Arch Coal has announced its new management structure following the acquisition of International Coal Group, Inc. (ICG) and its 13 active mining complexes. The company named three group presidents: Ken Cochran, Gary Bennett and Charles Snavely, as well as Samuel Kitts to director of operational development. All four individuals will report to Paul Lang, Arch's senior vice president of operations.

Cochran has been named group president with responsibility for Thunder Basin Coal Company, the Arch Western Bituminous Group, Arch of Wyoming and the Otter Creek development. Cochran served as President of Thunder Basin Coal Company for six years and previously worked 20 years for TXU. Reporting to Cochran will be Thunder Basin Coal Company President Keith Williams and Arch Western Bituminous Group President Gene DiClaudio.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration announced that the newly formed District 12 office within the agency's Coal Mine Safety and Health division has begun operations. MSHA initiated the process of splitting the agency's jurisdiction over southern West Virginia coal mines - formerly all covered by District 4 - into two separate districts earlier this year.

The new office, in its formative stages, eventually will be located in Pineville but for now is temporarily housed at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beaver. It will have jurisdiction over field offices in Pineville, Logan and Princeton. District 4 will remain in Mt. Hope and will oversee field offices in Mt. Hope, Mt. Carbon, Madison and Summersville.

Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. this week, wrote a strongly-worded letter to the United States Environmental Protection Agency demanding the agency show proof that jobs were considered when issuing new regulations for coal-fueled power plants over the past year.

Capito’s letter comes on the heels of frustrating news that American Electric Power will shut down five plants in West Virginia and Ohio, resulting in job cuts and higher utility costs across the board.

The Associated Equipment Distributors has joined the campaign to build support for a new bill to beat back the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) attack on state authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (H.R. 2018) has major implications for equipment distributors around the country.  In recent years, the Obama EPA has used the CWA permitting process to block coal mines in Appalachia; however, quarries, farmers, and commercial, residential, and infrastructure construction projects also receive CWA scrutiny and are potentially affected by EPA’s abuse of its authority.