September 2009   —   Issue # 2009-04

Mining Metrics
 

Poll Watch

Recent Poll:*
Support for
“Cap and Trade”
Softens in New Economy

There’s a proposed system called “cap and trade.” The government would issue permits limiting the amount of greenhouse gases companies can put out. Companies that did not use all their permits could sell them to other companies. The idea is that many companies would find ways to put out less greenhouse gases, because that would be cheaper than buying permits. Would you support or oppose this system?

    August 2009
    Support   52 percent
    Oppose   43 percent
    Unsure   6 percent

    July 2008
    Support   59 percent
    Oppose   34 percent
    Unsure   7 percent

What if a cap and trade program significantly lowered greenhouse gases but raised your monthly electrical bill by 25 dollars a month? In that case would you support or oppose it?

    August 2009
    Support   39 percent
    Oppose   59 percent
    Unsure   1 percent

    July 2008
    Support   47 percent
    Oppose   51 percent
    Unsure   2 percent

* ABC News/Washington Post Poll. August 13-17, 2009. Sample size: 1,001 adults nationwide; margin of error: ± 3.5 (for all adults).

America’s
Secret Strength

Open a newspaper or turn on television these days and you’re going to read and hear a lot about America’s energy future. More coal or less coal? Drill baby drill or more hybrids? And on and on it goes.

What you don’t hear about are the basics. The copper needed for the pipes in your home, the gold that makes your cell phone work, the molybdenum needed to construct everything from cars to smoke detectors and the gypsum for the drywall in your homes. All of these products are produced right here in my state of Colorado.

American mineral and metal mining supports 900,000 direct and indirect jobs. In Colorado, more than 26,000 people have jobs because of metal and mineral mining; jobs that on average pay 33 percent more than the combined average for all industrial jobs.

Across the country, industries that depend upon metals and minerals to produce their products, employ nearly 17 million people, with more than $900 billion in earnings and contribute $1.8 trillion in annual gross domestic product.

Bottom line: Our quality of life and economic well-being depend on minerals and metals.

However, increasingly we face a future where are livelihoods and economic future are put at risk; where we are less self-sufficient. Despite the benefits of domestic mining, we risk becoming as dependent on foreign minerals as we are on foreign oil.

Soon Congress could consider changes to the laws governing mineral mining on federal lands.

If not done correctly, these changes could make it all but impossible to operate on federal lands and to attract the necessary investment to build new operations and to create additional jobs.

America’s enormous mineral wealth has been a source of economic strength and security for decades. But today, America attracts just 8 percent of worldwide mineral mining investment. That number could drop even further if Congress doesn’t get this right.

There has been much talk of late about the “New Energy Economy.” Well, you can’t get there without minerals, as wind turbines and towers are constructed of steel, which comes from minerals. The pads are constructed from concrete using limestone. Solar power requires silver and an array of specialty minerals. All of these are produced in Colorado.

America needs a national minerals policy that provides a predictable legal and regulatory framework for developing minerals on federal lands and that provides a fair return to the American taxpayer.

If we get it right, we can rely on our domestic minerals to help rebuild our economy and to provide jobs and a bright future to hundreds of communities. If we get it wrong, we will squander a source of strength and security that has benefitted all Americans.

signature graphic

Stuart Sanderson
President, Colorado Mining Association

Washington Watch

“Cap and Trade” Act II: Senate Bill Expected to Arrive Today

Today, Sept. 30, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) are introducing a sweeping “cap-and-trade” bill, designed to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Boxer chairs the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee and Kerry chairs the Foreign Relations Committee. The two have taken the lead in the Senate on introducing a companion bill to the Waxman-Markey bill (H.R. 2454), which was narrowly passed by the House of Representatives in June, by a vote of 219 to 212.

EPA Extends Coal Mining Permit Moratorium

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Sept. 11 that it would continue to withhold approval of all 79 coal mining permits the agency selected for re-review as part of a June 11 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. EPA first announced its re-review of all pending coal mining permits in Appalachia on March 24.

The hold covers Section 404 permits in four states: 23 in West Virginia, 49 in Kentucky, six in Ohio and one in Tennessee. EPA offered little detail on the criteria it used to justify its decision, prompting questions about the transparency of its decision-making.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) called on EPA to develop a “transparent process based on current law and regulation for the consideration of these permits.”

Rahall called on the Departments of Labor and Energy “to closely monitor this situation to ensure there is not massive job loss in the coalfields and that our nation is not deprived of the West Virginia coal many regions depend upon to generate electricity.”

“By deciding to hold up for still further review coal mining permits pending in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, EPA is damaging a weak economy struggling to recover in the worst recession in post-war history,” said National Mining Association President and CEO Hal Quinn.

A copy of Rahall’s statement is available at: Rahall Statement.

A copy of NMA’s statement is available at: NMA Statement.

Newsworthy

U.S. Treasury Says “Cap and Trade” Could Cost $200 Billion

A new report, previously held secret by the Treasury Department, concluded that the preferred “cap and trade” climate bill of the environmental community would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of a 15 percent personal income tax hike.

At the upper end of the department’s estimate, the cost per American household would be almost $1,800 annually.

The report, along with a stack of related documents, were obtained by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) under the Freedom of Information Act.

Of note, the first report turned over by the Treasury Department to CEI redacted with a thick black line a sentence that had specifically detailed the increased energy and annual costs American families would be saddled with.

Later, Treasury released a clean version that said the bill would raise “energy prices and impose annual costs on the order of tens (and potentially hundreds) of billions of dollars.”

A copy of the report is available at: Treasury Climate Report.

Smart Science

DOE Begins Carbon Storage Tests in West Virginia

CONSOL Energy Inc., one of the nation’s largest coal producers, West Virginia University and the Department of Energy (DOE) are collaborating in a $13 million field trial in Marshall County, West Virginia, to evaluate carbon storage in unmineable coal seams.

The ultimate goal of the program is to help mitigate climate change by providing an effective and economic means to permanently store carbon dioxide (CO2) in unmineable coal seams.

Injection of CO2 began on Sept. 8, in a first-of-its-kind field trial of enhanced coalbed methane recovery with simultaneous CO2 sequestration. The site was chosen because of its accessibility, availability and typical northern Appalachian topography and geology.

More information is available at: DOE CO2 Storage Program.

From the Heartland

Department of Labor Honors Top Mine Safety Teams

A mine rescue team from Warrior Coal LLP, a subdivision of Alliance Resource Partners, won the 2009 National Coal Mine Rescue contest held recently in Nashville, Tennessee. The Warrior team, from Madisonville, Kentucky, placed first among the dozens of contestants in this year’s contest to recognize the best mine rescue operations.

McElroy Coal Co., and the Enlow Fork Mine “Green Team,” both CONSOL Energy subsidiaries, took second and third place, respectively.

The event is sponsored by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

More information is available at: Mine Rescue.