Late last week the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection published its final certification conditions for Nationwide Permits 21, 49 & 50. These permits are the programmatic general permits issued by the Corps for use in mining-related dredge and fill activities. NWP 21 can be used for surface coal mining activities, NWP 49 for remining activities and NWP 50 for underground mine related fill activities.
The Section 401 certification process allows individual states to impose certain conditions and restrictions on the use of these general permits. The WV DEP’s certification of the NWPs imposes certain mitigation requirements and requires an individual certification of the NWPs when the impacts of the project exceed certain thresholds. The Association offered voluminous comments of the draft WV DEP certification conditions, mainly with respect to state-imposed mitigation requirements that conflict with federal mitigation guidelines as implemented by the Corps under the Section 404 permitting program. Based on WV DEP’s response to these comments, the Association is actively considering an appeal of the certifications.
To obtain electronic copies of the Association comments and the final 401 certification documents contact jbostic@wvcoal.com
$25 million gift to West Virginia University, announced Wednesday, will fund breast cancer care and other health programs, along with programs at the WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.
The donors, Jo and Ben Statler, are both natives of Monongalia County and attended Clay-Battelle High School together, marrying shortly after graduation. Ben earned his degree in mining engineering from WVU, while working the night shift at the Pursglove mine. Before their children were born, Jo worked for the WVU School of Dentistry.
With Halloween soon to be celebrated, many children in ghostly garb can’t wait to “trick or treat.”
But, there’s nothing spooky about saying “thank you” to a great
classroom teacher, according to the Arch Coal Foundation. In fact, it
is an excellent time to nominate your favorite teacher for an Arch Coal
Teacher Achievement Award.
“The school year is in full swing and parents and children are
recognizing the skills and professionalism of their teachers,” said
John R. Snider, vice president of external affairs, eastern region, for
Arch Coal. “While any time is a good time to acknowledge these superior
teachers, why not give your outstanding teachers a special ‘treat’ and
nominate them now for a $2,500 personal cash award from the Arch Coal
Foundation?”
For thirty years, since the passage of the Surface Mining Control and
Reclamation Act of 1977, the mining industry has been continually
harassed by litigation initiated by extremist groups whose intention is
to stop the mining, transportation, burning and every other step of
utilizing coal as an energy source. They simply want to take our
jobs. Several hundred of these extremists have sent comments to OSM
opposing these rules. We need to show them we want and need these
rules. That’s where your help is needed.
Through a proposed rule which would clarify valley fill construction,
and particularly its relation to “Stream Buffer Zone” regulations, we
have the opportunity to bring an end to decades of legal harassment.
Without this clarification, the coal industry faces a massive
disruption to its production that would cause devastating job losses
and create chaos in the economy of West Virginia and other Appalachian
states. We need a stable environment for our people’s jobs to continue
to expand.
Please get in contact with the federal Office of Surface Mining
(directions are included) as soon as possible and register your support
for this rule change! Be assured that anti-mining groups are
mobilizing in opposition.
Environmentalist
filmmaker Al Gore is this year�s winner of the prestigious Nobel Peace
Prize, which he shares with the U.N.�s Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change.So how does the Nobel committee get �peace� out of
�global warming�? It has to do with the precautionary principle, or
what might happen if we fail to take steps to halt climate change. If
the worst-case global warming scenarios actually happen they could
bring about social upheaval, which could increase the �danger of
violent conflicts and wars, within and between states,� the committee
said.
So Gore by advancing the global warming agenda is actually helping to promote world peace.
Hey, if it works for the committee, it works for us.
What
doesn�t work is the fact the film for which Gore won the prize, �An
Inconvenient Truth,� is riven with alarmist exaggerations and
inaccuracies. The day before the Nobel was announced, a British High
Court justice ruled that the film included significant errors,
according to the Times of London.
If only the title of Al Gore's iconic global warming documentary, "An
Inconvenient Truth," was the only misleading thing about it. On Oct. 8,
the British High Court, following an appeal by a vexed parent, blocked
the government's decision to distribute the film to every British
secondary school. The court ruled that the partisan, ideologically
charged film is deceptive in at least 11 aspects.
By law, any teacher who wishes to present the documentary in a
classroom in Britain must not only identify the specious "truths" to
students, but also preface the film with a disclaimer that it is a
political work promoting only one side of the debate. Should any
instructor fail to do so, he or she would be in breach of the Education
Act of 1996 and guilty of political indoctrination.
Essentially, England's highest authority, akin to our Supreme Court, is
defining the movie as propaganda, no different than the fabrications
spread by any other extreme, radical group in history
THERE is a beautiful congruency about Al Gore receiving the Nobel Peace
Prize 24 hours after a High Court judge had declared it illegal to
screen his 'man-made' climate change propaganda film An Inconvenient
Truth in schools, unless accompanied by contradictory information to
correct its scientific falsehoods. The judge identified nine scientific
errors that would mislead pupils.
It takes more than nine inconvenient untruths, however, to deflect the
Nobel Peace Prize committee from its political purpose. For aficionados
of irony, last week was a deeply satisfying experience. To see the
humbugs of the Nobel committee embracing the charlatan Gore to endorse
his falsification of reality in what has become, globally, the flagship
politically correct cause was as morally illuminating as the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
WVU Extension Service’s Miner Training Academy near Morgantown was featured on the front page of the Morgantown Dominion Post on Tuesday.
The article regarding the Doll’s Run Training Facility can be accessed at:
http://olive.dominionpost.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=RFBvc3QvMjAwNy8xMC8wOSNBcjAwMTAx&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-
A couple of weeks ago, officials from the WV DEP, the US EPA and the Corps of Engineers met with Jimmy Bunn and his people from Coal River Energy to acknowledge the outstanding mitigation work they had completed on the Little Coal River. This past Sunday, John McCoy wrote about the project in the Sunday Charleston Gazette Mail.
The article can be accessed on line at the following link http://www.sundaygazettemail.com/section/Outdoors/Hunting+%26+Fishing/2007100639.
Congratulations to Jimmy and his people at Coal River Energy for the positive attention brought to the industry through their initiative.
The next meeting of the Eastern Coal States group is planned for November 13-14 in Lexington Kentucky.
The meeting is tentatively set for the Marriott Griffin Gate Hotel and Conference Center and will feature three primary agenda items including: global climate change, mine safety, and public communications. Gene Trisko, nationally known GCC expert and Jeff Jarrett of CBGS (Coal Based Generation Stakeholders) have been invited to speak to our group on global climate change issues and various legislative scenarios. Representatives of CEED and ABEC have also been invited to address their public communications strategy/program and related activities.
A reception is planned for the evening of November 13th and the business portion of the meeting will be on the 14th. For more information contact the Association Office.
The West Virginia High School Cross Country Championship meet is scheduled for Saturday, October 27 at Cabell Midland High School, at Ona in Cabell County. WVCA members are invited to be present and/or participate in the award ceremonies, representing Friends of Coal.
Anyone interested in participating should call Dan Miller at 342-4153.
The WV Board of Coal Mine Health & Safety has proposed three new mine health and safety rules for public comment.
The rules address:
1) requirements for utility companies to notify mine operators before proceeding on bonded mine property and to properly mark all energized gas lines;
2) specifications for mantrips used in underground mines to accommodate all persons on working sections; and,
3) additional inspections of underground areas immediately following welding and cutting activities.
A comment period will be extended through November 7, 2007
