FACES of Coal and the West Virginia Coal Association joined to host Senator Joe Manchin, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and other state and local political and business leaders for a roundtable discussion about the Obama Administration’s “War on Coal” and the EPA’s multiple front assault through air rules and the uncertainty of the NPDES situation.

The discussion took place at Walker Machinery in Belle. The group discussed the specifics of the EPA’s rules, policies and efforts to kill Appalachian coal both, mining and burning.  Follow-up strategies are being developed.

When the EPA published their new GHG rules they claimed they would be subject to review before implementation, but this was a ruse. It is now obvious that the new rules go into effect as soon as they are published in the federal register and the damage done by these rules may be felt much sooner than even previously thought.

“This EPA is apparently willing to conceal the truth, to fabricate fact, if it serves their goals. They continue to claim these GHG standards are not final but it is now clear that they consider them final upon publication and they are moving forward to implementation. The damage is already being felt. Have you looked at your electric bill recently? Unfortunately, the EPA continues to ignore the real impact their rules will have on American families and businesses by driving up energy prices and destroying jobs.”

EPA regulations are responsible for the announced closure of more than 140 electricity generating units in 19 states.

“How can this not impact the grid?” Raney said. “This threat isn’t one, two or 10 years in the future. This threat is now. It is here. They are imposing their agenda by regulation when they couldn’t get it passed by legislation.”

The “Perfect Storm” continues to pound the coal industry here in West Virginia and across the country. The anti-coal policies of the Obama Administration and the EPA along with the lingering impacts of a worldwide economic downturn and a mild winter continue to push U.S. coal production lower, while West Virginia production resumes its decline.

According to NMA, coal production is off nationally by 1.4 percent year-over-year for the 52 weeks ending April 7. In West Virginia, production decline by 3.3 percent for the same period – with state mines producing 131.4 million tons compared to 135.8 million tons a year ago.

Railcar loadings are off 16 percent measured year-over-year. Meanwhile, electric production is off 1.9 percent across the country for the same period. Raw steel production in the U.S. continues to trend upward slightly, up approximately 6.7 percent year-to-date.

Exports of met coal are up 16.7 percent year-to-date from this time last year, however exports of steam coal remain down 9.3 percent year-to-date for the same period.  As an antithesis of what’s happening here, Reports from India indicate that their coal-fired electric generation plants have less than four-days of supply on the ground, with many having no reserve stockpiles at all.

The West Virginia Coal Association has joined an alliance of state coal, manufacturing and energy associations, as well as state chambers of commerce in petitioning for a judicial review of recent actions by the EPA related to mercury standards at steam electrical generation facilities. The petition challenges the rule filed by the EPA on February 16.

This rule sets a standard that is impossible to meet by new coal-fired power plants and it will force the short-term shutdown of many of the existing coal-fired generation facilities,

The WVCA, the Kentucky Coal Association, the Pennsylvania Coal Association, the Virginia Coal Association and the Indiana Coal Council are joined by the West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia chambers of commerce as well as several other industry organizations in filing the petition for a judicial review of the final action of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) under the Clean Air Act entitled “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants from Coal-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-Commercial-Institutional, and Small Industrial-Commercial-Institutional Steam Generating Units.

The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A decision is expected sometime in late-2012 or early 2013.

Lawyers for Arch Coal moved things a step closer to possibly having that lawsuit be decided. In their filing, Arch’s lawyers have asked Judge Chambers to lift his stay on the proceedings and make a decision on the company’s longstanding motion for summary judgment.

In their filing, Arch attorney’s indirectly referenced U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s recent decision on the EPA’s actions related to the permit.

“USEPA participated in a lengthy permit review process that took the better part of a decade. It did not object when the Corps issued the permit in January 2007,” Arch states. “It did not object when Mingo Logan started to mine. It has not gathered or requested any information from Mingo Logan to determine whether any impacts have resulted from over three years of mining that have already occurred under the Spruce No. 1 Permit. It has never rebutted the Corps’ determination that Mingo Logan’s operations have been conducted in compliance with the Section 404 permit. Its belated political decision to exercise its Section 404(c) authority has been rejected as untimely and illegal. There simply is no reason to deny Mingo Logan the right to a resolution of its outstanding motion for summary judgment.”