American Coal Concert Series Launched - Coal News

2
June 2010
Coal News
Sen. Rockefeller
Outlines Safety
Legislation
Sen. J. Rockefeller (D-WVa)
has announced his broad outlines
for mine safety improvements
and has described his
“new legislative approaches”
including adding workplace safety
enforcement and accountability
standards through MSHA and
OSHA. His approach also
includes: streamlining the
Pattern of Violation rules and
regulations so that repeat
offenders are subject to additional
oversight and enforcement;
reducing the appeals
backlog at the Federal Mine
Safety and Health Review
Commission; improving whistleblower
protections; and increasing
fines and penalties for companies
that “routinely violate
safety laws and regulations.”
Rockefeller has also introduced
an amendment to the
financial reform legislation now
on the Senate floor that would
require publicly traded mining
companies to include “critical
mine safety information” in their
annual and quarterly filings with
the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC). The Senate
Appropriations Committee has
conducted a hearing to review
current safety resources of federal
agencies including MSHA and
the Senate Committee on Health
Education Labor and Pensions
has held hearings on the safety
enforcement authority at MSHA
and OSHA.
Funds Approved
for FMSHRC
The Senate Appropriations
Committee has approved $22
million in additional funding to
reduce the backlog in the number
of mine safety citation appeals
pending before the Federal Mine
Safety and Health Revision
Commission (FMSHRC). Of the
funding, $18.2 million is for the
Solicitor of Labor and MSHA, and
$3.8 million is for the FMSHRC.
The new funding will be available
for twelve months as part of the
FY 2010 Supplemental
Appropriations bill. House staff
are reporting that members
believe the Senate funding is too
low and will include more dollars
in their version.
House Members
Condemn EPA’s
Actions on Coal
Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) joined
by twenty-two other members of
the House of Representatives,
both Republicans and Democrats
representing districts in fourteen
states throughout the U.S., is
condemning the EPA for delays in
coal mine permitting and for
guidance on CWA permits in
Appalachian mines that relies on
conductivity as a sole measure of
stream impairment. The group
called upon EPA Administrator
Lisa Jackson to withdraw recently
implemented rules that have
“caused significant barriers and
delays in issuing job creating
coal mining permits throughout
the region.”
The group, from both parties,
characterized EPA’s new rules on
surface mining as the
Administration’s “latest tactic in
its war against Appalachian
Coal” and pointedly said EPA has
“crossed the line” and is putting
80,000 jobs in jeopardy. The letter
asks EPA to “immediately
withdraw policies that jeopardize
mining and mining families
throughout Appalachia” and
points to EPA’s preemption of
federally approved state water
quality programs.
Analysis Finds
Fault with Study
of Appalachian
Coal Community
Health
An analysis commissioned by
NMA has found factual discrepancies
and methodical flaws in
studies published by Dr. Michael
Hendryx and others, contending
that increased mortality in
Appalachian communities was
due to high rates of coal production
in the area. The analysis was
completed by Jonathan Borak,
MD, Clinical Professor,
Epidemiology and Medicine at
Yale University; and Kathryn
Salipante Zaidel, MEM.
In their review of eight peerreviewed
journal articles
authored by Dr. Hendryx, they
noted the complete omission of
obesity, diabetes, and alcohol
consumption from the Hendryx
analyses as important factors
that could influence health and
mortality rates in Appalachia.
Borak also pointed to Hendryx’s
finding of high mortality rates in
Appalachian counties with high
levels of coal mining, but not
among coal miners and not in
other coal mining areas. All the
observation led Hendryx to propose
that his findings of excess
death might be related to the
unique “topography and population
centers characteristic of
Appalachia,” Borak and Zaidel
concluded. “These results also
suggest that coal mining is not
the reason for excess deaths.”
Hendryx has been a popular
witness before state and federal
legislative and regulatory bodies,
including congressional hearings,
and his studies have also
received widespread attention in
West Virginia media. NMA Senior
VP for Regulatory Affairs, Bruce
Watzman, said, “Dr. Borak’s findings
are important to the entire
mining community. They raise
fundamental questions about the
conclusions reached by Dr.
Hendryx and their relevance to
any assessment of the overall
contributions of mining in
Appalachia.”
NMA Coal
Forecast
Updated
NMA’s Economics Coal
Subcommittee is forecasting that
domestic coal consumption will
rebound from 2009 levels,
increasing 5.5% in 2010, based
on the Subcommittee’s update of
the 2010 forecast. Due to reduction
of high coal stockpiles by
utilities, total demand for mined
coal is expected to increase by
only 0.9%, as total U.S. production
is expected to be down 0.7%
from 2009 with production from
Eastern coalfields down 2.9%.
The forecast indicates that
total domestic coal consumption
will be 1.008 billion tons for
electricity, including electric
power, commercial, and industrial
sectors. Domestic coking coal
consumption is expected to be
up 24.2% to 27 million tons, and
total exports will be up 26.9% to
75 million tons in 2010, with
exports of met coal to Canada
and overseas making up the
lion’s share of exports at 57 million
tons. The NMA
Subcommittee expects the economy
to grow at about 3% in 2010.
Top Challenges
Ranked by
Mining
Executives
As surveyed, mining executives
from 113 North American metals
and minerals companies and
ranked their top five challenges.
“Ensuring workplace safety” was
listed by 71% of the respondents
as their top challenge. This was
followed by “improving performance
and operational effectiveness”
which 67% identified as a
top challenge. Other items on the
list were “managing capital projects”
which was ranked by 46%,
“recruiting and retaining a
skilled workforce” ranked by
38%, and “addressing environmental
concerns” ranked as a
top challenge by 37%.
The coal companies in the
group ranked their number one
obstacle to organic growth as
“decline in market demand” plus
all companies surveyed said the
number one obstacle to organic
growth is “complying with government
regulations” which was
identified by 42% of the respondents.
Some 87% of respondents
said they were pursuing an
aggressive cost control strategy
as their top way to maintain profitability
in the current economy.
Senate Climate
Proposal
Unveiled
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass) and
Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) have
unveiled their version of climate
legislation, the “American Power
Act”. According to a summary of
the proposal, the bill will call for
a 17% cut in emissions of greenhouse
gases (GHGs) below the
2005 level by 2020 and an 80%
reduction by 2050. Emissions
limits would apply differently
and, according to various timetables
for various industry sectors,
begin with powerplants in 2013.
The measure directs much of the
revenue generated to rebates
and other assistance for consumers
and businesses impacted
by higher electricity costs, to
fund various programs that would
be mandated by the proposal,
and for debt reduction.
Two billion dollars in annual
funding for research and development
of carbon capture and
storage technologies would be
funded by a special assessment
on electric utilities for all fossil
fuel-based electricity sold to customers.
In addition to falling
under the cap-and-trade provisions
for utilities, coal-based
power plants permitted in 2009,
or thereafter, would be subject to
a performance standard. That
provision also outlines a process
for accelerating retirements of
coal-based plants to accelerate
reductions in GHGs and other air
pollutants.
NMA has expressed its concern
that the legislation will have a
devastating impact on coal mining
jobs and production over the
next two decades, because the
targets and timetables proposed
for emissions reductions are not
aligned with the expected
deployment of carbon capture
and storage technology. Further,
the legislation will be harmful to
trade exposed energy intensive
industries, such as minerals and
metals mining. If Sens. Kerry and
Lieberman are unable to get sixty
votes for their climate change
bill, the Senate will likely act on a
smaller energy bill instead,
according to Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-Nev).
Carbon Curbs
Will Devastate
Coal Mining
Employment
According to the
Congressional Budget Office
(CBO), after reviewing three economic
impact studies of climate
change policies, controls on carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse
gas emissions will be
especially putative for coal mining
employment. The impact of
these policies on overall employment
over the next few decades
would be modest, but the impact
on coal-based employment
would be substantial, said CBO.
Summarizing studies by
Resources for the Future, Charles
River Associates and the
Brooking’s Institution, CBO projects
coal mining employment will
decline 10-18 percent by 2015
and by more than a third by
2025. Among the fossil fuels targeted
for emissions reduction,”
CBO said. “Coal mining would
probably see the largest percentage
decline in employment,”
reflecting coal’s higher greenhouse
gas content and its widespread
use in electricity generation.”
The review found that hard
rock mining would likely suffer
“relatively small” employment
declines over the same period.