CHARLESTON -- Earlier this week the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) launched a website for Senate Bill 373, the aboveground storage tank bill that was passed by the West Virginia Legislature in the 2014 Regular Session.  The page contains an archive of information and resources related to the agency's implementation of the bill and a link to the electronic forms to register aboveground tanks as required by the legislation.  The webpage can be found at http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/abovegroundstoragetanks/Pages/default.aspx

The agency also published a guide to assist tank owners with the required registration process:  https://apps.dep.wv.gov/ast/FinalASTUserGuide.docx

The registration process for tanks will begin in mid-June and all tanks (>1,320) must be completed by October 2014.

WASHINGTON -- According to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly production report, year-to-date U.S. metallurgical exports through April 2014 were down 6.1% as compared to the same period last year (22mt v. 23.5mt) and steam coal exports were off by 22.7% (13.8mt v. 17.8mt).

Coal imports were up by 60.8% for the same year-to-date period (3.4mt v. 2.1mt). West Virginia’s 2014 year-to-date production, through 5/31, was down 0.4% statewide when compared to the same period in 2013 (49.5mt v. 49.8mt), with northern WV production down 0.5% (18.16mt v. 118.24mt) and southern WV was off 0.4% (31.4mt v. 31.5mt). 

U.S. year-to-date production through 5/31 was even with the same period last year (407.9mt). There were 116,972 railroad cars loaded last week, ending 5/31, in the United States.

Charleston, WV (June 2, 2014) – President Obama’s emission regulations on existing power plants, announced today, will result in a significant and further erosion of West Virginia’s coal employment base, representatives from the West Virginia Coal Forum stated today.

 Joel Watts, administrator for the West Virginia Coal Forum – a group representing both mine labor and management across the state – said, “This new rule, coupled with other recent emission-related regulations promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has forced the closure or planned closure of hundreds of power plants across the country.  As coal-fired power plants close, the need for West Virginia coal to power them – and the thousands of miners who produce it – goes away.”

WASHINGTON - On Tuesday, June 3, 2014, MSHA published a notice in the Federal Register extending the comment period on the Agency’s Request for Information (RFI) on Refuge Alternatives for Underground Coal Mines.

The original RFI was published in the Federal Register on August 8, 2013 (78 FR 48593) and was extended twice. In response to a subsequent request to further extend the comment period, MSHA is extending the comment period to October 2, 2014.

MSHA encourages interested parties to provide data and information in response to the questions in the RFI by the close of the comment period. This extension gives interested parties additional time to review research reports and other relevant information that bears on certain issues raised in the RFI. The RFI and extension notices are available on MSHA’s website at http://www.msha.gov/REGSRFI.asp.

MORGANTOWN --- WVCA Senior Vice President Chris Hamilton continued the Association’s public outreach efforts regarding the EPA’s GHG regulations and their impact on West Virginia with two events this week in the northern part of the state.

On June 4, Hamilton spoke to about 60 people at the Moundsville Rotary meeting. Then on June 5, Hamilton spoke to about 100 more at the Morgantown Rotary meeting. The events received good media coverage coming on the heels of the EPA’s announcement of its new existing source regulations this week.