Kentucky Coal Blog

By TIM HUBER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 26, 2011; 2:34 PM 

 CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Obama administration’s own experts estimate their proposal for protecting streams from coal mining would eliminate thousands of jobs and slash production across much of the country, according to a government document obtained by The Associated Press.

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement document says the agency’s preferred rules would impose standards for water quality and restrictions on mining methods that would affect the quality or quantity of streams near coal mines. The rules are supposed to replace Bush-era regulations that set up buffer zones around streams and were aimed chiefly at mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia.

OSM’s proposal – part of a draft environmental impact statement – would affect coal mines from Louisiana to Alaska.

The office, a branch of the Interior Department, estimated that the protections would trim coal production to the point that an estimated 7,000 of the nation’s 80,600 coal mining jobs would be lost. Production would decrease or stay flat in 22 states, but climb 15 percent in North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.

An OSM spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency maintains in the document that its proposal “attempts to balance the protection of natural resources with imposing a reasonable administrative and economic burden on the coal mining industry.”

The National Mining Association blasted the proposal, saying OSM is vastly underestimating the economic impact.

“OSM’s preferred alternative will destroy tens of thousands of coal-related jobs across the country from Appalachia to Alaska and Illinois to Texas with no demonstrated benefit to the environment,” the trade group said in a statement. “OSM’s own analysis provides a very conservative estimate of jobs that will be eliminated, incomes that will be lost and state revenues that will be foregone at both surface and underground coal mining operations.”

OSM has submitted the proposal to several coal producing states for feedback before it releases proposed regulations by the end of February.

The states aren’t happy with what they’ve seen.

They blasted the proposal as “nonsensical and difficult to follow” in a Nov. 26 letter to OSM director Joe Pizarchik. The letter was signed by officials from Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

“Neither the environmental impact statement nor the administrative record that OSM has developed over 30-plus year of regulation … justify the sweeping changes that they’re proposing to make,” West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection official Thomas Clarke told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

January 13, 2011

For Immediate Release

CONTACT: Bill Bissett – 859/233-4743 or

bbissett@kentuckycoal.com

 KENTUCKY COAL ASSOCIATION RESPONDS TO EPA’S VETO OF SPRUCE MINE PERMIT IN WEST VIRGINIA

The following statement is from Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement today that the Spruce Mine Permit in West Virginia has been vetoed.

 “Today’s action by Administrator Lisa Jackson and the EPA is not surprising, but it is unfair and unprecedented,” said Bissett. “By vetoing an existing federal water permit that was approved by the federal government previously, you have appointed bureaucrats literally throwing coal miners out of work. Hundreds of Kentucky coal operations and thousands of our miners depend on these same permits to go to work every day. Additionally, every other worker who depends on a federal permit for his or her livelihood – from agriculture to road construction – needs to pay attention to this veto. Today’s action by the EPA sends a clear message that following the law means nothing to this administration. It is our hope that our elected leaders in both Kentucky and Washington will hold these bureaucrats accountable for their actions and work to protect Kentucky jobs and our economy.”

The EPA’s news release on the Spruce veto can be found at http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/6b9ecfafebce79a5852578170056a179?OpenDocument

Press Release

 Washington, D.C.  “EPA’s veto of an existing, valid permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine threatens the certainty of all Section 404 permits—weakening the trust U.S. businesses and workers need to make investments and secure jobs.  The Spruce permit was issued after a robust 10-year review, including an exhaustive Environmental Impact Statement.  EPA participated fully in the comprehensive permitting process, and the project has abided by every permit requirement.

 “EPA has taken this unprecedented action—never before contemplated in the nearly 40 years since the enactment of the Clean Water Act—at a time of great economic uncertainty.  NMA urges the administration to step back from this unwarranted action and restore trust in the sanctity of lawfully granted and abided by permits and the jobs and economic activity they support.”

The National Mining Association (NMA) is the voice of the American mining industry in Washington, D.C. Membership includes more than 325 corporations involved in all aspects of coal and solid minerals production including coal, metal and industrial mineral producers, mineral processors, equipment manufacturers, state mining associations, bulk transporters, engineering firms, consultants, financial institutions and other companies that supply goods and services to the mining industry.

(With reporting from Patrick Reis, Darren Goode and Robin Bravender)

SCOOP – EPA is likely to announce a final decision today on whether it will retroactively veto one of West Virginia’s largest mountaintop removal coal mines, industry and environmental sources tell POLITICO’s Patrick Reis. The agency has spent the last several months considering whether it should retract Arch Coal’s Spruce No. 1’s Clean Water Air permit – a move that would suspend most major activity at the southern W.Va. facility – and the industry is bracing for defeat. “There’s no reason to believe they won’t veto it,” one industry insider said.

But a lack of hope among industry groups has not resulted in a lack of effort. A coalition including everyone from the National Mining Association to the United Egg Producers appealed to a higher power yesterday, asking White House CEQ chief Nancy Sutley to overrule EPA with the argument that the agency has no business rolling back a permit that has already been issued. (CEQ said they’ll leave the decision up to EPA.)

A REFRESHER COURSE – In the nearly four decades since the Clean Water Act was passed, EPA has never retroactively vetoed a permit. The Bush administration signed off on the Spruce permit in 2007, but the Obama team is taking another look. EPA’s Appalachian regional administrator Shawn Garvin recommended in October that his agency retract the permit, saying it would cause unacceptable damage to local rivers and streams.