Destroying Thousands of West Virginia Jobs
 
SB-696, otherwise known as the Alexander/Cardin or the “Mountaintop Mining” Bill, is on the move in the U.S. Senate. The bill would essentially ban surface mining in West Virginia and threatens thousands of mining jobs across the state and Appalachia.
 
Co-sponsored by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ben Cardin (D-MD), the bill currently sits in committee. It is our understanding that the bill will likely be “marked up” during the next two weeks, a process which precedes a committee vote in which it will likely pass.

              June 2, 2010
                                                                                                               Huntington WV 25701
Rebecca Woddard
President, American Rivers
 
Rebecca:
Your research in naming the Gauley  River one of the ten most endangered rivers  because of mountaintop removal surface mining was next to nothing.   
The Gauley River  watershed lies in  parts of Nicholas, Clay, Webster, Fayette, Greenbrier, and Pocahontas Counties WV.
There is only one  MTR mining operation in the entire watershed, the one on Twentymile Creek watershed , not Peters Creek..  It is located  in Clay and Nicholas Counties and   is tiny in terms of  production and acreage disturbed compared to the total   in five counties:  Boone, Kanawha, Logan, Mingo, and Raleigh Counties WV.   The operation is not a true MTR,  its life is very limited, and it poses no significant threat to the Gauley.  Moreover, Twentymile empties into a stream that empties a few miles downstream  into  the Gauley at Belva which is  several miles downstream  from  the segment of the Gauley where whitewater rafting is so popular.  Belva  is only some 8 miles from the  mouth of  the Gauley at Gauley Bridge.
 
 There are comparatively very little  coal reserves in the Gauley watershed which can feasibly  be  mined by the  MTR or any other surface mining method.  This is because the geology is very  different than that  found within the  latter group of counties and three adjacent ones  that together are  commonly called the Southern WV Coalfield.  The Kanawha Formation outcrops widely  in these five counties and  contains  all the coal seams in its upper section  that  are MTR mined   in that coalfield.   The coal seams MTR mined  are thick, numerous, and lie relatively close to each other vertically, as opposed to different  coal seams widely occurring in the Gauley watershed which are thin, few, and do not lie relatively close to each other vertically.  
This combination of  natural occurrences plus  the low sulfur content of the coal  seams are  the   main  reasons why MTR mining  is economical in the Southern WV Coal Field.  It is  absent within the Gauley watershed except in the immediate vicinity of the Twentymile mine.
 
The comments I have made on geology and  MTR mining can  be verified by contacting the West Virginia Geological Survey and  WV DEP.
 
If Gauley River ranks among  the ten most endangered  in your opinion, the rivers in this country are in much better shape than I had supposed.
 
 I'm sorry to say you are guilty of irresponsible journalism and badly  misleading  the public, especially the supporters of American Rivers which include me.
 
 
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                       David Morrison   June 2, 2010
 

The West Virginia Coal Association (WVCA) hereby submits the following comments and observations regarding the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to revoke the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to Mingo-Logan Coal Company for its Spruce No. 1 Mine (Spruce) in West Virginia.

 

The EPA permitting halt will hit West Virginia and Kentucky especially hard.

From: The State Journal by Dan Page

The minority staff of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee produced a report last month that says in plain English what many people in Appalachia believe:

"Our investigation found that the Obama Administration is using the Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting process to dismantle the coal industry in the Appalachian region."

A government report cannot be clearer. It said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, by bringing the issuing of Clean Water Act 404 permits to a virtual halt, is signing the death certificate for a significant portion of the Appalachian coal industry. Coal companies must have water quality permits to operate both surface and deep mines. The May 21 report said the agency is holding up 190 permits.

EPA Agenda directed at States like West Virginia

WASHINGTON— Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) recently reacted to the U.S. Senate vote on the Murkowski Resolution.   The Resolution of Disapproval was directed at EPA’s efforts to use agency regulation, rather than congressional legislation, to impose stringent restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions.   The vote failed 47-53.

“Although this vote failed, it is an important first step to letting EPA know that they cannot unilaterally set an agenda without the buy-in of the American people.  Members of Congress who represent coal areas must stand up and let EPA know that when making any decision they must take into account the real cost to families, their livelihoods, and plans for the future.
 
West Virginia is already feeling the burden of over regulation with no thought of our future.   I have co-sponsored similar legislation introduced in the House that would ensure Congress is the sole authority on climate change policy—not unelected bureaucrats at the EPA.  I am encouraged that my colleagues have joined my efforts to continue to make this country aware of the value of coal and its importance for energy security and economic growth.”

Congresswoman Capito recently created the Coal Caucus with 80 members of Congress to raise awareness of coal and its economic importance.