The Energy & Mineral Law Society will be hosting a panel discussion on surface mining regulations on October 30, 2012 at 4 p.m. at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, VA.  Speakers will include Paul Patton, Governor of Kentucky, Vaughn Groves, VP & General Counsel for Alpha Natural Resources and Jack Spadaro, mining engineer and activist.  Open invitation to the public is extended.

The Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary has a new web site and are asking everyone to visit the new web site www.friendsofcoalladies.com as many times as you can.  For each time you visit, the web site moves up so when you type “coal” into your search engine the web site will be one of the top listed in your search.   The site also hosts a full store for purchase of FOC items and wearing apparel.

• At the very same time that U.S. electricity producers are slashing their use of coal for economic and environmental reasons, countries around the world are dramatically increasing their use of the fuel. A look at coal and electricity demand in locations from Hanoi, Vietnam to Dusseldorf, Germany shows that the rest of the world is not going beyond coal. In fact, just the opposite is happening.
• Between 2001 and 2010, U.S. coal consumption fell by 5 percent and domestic carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 1.7 percent. But over that same time period, global coal consumption soared by 47 percent, or the equivalent of 23 million barrels of oil per day. Put another way, over the past decade or so, global coal consumption increased by about the same amount as the growth in oil, natural gas, and nuclear combined.
• Coal use is soaring because demand for electricity is soaring. Between 1990 and 2010, global electricity production increased by about 450 terawatt-hours per year. That’s the equivalent of adding one Brazil (which used 485 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2010) to the electricity sector every year. And the International Energy Agency expects global electricity use to continue growing by about one Brazil per year through 2035.
  
  Read more: The Coal Hard Facts

The West Virginia Coal Association joined with the West Virginia Coal Forum in three statewide events this week in Charleston, Wheeling and Beckley billed as “Stop the EPA’s War on Coal”.  The forums were designed to bring attention to EPA’s anti-coal regulatory agenda and to encourage more public action and support for the industry.

The Coal Forum program featured Governor Tomblin, all three Congressional representatives, both U.S. Senator’s offices, key members of the WV Legislature and industry and labor leaders. This week’s forums targeted several recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule proposals addressing utlity MACT and green house gas emissions. Organizers say the various rules either set the bar too high or go into effect too soon to allow coal-fired plants to adapt.

Please ask Senators Rockefeller and Manchin for their HELP in (1) controlling EPA and, (2) HELPING to protect our jobs, our way of life and our future.  Ask them to HELP with two major issues that are currently pending in Congress that are very important to our industry, our people and the entire State of West Virginia.  We need to get as many messages of support as possible to the Senators.   The two issues are: 

1. The "Fly Ash" Amendment to the Surface Transportation bill currently being considered by a conference committee. Senator Rockefeller is a member of this conference committee and has been quoted as saying he is currently opposed to making the amendment part of the Transportation Bill! this amendment will STOP EPA's efforts to classify regular power plant fly ash as hazardous, which it is clearly not! If EPA is not STOPPED, it will become nearly impossible to recycle this ash for use in concrete, highway, bridge and building construction and regular, controlled storage which we have been doing for years. If EPA is not STOPPEd, the costs of electricity from coal-fired power plants and highway construction projects will increase substantially. For years, we have proven we know how to handle, manage and control fly ash! This amendment is vital to West Virginia and needs to be approved by the conference committee.

2. (SJR 37) Senate Joint Resolution 37 will be considered by the full Senate on June 12. This Resolution will STOP one of EPA's most damaging rule-makings ever imposed on American coal-burning power plants. it is called the "Utility MACT" rule (Maximum Achievable Control Technology) and has prompted the premature closing of a number of coal-fired power plants across the country, including several in West Virginia. If it is not stopped it is projected to cost tens of thousands of jobs and increase our electric bills by as much as 25 percent - to rates that our seniors and those on fixed income can't afford. SJR 37 will STOP EPA from implementing this rule and force them to obtain Congressional approval before any other newly proposed rule can be put into effect. A simple majority of 51 Senators is needed to pass this Resolution. We need both of our Senators to support this important Resolution.