coal

At the request of the federal government, a federal judge yesterday put a temporary halt to the legal clash over Appalachia’s largest mountaintop coal mine, the 2,300 acre Spruce No. 1 project in Southern West Virginia.
That project is slated to bury more than seven miles of mountain streams, leading to a protracted legal battle with [...]

The Environmental Protection Agency last week threatened to revoke the permit for the largest mountaintop removal mine in all of Appalachia, citing the harmful effects the project would have on local water quality.

Late last week, a group of eight senators delivered lists of proposed measures to protect and promote coal in the pending climate and energy legislation to the committee chairs charged with authoring the bill. The group calls for more funding to promote the development and deployment of carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) technology and more bonus allocations to [...]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected to approve the nomination of Joseph Pizarchik to head the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement on Tuesday, but coal-field activist groups from his home state of Pennsylvania are rallying against him in hopes of preventing his confirmation.
Pizarchik is currently the director of the [...]

Bonner & Associates says that while they may be responsible for the 13 other forged letters to Congress, they’re not to blame for fake letter No. 14 that was revealed yesterday. The letter claims to be from a Virginia American Legion post, to Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), but was actually sent by Bonner & Associates [...]

The EPA just issued a statement announcing that they have extended the review period for 79 surface mining permit applications in Appalachia. This means that the permits will not be streamlined for approval, and is in accordance with the Obama administration’s memorandum issued in June to subject coal-mining permits to greater scrutiny.
“The administration pledged earlier [...]

The Environmental Protection Agency last week quietly asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “to suspend, revoke or modify” the coal mining permit for the largest mountaintop removal operation in West Virginia, the Charleston Gazette reported today. In turn, the Army Corps has asked a federal judge for a 30-day stay to review the permit, [...]

In a blow to the coal industry’s fight against climate change legislation, Duke Energy, the electric utility giant, has dropped out of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, National Journal reported this morning. The ACCCE raised eyebrows this summer when it was discovered that a firm the group hired to lobby against the [...]

No plans for Labor Day? The coal industry has you covered.
At no cost to the public, the heavyweights of the industry are putting on the Friends of America Rally, a one-day country music extravaganza in Southern West Virginia featuring the talents of Hank Williams Jr. and John Rich, among others.
Just good, wholesome, blue-jeans-and-Copenhagen fun, right? [...]

After eight years researching mercury levels in the nation’s streams, scientists at the United States Geological Survey unveiled some bad news yesterday: Every fish taken from nearly 300 streams between 1998 and 2005 tested positive for Mercury, a neurotoxin, with 27 percent containing levels deemed unfit for human consumption. The Associated Press lays out [...]