Kentucky Coal Blog

Letter to editor published in the Courier-Journal, on Tuesday, February 3, 2009.

Kentucky has faced extreme hardship this week and last without the electricity that provides the light and heat we so desperately need in the winter. I’ve seen the Kentucky Utilities’ crews, emergency workers and other repairmen throughout the night in bitter cold working to restore power to the many Kentucky homes without electricity. They deserve our deepest thanks.

We take electricity for granted until we don’t have it or until we can’t afford it. In Kentucky, 93 percent of our electricity comes from coal. We have the fourth lowest electric rate in the nation, thanks to coal.<more/>During these tough economic times, the coal industry is one of the very few industries generating positive income for the state in terms of jobs and tax revenue. In 2008, coal generated $49 million more in severance tax than predicted for state and coal county use, because the price of coal had risen in 2008.

We get criticized for our use of the term “clean coal.” “Clean coal technologies” was a term used by Congress more than 20 years ago and is not a recent creation. It was never meant to apply to carbon dioxide capture and storage, but research on this is currently under way. With the addition of clean coal technologies, today’s power plants are 70 percent to 90 percent cleaner than the plants that are being replaced. We are close to eliminating the historic contributions to acid rain and smog.

The coal industry does not disparage other forms of energy — natural gas, nuclear, hydro or renewables. They all play a key role in providing our state and nation with electricity. The new University of Louisville Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship will help devise ways to harness renewable energies like wind and solar here in Kentucky. This research is sorely needed because the wind power in Kentucky is only rated as marginal (see http://windeis.anl.gov/guide/maps/map2.html) and that is strictly in Eastern Kentucky.

One of our members has looked into the feasibility of placing wind turbines on the tops of reclaimed surface mines in Eastern Kentucky and is still very much interested. He thinks it is a very viable land use after mining and reclamation.

Solar panels can help supplement the household electricity needs, but their cost effectiveness makes them unaffordable for the middle class. This will change in the future when advancements are made in efficiency and affordability.

Midwest states and southeastern states are heavily dependent on coal. Global warming legislation will raise their electric rates to reach parity with the New England states and California. Our loss is the attraction of industry to states with low electrical costs. Our steel plants and auto plants with their many spin-off industries will be in jeopardy. Our other loss will be to the poor and elderly when they can no longer afford dependable electricity for lights, heat and cooling.

But for today and the near future, in addition to providing thousands of Kentucky jobs, low rates and income to our state, the next time you are with or without electricity, remember that your electricity originated from coal.

Bill Carman’s commentary on Dec. 27 tells the facts of surface mining reclamation. Richard Dawahare’s commentary contains exaggerations and misstatements. I am a native Appalachian, having lived and worked in the mountains much of my career. I believe my University of Kentucky education in biosystems, agricultural, and mining engineering and environmental systems, plus 33 years experience working on practical solutions to environmental problems gives me knowledge of the subject.<more/>Myth: Mining explodes tops off mountains with toxic explosives, creates moonscapes, smothers streams.

Fact: Mining uses ammonia nitrate explosives, the same as fertilizer on farms and lawns. Best engineering practices are used to design fills with stream mitigation and reconstruction.

Myth: Sludge, waste from cleaning coal is another pollutant.

Fact: Opponents often say they are not against coal mining, just mountaintop removal and slurry impoundments. That is a contradiction. Some coal from MTM operations may be washed, generating refuse. Virtually all underground-mined coal is cleaned. Proposed legislation would adversely impact underground mining in Appalachia.

Myth: Reclaiming mountains always involves planting non-native grasses.

Fact: This is what was required in the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). Government, industry and academia mistakenly thought that compacted grassland was the way to go. New reclamation techniques developed largely by UK researchers show properly reclaimed land grows trees faster than natural ground.

Myth: Two percent of mountaintop sites are used (for development).

Facts: Not all sites have been developed but hundreds have been and there is potential for more. Opponents don’t consider alternative uses like wildlife habitats, agriculture and managed forests to be developed.

Fact: Owners must grant permission for their land to be surface mined. Owners convert many former mine sites to alternative uses after permits are released by regulators. Some of the most valuable land in East Kentucky is reclaimed mine sites.

Myth: Change perverted the Clean Water Act, redefining coal waste as permissible fill for valleys.

Facts: Waste as used here is an engineering term for excess rock and dirt from earth-moving operations. Fills have always been allowed legally. The recent Stream Buffer Zone rule was a clarification of policy since SMCRA. Roads and urban development have filled and rerouted thousands of miles of streams with a greater environmental impact than mining.

Myth: Mining destroys land forever.

Fact: Thousands of people now live, work and play on reclaimed mine sites. Mining creates opportunities for the future, new sculpted landscapes that are true examples of sustainable development. Studies have shown that only 6.8 percent of the Appalachian region where coal can be mined by mountaintop methods will potentially be affected.

Fact: Our way of life is made possible by coal. Great strides have been made in improving our environment in spite of increased energy demand. Alternatives must be found for the future but for now coal is the only alternative to maintain our lifestyles. New legislative initiatives being proposed will greatly increase the costs of providing energy, impacting the poor, elderly and disenfranchised.

Following the jump is an interesting article from the Herald Leader that discusses an initiative to plant 38 million trees in Appalachia. It is interesting to note that the author says that this is possible with the cooperation of “the Office of Surface Mining, state regulators, <b>the COAL INDUSTRY</b>, environmental groups, scientists and landowners.”

Hmmm..I’d bet none of KY’s “progressive” bloggers will mention the coal industry helping with a reforestation effort..<more/>38 Million Trees Destined For Appalachia
By Bill Estep

A group promoting reforestation on Appalachian surface mines is taking a leading role in the United States in a campaign to plant 7 billion trees globally.

The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative announced a pledge last week to plant 38 million trees in Eastern Kentucky and six nearby states in reclaimed mine areas.

The group is already more than halfway to that total. The three-year pledge counts 12.8 million trees planted in the region in 2007 and a similar amount this year, said Patrick Angel, a forester with the U.S. Office of Surface Mining based in London.

Angel said he’s confident enough trees will be planted to meet the pledge by the end of 2009.

At a ceremony Thursday to mark the pledge, participants planted five American chestnut trees on Governors Island in New York.

The commitment by the Appalachian initiative is the largest in the United States toward a U.N. campaign to plant 7 billion trees worldwide by the end of 2009.

The U.N. Environment Programme started a quest in 2006 to plant a billion trees a year to counter deforestation around the globe.

A year later, a billion trees had been planted in more than 160 countries. After the number reached 2 billion in May 2008, the U.N. program raised the goal to 7 billion, or one for each person on Earth, Meryem Amar, an official with the project, said in an e-mail.

So far, more than 4 billion trees have been pledged, according to the project’s Web site.

The Appalachian reforestation initiative involves the Office of Surface Mining, state regulators, the coal industry, environmental groups, scientists and landowners.

Its goal is to increase the number of high-value hardwoods being planted to reclaim mined land in Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

One tree in particular the Appalachian initiative wants to restore is the American chestnut, which was once plentiful from Maine to Georgia, providing timber and food for animals and humans before a blight killed billions of the trees.

The Appalachian reforestation initiative is working with The American Chestnut Foundation to bring back the tree.

Around the world, clearing trees to make way for agriculture is a major source of deforestation, according to the United Nations.

In Appalachia, however, surface mining has eliminated more than a million acres of forest since the late 1970s, according to some estimates.

Much of that land was reclaimed as grassland or wildlife habitat with a mix of trees, shrubs and grassy areas.

One effect has been to fragment the Central Appalachian forest, one of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world, eliminating habitat for some species.

The State Journal has an interesting article about a U.S. District Court judge who is presiding over an upcoming case involving a West Virginia environmental group that he once belonged to, although he said it has been at least a decade since he was a member of the group.

You can read the full story here:

http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=45228

How do you know when a politician is stupid? When he opens his mouth.

We hope you don’t mind that we’ve modified the old saying, “How do you know when a politician is lying?” “When his lips are moving,” is the answer. But no one is surprised with lying politicians anymore. Yet despite their worst efforts, politicians can still surprise us with astonishing levels of stupidity.

For example, Maurice Hinchey, a U.S. Congressman from the great state of New York has offered a solution to the oil crisis: nationalise the refineries! Hinchey told a press conference in Washington, DC, “We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.”

Yes, yes Congressman. Simply press the “on” button and the oil flows. It’s magic. That’s the great secret the oil industry doesn’t want you to know…oil comes from belly of a giant metal machine.

How incompetent are Western policy makers on energy? The first step on the road to incompetence begins with economic illiteracy. Controlling the “means of production” (to borrow a phrase from Mr. Hinchey’s intellectual inspiration Karl Marx) does not guarantee that things actually get produced. It just guarantees lower investment over time and ultimately, a poorer country.

Real economic production requires labour, capital, capitalists, and resources. Capitalists invest in new projects because they expect a return. If there is no return, or the government threatens to nationalise the assets, you’ll see a lot less investment. America is fast become a land that Vladimir Lenin would be glad to call home.

How big of a moron do you have to be to realise that oil is not “made” at a refinery? Technically, crude oil is refined into different types of fuels at a refinery. But oil is “made” by nature. To find it, you drill for it. Maybe Congressman Hinchey should support lifting the restrictions on off-shore drilling in the U.S. But then, that would actually help solve the problem.

Unfortunately, stupid politicians are not a uniquely American phenomenon. You have them right here in Australia. Green’s Senator Christine Milne told the press, “Coal should be left in the 20th century while the rest of us move into a clean future.” Apparently, the Senator wants us all to return to the Stone Age, where no one uses coal or oil and we all live in huts, eat grass, and worship cloud formations.

If the Greens were being honest, they’d call themselves the Reds. Good marketing though. Everyone likes green. It’s not a colour you normally associate with Totalitarianism and the relentless meddling of the state in your private life.
What serious analyst of the modern world would suggest that we can run our economy without coal? Does the Senator know that Australia gets 80% of its electricity from coal? Her comments wouldn’t be broadcast on the airwaves without coal. Hey wait…maybe she’s on to something…Hmm.

Dan Denning
The Daily Reckoning Australia

Published in the Lexington Herald Leader and the Courier-Journal on Monday, January 7, 2008.

by Bill Caylor

How do you respond to emotional statements about coal mining that overstate reality?  It’s difficult.  Facts are never pretty and never linger in our minds.

People living in the flatlands take level land for granted.  There is no level land outside the floodplain in Appalachia that hasn’t been created by man.  These areas of level land will help to create a sustainable economy long after coal is gone.  These areas will be the economic hub of Appalachia in the next 150 to 200 years.

About the airplane rides around the Hazard airport.  Yes, there is quite a bit of active surface mining that looks exactly like what active mining should look like.  What is never shown is the reclamation.  Reclamation takes time and doesn’t occur overnight.  Some of the most scenic views are from the tops of older reclaimed mountaintop mines.

If you’re going to fly over the coalfields, fly further east, west, north and south than the Hazard airport.  Most of what you will see is untouched forests, which will remain untouched.  Only a small percentage, 7 percent, of the Appalachian coalfields will be impacted by surface mining.

A coal company cannot mine land without the surface owner’s permission.  Typically, the first question an operator will hear from an Eastern Kentucky surface owner is, “Will you leave me some level land?”  The coal company can leave the land level or return it to its pre-mining shape; the surface owner decides.

Even if the landowner is not fortunate enough to own the mineral rights, he is well-compensated.  Typically, 50 cents a ton is paid for the use of the surface.  That’s more than $3,000 an acre for land originally valued at $400 an acre.

What was once steep, inaccessible hillside now has some level land on the top, wide access roads, ponds and unlimited potential for use.  The landowner realizes increased property value.  Ask any property valuation administrator.

Because of the difficulty of getting permits, coal operators have begun to return the land to its original shape (not leaving as much level land).  There are only eight active mountaintop removal permits in Kentucky.  Only two mountaintop removal permits have been issued since 2005.

What activists really want is the elimination of all surface mining in Appalachia, not the elimination of just mountaintop-removal mining.  What would this mean to Eastern Kentucky?

In the 24 Eastern Kentucky counties, coal mining produces:

” 5,785 surface miners.

” 45 million tons of coal.

” $277,680,000 in direct wages.

” 23,000 trickle-down or spin-off jobs.

” $1.8 billion in gross sales of coal (73 percent is exported).

” $1.5 billion that circulates in Eastern Kentucky (85 cents on every dollar).

” $81 million in severance taxes ($40.5 million back to the 24 coal counties).

” Increased property values for reclaimed coal mine lands.

We have been accused of corporate greed, but we question when it has become immoral for a business to make a profit.  Contrary to the public’s image, coal companies are struggling.  We’re producing one-third less coal today than we did in 1990.  If coal was prospering, that certainly wouldn’t be the case.

Coal provides high-paying jobs and delivers cheap, dependable electricity.  Kentucky has the fourth-lowest electrical rates in the United States, which is critical not only for attracting businesses like aluminum plants and auto manufacturing plants but also for our low income and elderly residents.

And, finally, our reclamation.  Some favor eliminating surface mining.  If this happens, you will eliminate future farms, airports, housing subdivisions, industrial parks, recreational areas, commercial sites, golf courses and a host of other actual uses of reclaimed lands.

You must have the vision to see the many positives and the unlimited potential of level land for only a small part of Eastern Kentucky.  This is not corporate greed, not anywhere close.

Don’t let your common sense be swayed by broad-brush, emotional statements.  This is about the future of Eastern Kentucky, not about remembrances of the past.

So, as all the activists who so eloquently and passionately speak of the ills of coal and mountaintop mining get up in the morning, drink their hot coffee, eat toast, blow dry their hair while watching the morning news, attend their meetings in a room with lights and warm heat and write to their representatives on laptops and computers while calling others on their charged cell phones, remember what provides the electricity — coal.