. This means they will convert the syngas created from coal into gasoline.”

The plant will be located on a 300 acre post-mine land site, approximately six miles north of the junction of West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky near Wharncliffe in Mingo County, W.Va.. The remote site is located along the path of the King Coal Highway and is ideally situated for industrial development. The site is also adjacent to a Norfolk Southern rail spur, within five miles of the Guyandotte River and within the largest coal field in the eastern United States.

Victor also updated on the status of the Mingo Hybrid Energy Center which is expected to provide 3,000 jobs during construction and 300-400 full time unionized jobs once the plant is operational. The facility is expected to turn 3 million tons of coal a year into methanol that would then be converted into as many as 756,000 gallons of gasoline a day.

Randall Harris, projects manager for the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, explained how the coal-togasoline process works.

Harris said coal, water, and oxygen are sent to the gasifier in very controlled amounts where they are converted through a chemical process into a mixture of gases called Syngas.

“Rather than burning, gasification is a chemical process which breaks the coal into its chemical parts,” Harris said. “Coal is exposed to steam and oxygen under high temperatures and pressures. Under these conditions, molecules in the coal are broken apart and undergo chemical reactions that produce a mixture of carbon monox-

ide, hydrogen and other gaseous compounds.”

The gases that are not needed, such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen, are separated and converted into various chemical products, such as sulfur and ammonia.

The chemical reactions in the gasifier create a great deal of heat that can be converted into much of the electricity that the plant needs.

The ash in the coal is converted to slag that is similar to sand used in concrete or asphalt, Harris explained.

“The Syngas is then converted through another chemical process into methanol, which is a simple alcohol,” he said. “A byproduct of this step is water which will be reused on site.

The methanol is finally converted into ultra-clean premium 92 octane gasoline in the last step which also produces a small amount of liquefied petroleum gas.”

Aaron Daley, manager of development for TransGas, said the company will meet or exceed all state and federal regulations.

“The W.Va. DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) has reviewed the design and issued a draft air quality permit upon finding that the regulated emissions for the plant are low enough to meet all environmental requirements, placing it in the minor source category,” Daley said. “The environmental benefits of gasification stem from the capability to achieve extremely low emissions.”

A public hearing to discuss air quality permits is set for 6 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 17, at the Larry Joe Harless Community Center at Gilbert, W.Va. Representatives of the state Division of Air Quality will accept comments on the permit and provide information about the project. Written comments can be submitted until 5 p.m. Dec. 18.

The regional project is expected to impact West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio.

Mine faces sactions after spring flooding

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer A Mingo County mine in which seven men were trapped for nearly 24 hours by floodwaters last May is facing sanctions by federal investigators.

Cobra Resources LLC, a subsidiary of Alpha Natural Resources, has been cited for the two violations that contributed to the flooding, according to a news release from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Fines for the citations have yet to be assessed.

Mountaineer Alma A Mine, located at Wharncliffe, W.Va., is charged with violating runoff control and emergency evacuation rules.

On May 9, after working the midnight shift, the men realized at about 6 a.m., that they could not get out of the mine because of the high water. They sought higer ground and managed to exit safely once the water receded the next morning.

At that time, heavy rainfall had led to widespread flooding in much of Mingo County and other parts of southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.

Officials say the flood waters entered the mine and inundated a low area at the main portal in all 10 entries, preventing the miners from getting out. In some places the depth of the water measured approximately nine feet deep and, was as high as the mine roof.

In the 24-page report, MSHA noted the mine operator did not regularly monitor and properly maintain the mine’s system of diversion ditches. These ditches are designed to route storm runoff surface water away from the mine portals and into ponds constructed to handle runoff.

The second violation cited the operator’s failure to safely maintain the two separate and distinct escapeways.

MSHA concluded that the accident occurred because storm runoff water entered the mine portals after being diverted when culverts underneath the portals were blocked by debris caused by scouring and erosion from a mud slide.

The slide prevented water from flowing through the culverts, which caused the water to back up and enter the mine.

Another contributing factor was the inability of the mine’s system of diversion ditches to handle the storm water flow, as designed.

Joe Main, assistant labor secretary for MSHA, commended the miners for having the wherewithal to move to higher ground.

“Their actions, along with the expertise of federal and state mining officials and mine management, resulted in a positive outcome,” Main said.

“Nevertheless, the mine operator’s failure to properly maintain underground diversion systems and escapeways could just as easily have ended in tragedy.”

Congress OKs funds for 2 W.Va. highway projects BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (AP) — Congress has approved nearly $4 million for the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway in southern West Virginia.

U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd says the funding is included in an appropriations bill that’s awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature.

The bill allocates $1.98 million for the King Coal Highway and $1.98 million for the Coalfields Expressway.

When completed, the 65-mile Coalfields Expressway will run from Raleigh County to Buchanan County, Virginia.

The 95-mile King Coal Highway will run from Bluefield to Williamson, where it will join the Tolsia Highway. The two highways will be part of Interstate 73/74.

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Gov. announces moves to help coal industry in Pike visit

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer Gov. Steve Beshear made clear that his stance on coal is one of support, with a stop in Pikeville, in which he announced two moves intended to help the industry.

One move will mainly help small operators, and one could make the process of getting a state surface mine permit move more quickly.

Beshear announced the measures before a large crowd of local officials and coal industry supporters at the Pike County Airport in November.

The first measure, which began with an emergency regulation, will increase the fees mining companies pay for permit applications and permit changes, and divert the additional funds to finance the hiring of 19 new employees in the state’s Division of Mine Permits.

Beshear said both the 2008 budget cuts and retirements greatly impacted the division of mine permits, and there was an unsuccessful effort to get new employees to fill the positions left open by retirements.

“Despite all of those efforts, staff levels were still inadequate to get permits issued quickly,” Beshear said. “And folks, when you don’t get permits issued quickly, Kentucky’s miners begin to see their work slow down.”

Charles Baird, chairman of Coal Operators and Associates, said that while the industry has recently seen some improvement in the speed at which permits are approved, he said the new employees will definitely help.

“The last several months, they have been focused on that, particularly under (DNR Commissioner) Carl Campbell,” Baird said. “I’m hopeful, and I do think we’re going to see a dramatic improvement there.”

Permits for mining operations, particularly those granted by federal regulatory authorities, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have become a controversial topic lately.

The EPA has asked the Corps of Engineers to hold up 79 of those permits for review, and coal operators have said that other permits are also being held up on various fronts.

Beshear said this will only help with the state permits, but he has asked the EPA to speed up its approval process as well.

“This will allow us to move that

along expeditiously, and to get caught up on the review of these permits and then continue to do them in a timely fashion,” he said.

“We’re going to apply the rules that are in place right now, and we’ve been urging the EPA to get on with

their work and do their review in a reasonable fashion also.”

The governor’s second move will take multi-county coal severance funds to hire 15 new safety inspectors, who also serve as mine rescuers, which officials said will help small operators.

Baird said 64 percent of the operators in Kentucky have 30 miners or less, and federal regulations require that they have two, six-men rescue teams.

“In the first place, many of those mines don’t have a sufficient number of employees to man two rescue teams and the training requirements almost make it prohibitive,” he said.

So, Baird said, the state has made their inspectors also be rescuers, which allows the mines to operate without their own rescue teams.

“I’d like to compliment the governor for taking this step, because I can’t tell you how important of a step this was for the small opera-

tors of our region,” Baird said.

Beshear said the industry faces several challenges, including increasing regulations, but he has pledged to make coal and clean coal technologies a part of his administration’s plan.

“To keep this industry viable, we must be increasingly smart about how we operate, “Beshear said. “All of us; those who burn coal, those who sell it, those who mine in, those who regulate it and those who use it, are aware that the world is changing.

“Even as demand for energy grows, so does demand for things like clean air and clean water,” he continued.

The industry is important, he said, not only to the state’s energy needs, but its economy as well. “(Mining) jobs contribute greatly to the quality and the convenience that we experience in our everyday lives, most of the time not even realizing it depends on what they do,” he said

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Inside This Issue EASTERN KENTUCKY’S

NATURAL RESOURCES FEBRUARY 2010 PUBLISHER JEFF VANDERBECK EDITOR JERRY BOGGS ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MIKE DAVIS COMPOSING MANAGER TINA GAYHEART LAYOUT & AD DESIGN JAMIE BECKETT & DANIEL BUSH SECTION DESIGN AND LAYOUT TRACIE VANDERBECK A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE APPALACHIAN NEWS-EXPRESS COVER PHOTO: In this Dec. 7 photo, pro-coal supporters protesting against Robert Kennedy Jr.'s call for an end to mountaintop removal mining on Coal River Mountain at a rally outside the headquarters of the state Department of Environmental Protection in Charleston, W.Va.(AP Photo/Bob Bird)

16 Environmentalists’ outrage over mountaintop mining still not felt nationwide 20 Environmental Prize Fight Mountaintop mining: Coal baron debates a Kennedy 22 Report suggests that Appalachian states should look beyond coal 26 Natural gas, trucking officials eyeing potential partnership 28 GAO Report: 19 percent of Pike under open surface mine permit 30 Industry leaders: Coal is under attack 34 Affects of new mining regulations 36 Speakers at post-mine land use forum say industry under attack 38 Feds give clean coal project $979M 40 US mine deaths hit record low in 2009 44 Pike County leaders speak at UK coal forum 48 Ky. Senate passes bill to allow nuclear plants 50 Ky. Power officials: Rate hike necessary to ensure reliable service 52 Fiscal Court moves on methane project

6 Gov. announces moves to help coal industry in Pikeville

52 Pikeville seeking to convert police vehicles to propane burners

9 The federalization of the Central Appalachian coal industry David Gooch, COA

54 Chamber of Commerce guest speaker says climate change not a big issue

12 Obama pushing clean coal and green jobs

56 Mingo County CTL construction to include union workers

13 Beshear urges Obama to help coal states

57 Exxon to partner on Mingo County CTL project

14 W. Va.gov slams federal ‘cap and trade’

62 Grass roots campaign putting new ‘face’ on coal industry

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Grass roots campaign putting new ‘face’ on coal industry

By Chris Anderson Staff Writer A recent campaign has sought to change the symbolic face of the coal industry from that of a weary, duststained miner to the faces of the wives and children, small business owners and shopkeepers who live in the coalfields.

For more than a year, several groups have taken to the streets to garner support for the coal industry.

Decals and signs with the names of groups such as Friends of Coal, Coal Mining Our Future, and F.A.C.E.S. of Coal, are displayed in the windows of vehicles and businesses all over the region, and representatives of those groups say there is a common goal between them.

David Gooch, the president of Coal Operators and Associates in Pikeville, said pro-coal groups are attempting to put a face on the industry.

“Without people, coal is totally useless, and that’s what we’ve promoted — the people,” he said. “Coal is people.”

Gooch said the statement “coal is

people” is a bit trite, but he said the popular saying, “people are our greatest resource,” is a very true statement with the coal industry.

That sentiment has prompted procoal groups to turn more toward the promotion of the idea of coal and the plight of the people in the coal industry rather the product itself.

Perry County Clerk Haven King, who is the director of Coal Mining Our Future, said the strategy is aimed at getting people to realize the importance of the coal industry in Kentucky. And he says it’s working.

Both King and Gooch said the Friends of Coal campaign has been a huge motivating factor or supporters of the coal industry. Gooch said Friends of Coal, and the issuance of the Friends of Coal license plate in Kentucky, has rallied support statewide for the industry.

“The word is spreading. People are starting to get a realization that the coal industry is important to Kentucky and to the United States,” Gooch said. “That’s part of what we were to trying to do.”

Gooch said nearly 17,000 Friends of Coal license plates have been

issued in Kentucky since being introduced.

Another group, F.A.C.E.S. of Coal, was created as an outgrowth of different coal companies, venders, and suppliers, who wanted to be more aggressive in defending the industry and the means of extraction used by the industry, according to F.A.C.E.S. of Coal spokesperson Phil Osborne. He said the group operates in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia and offers a central-

ized voice for industry supporters in those states.

King said he hopes to counteract some of the negative publicity the coal industry has suffered in the Bluegrass region of the state, and he said that effort has gone well so far.

Gooch said the focus on the people of the industry is still the same.

“We want to put a face to the industry and show people that it’s not about a black substance, but rather it’s about people,” he said.

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