The Charleston Gazette - Mining the Mountains

After feds step in, DEP cites Massey dam

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:05:32 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After federal officials threatened to step in, the state Department of Environmental Protection late last week cited Massey Energy for problems with the expansion of its controversial Brushy Fork coal-slurry impoundment in Raleigh Coun...

Coal study details benefits, ignores costs

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:01:06 -0500

Read the studyCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A new West Virginia Coal Association study touts the industrys multibillion-dollar economic benefits to the state, but it does not attempt to account for ...

Planned mountaintop mine upsets Kanawha State Forest users

rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com (Rick Steelhammer) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:45:00 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A planned 600-acre mountaintop removal mine that would come within 100 yards of Kanawha State Forests eastern boundary is causing alarm among a group of forest users who say the 9,000-acre preserve is already nearly surrounded ...

Judge blocks further protests against Massey

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:59:50 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal judge has temporarily ordered a halt to mountaintop-removal protests that involve trespassing on Massey Energy property or interfering with any of Masseys operations.U.S. District Judge Irene C. Berger granted Massey subsidia...

Obama proposes cuts in OSM budget

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:25:42 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As federal regulators promise tougher enforcement and oversight of strip-mining in Appalachia, the Obama administration is also proposing to slice spending on the Interior Departments Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcemen...

Obama wants W.Va. coal to make a transition

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:44:01 -0500

Follow mining news in Coal Tattoo CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- President Obama on Friday defended his administrations coal policies, saying the mining industry in West Virginia needs to "tra...

Latest, longest Massey tree-sit protest ends

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:36:36 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two environmental activists on Friday ended the latest -- and longest -- protest action against Massey Energy as the one-year anniversary approaches of the start of a peaceful civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop-removal...

Manchin promises review of coal critics complaints

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:50:42 -0500

Read more in Coal Tattoo. CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Joe Manchin on Monday promised to review citizen complaints about lax enforcement of strip-mining regulations and urged the...

W.Va. coal decline inevitable, consultants report says

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:52:36 -0500

Read more in Coal Tattoo. CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Competition from other coal-producing areas and the depletion of the regions best coal reserves are driving a major declin...

Group appealing Blair Mountains removal from historic register

pjnyden@wvgazette.com (Paul J. Nyden) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:21:08 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A West Virginia history group is appealing the decision to take Blair Mountain off of the National Register of Historic Places. The Blair Mountain Battlefield was added to register on March 30, protecting it from moun...

Industry told to reduce minings impacts

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:36:41 -0500

Lawmakers unite to protect coal industry CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Appalachian coal operators are going to have to reduce the size and impacts of strip mines if they expect to get permits appro...

Massey violations more frequent since record fine, greens allege

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:56:04 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two years ago, Massey Energy agreed to a record-setting $20 million Clean Water Act settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Federal officials said the deal would force Massey to change the way it does business.Now, la...

Massey increases potential payout for Blankenship

(The Associated Press) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:59:38 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Coal producer Massey Energy is upping Chief Executive Don Blankenships potential pay.A regulatory filing outlining the contract Blankenship signed recently shows Massey has increased the size of cash and stock bonuses and exten...

Study: Mining damage pervasive and irreversible

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:56:57 -0500

Read the study: Read more in Coal Tattoo: CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Mountaintop removal is causing "pervasive and i...

Hobet deal cuts stream impacts, preserves jobs

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:49:12 -0500

Read more in Coal Tattoo. CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Patriot Coal will cut in half the length of streams buried by its Hobet 45 mountaintop-removal mine, but still produce nearly the same amount of coal as...

DEP to stop processing fill permits, develop new rules

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:45:00 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia regulators are going to stop processing surface mining permits that propose to dump waste rock and dirt into streams while they develop new guidelines that force coal operators to reduce water quality impacts ...

EPA to announce deal on Hobet mine permit

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:32:50 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration is expected to announce today that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has signed off on an expansion permit for Patriot Coals huge Hobet 21 mountaintop-removal complex along the Boone-Lincoln coun...

A year after Tenn. disaster, fight over coal-ash rules just beginning

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:15:01 -0500

Read more about coal ash.CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A year ago Tuesday, at about 1 a.m., a coal-ash dike ruptured at the Tennessee Valley Authoritys Kingston Plant...

Fear of violence grows in mountaintop removal fight

(The Associated Press) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:00:00 -0500

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - It was the slap heard round the coalfields: Cordelia Ruth Tucker, wearing the fluorescent-striped shirt of a miner, strode past West Virginia state troopers and into a stream of marchers protesting mountaintop removal mining to del...

EPA delays new rules on coal ash

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:55:56 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration announced Thursday it would delay the release of proposed new rules on the handling and disposal of toxic ash from coal-fired power plants. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jacks...

OSM director promises to reduce minings impact

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:34:31 -0500

Listen to the interviewCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The new head of the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement promised Wednesday to find a way to reduce the impacts of mo...

Lack of public process could cost miners their jobs in Clay

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:25:18 -0500

Read more in Coal Tattoo CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly 500 workers at a Clay County coal-mining complex could lose their jobs early next year, after a federal judge ruled the Army Corps of ...

Black lung plan may not lower dust limits

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:48:52 -0500

BEAVER, W.Va. -- The Obama administration on Thursday kicked off a campaign to "end black lung," but said it may not follow through on a proposal to tighten the legal limits on coal dust that causes the deadly disease. U.S. Department of Labor o...

Report details coals assault on human health

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:34:06 -0500

Read more in Coal TattooCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Coal pollution is assaulting human health through impacts on workers, residents near mining operations and power plants, and the environm...

OSM promises tougher strip-mine inspections

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:16:24 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration on Wednesday announced plans to beef up federal strip-mining inspections and reviews of mining permits issued by state regulators like West Virginias Department of Environmental Protection. Interior Departme...

Massey cited for Coal River Mountain blasting

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:45:00 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Massey Energy subsidiary has been cited for blasting violations at a mountaintop removal mine on Coal River Mountain, a site where environmental groups have campaigned to put a wind energy facility instead of a strip mine. S...

Carbon storage. Not under my house

(The Associated Press) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500

BARENDRECHT, Netherlands -- The people of this small Dutch town are not against pumping tons of carbon dioxide into the ground to fight global warming.They just wish it wasnt right beneath their houses. "Who wants to live in Barendrecht if one of thes...

W.Va. leaders seek coal answers from White House

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:41:00 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia political leaders promised Tuesday to speak "with one voice" to clarify the Obama administrations proposals to more strictly regulate mountaintop removal coal mining. Gov. Joe Manchin, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, and...

Senate confirms Pa. regulator to head OSM unit

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:48:34 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed a Pennsylvania state regulator as the Obama administrations director for the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. Joseph Pizarchik was confirmed by unanimous consent, apparently...

DEP finds problems at W.Va.s coal-ash dams

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:55:54 -0500

Read the report here. CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly two-third...

Coal in good shape, companies say

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:45:00 -0500

Read more in Coal TattooCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Despite complaints from industry lobbyists and coalfield politicians about an impending permit crisis, most major Appalachian coal producers...

U.S. starting over on buffer zone mining rule

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:55:47 -0500

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration is starting over in its re-examination of a key mountaintop-removal mining regulation. A preliminary public comment period on the matter will push back any proposed changes in the law until at least early ...

Massey begins blasting on Coal River Mountain

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:31:00 -0400

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Massey Energy has begun blasting at its Bee Tree Surface Mine, a Coal River Mountain strip-mine operation environmentalists had promoted as a potential wind-energy production site and a symbol of their campaign against mountaintop ...

The great race: Coal vs. Climate

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:45:00 -0400

NEW HAVEN, W.Va. -- Later this week, American Electric Power will begin pumping a small stream of carbon dioxide from its Mountaineer Power Plant deep under the bottomland along the Ohio River in Mason County.AEP hopes the gas stays there. The comp...

OSM report says DEP needs to beef up spill enforcement

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:27:50 -0400

Read more in Coal Tattoo CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Blackwater spills from West Virginias coal industry are on the decline, but Coal Tattoo: CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration moved a step closer on Friday...

Mining limits wont kill economy, Sierra Club study says

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:16:38 -0400

Read more in Coal TattooCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Limits on mountaintop removal coal mining wont end affordable electricity and could in the long run help improve the economy of the Appalachia...

Tests question air quality at Marsh Fork school

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:19:13 -0400

Read more in Coal TattooCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Students at Marsh Fork Elementary School are at a greater risk of getting sick because of high levels of coal dust from a Massey Energy proces...

Rahall, Jay join call for Massey to fund new school

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:34:08 -0400

Read more in Coal Tattoo CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a group of citizens ranging in age from 50 to 83 began a march against mountaintop removal Thursday, two more West Virginia political le...

Byrd blasts Massey arrogance over Marsh Fork school

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:53:11 -0400

Massey surprised at criticism Read more in Coal Tattoo CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Sen. Robert C. Byrd on Wednesday b...

EPA finalizes list of 79 mine permits for closer reviews

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:44:44 -0400

Read more in Coal Tattoo CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials have referred 79 pending coal-mine permits for more detailed reviews by EPA water quality e...

30-mile fish kill at Dunkard Creek

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:45:00 -0400

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Three weeks ago, fish started dying in Dunkard Creek, a scenic stream that winds along the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border in Monongalia County.

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EPA announces major science review of mountaintop removal

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:43:29 -0400

Check out Ken Wards blog, Coal Tatoo, here. CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration is quietl...

Huffman defends DEP, says agency not trying to protect coal

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:48:14 -0400

Read more in Coal Tattoo CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Environmental Protection Secretary Randy Huffman on Monday defended his agencys policing of the mining industry after a nation...

EPA to scrutinize dozens of mining permits

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:36:18 -0400

Read more in Coal Tattoo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Dozens of coal-mining permits proposed across Appalachia ne...

EPA moves to block W.Va.s largest mining permit

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:07:44 -0400

Read more in Coal TattooCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Citing "clear evidence" of likely environmental damage, the Obama administration has moved toward revoking the largest mountai...

Protesters in trees at Massey mine site

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:50:04 -0400

Read more in Coal Tattoo CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two mountaintop-removal opponents took to the trees of Raleigh County on Tuesday, hoping to shut down a Massey Energy operati...

DEP biologist criticizes Huffmans testimony to Congress

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:43:19 -0400

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A state Department of Environmental Protection biologist has warned that DEP Secretary Randy Huffman misled Congress about the damage being done by mountaintop-removal coal mining, here.CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection biologist has warned that DEP Secretary Randy Huffman misled Congress ab...

Mingo judge tossed from slurry case

kward@wvgazette.com (Ken Ward Jr.) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:14:54 -0400

Read the decision: CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The state Supreme Court has ordered a Mingo County judge with ties to Massey Energy to step down from hearing a major coal-slurry pollution case again...