Army Corps Yanks Appalachian Streamlined Surface
Mining Program

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced on June 17 that it will suspend the Nationwide Permit 21 program for coal mining operations in six Appalachian states, a move that will subject mining operations to lengthy permitting delays, threatening employment and energy supplies.

The Corps announced its intent to withdraw the permit program last year and held a series of public hearings to gauge public reaction to its proposed plan.

“The National Mining Association is deeply concerned that the Corps of Engineers has moved forward with its previously announced intention to suspend Nationwide Permit 21 for coal mining in Appalachia over the opposition of thousands of people who voiced their comments at public hearings earlier this year,” said NMA President and CEO Hal Quinn in a June 17 statement. “They were concerned about their jobs, their economic future and the energy security of the nation. NMA shares those concerns.”

Quinn emphasized that the nationwide permitting system, which applies to a wide range of economic activities, provides for a more efficient permitting process. “The current backlog of coal mining permits in Appalachia clearly demonstrates the consequences of eliminating this important regulatory tool,” he said.

“This decision will slow job creation, add further uncertainty to the permitting process and undermine our ability to utilize the nation’s most abundant domestic energy resource – coal,” Quinn said.

Senate Turns Back Murkowski Effort to Overturn EPA Plans for
Climate Regulations

The Senate this month voted down a resolution offered by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that would have denied the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

By a vote of 53-47, the Senate rejected Murkowski’s resolution, which sought to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn EPA’s plans for imposing a climate change program. Six Democrats sided with all 41 Republicans in support of the resolution.

Some Democrats reportedly opposed the resolution only after receiving assurances from Senate leaders that they will have an opportunity to vote for a bill offered by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) that would block EPA from issuing regulations governing stationery sources of carbon dioxide emissions for a two-year period. It is unclear, however, if Senate leaders actually made that commitment, or when a vote on Rockefeller’s bill might be held.

Rockefeller was among the group of six Democrats that voted in favor of Murkowski’s resolution.

Prior to the June 10 Senate vote, Murkowski reacted angrily to White House claims that her resolution would encourage further Gulf oil spills. “The only similarity I see between the oil spill and the EPA's climate regulations is that both are unmitigated disasters,” she said. “Trying to link this bipartisan measure to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill sets a new low.”

Following the Senate vote, U.S. Reps. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Rick Boucher (D-Va.) reiterated their strong support for the “Stationary Source Regulations Delay Act,” a companion measure to Sen. Rockefeller’s bill that they first introduced in March.

“Today’s defeat should not be the end of congressional efforts to rein in EPA,” they said in a joint statement. “The brakes need to be put on the EPA’s headlong rush to regulate carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.” Rep. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) agreed with Boucher and Rahall, saying that “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.”

Senate Democrats Cooling on John Kerry Push for Global
Warming Bill

Politico, a widely-read Capitol Hill publication, recently reported that on-going efforts by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to win support for a cap-and-trade climate bill are beginning to rub some of his fellow Democrats the wrong way.

The June 21 story reports Kerry’s zeal for pushing a climate bill “is making some swing-vote Democrats cringe at the thought of negotiating with someone they fear is tone-deaf to the political realities of their respective states – particularly in a difficult midterm elections year.”

The complete story is available at: Politico story.

Sen. Brown Asks President Obama to Drop Cap-and-Trade

Efforts to win approval of cap-and-trade legislation in the U.S. Senate were dealt a serious set-back this month when Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) told President Obama during a June 16 Oval Office meeting that he would not support a cap-and-trade or carbon fee plan.

Brown and Obama met a day after the president used a nationally televised address from the Oval Office to urge support for clean energy legislation. However, the president failed to make any reference to cap-and-trade programs in his speech.

Votes from moderate Republicans like Brown are seen as critical by climate change supporters working to find the 60 votes necessary to win Senate approval of a bill.

“He did talk about climate and his concerns about the climate and I basically told him that I’m not in favor, nor could I support, a national energy tax or a cap-and-trade proposal,” Brown told reporters after the June 16 meeting.

The Hill quoted Brown saying he would happily work with President Obama to pick the “low-hanging fruit” of energy reform.

“But I am very excited about working with him in a bipartisan manner to come up with a comprehensive energy plan to address a whole host of issues,” Brown said.

The complete story is available at: The Hill story.

Office of Surface Mining to Hold “Open Houses” on Proposed
New Stream Protection Measures

The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) announced this month that it will hold a series of “open houses” designed to solicit public feedback on the agency’s efforts to develop a “Stream Protection Rule” that would govern surface coal mining.

OSM said the open houses will begin in July, but the agency did not specify exact dates and locations, but did list the following cities as possible candidates: Morgantown, W.Va; Beckley, W.Va; Hazard, Ky.; Birmingham, Ala.; Evansville, Ind.; Carbondale, Ill.; Fairfield, Tex.; Farmington, N.M.; and Gillette, Wyo.

OSM is working to publish a proposed stream protection rule in early 2011, with a final rule due in mid-2012.

More information is available at: OSM open houses.

Sen. Murkowski Introduces Bill to Promote U.S. Production
of Rare Earth Minerals

Amid growing worries that the U.S. will soon face a shortage of rare earth minerals, Sen. Lisa Murkowski this month introduced legislation designed to boost domestic production of such minerals.

Rare earth minerals are used to produce cutting-edge technologies like laptops and cell phones, and are also widely used in military applications and needed to build solar panels and wind power platforms.

Murkowski is billing her “Rare Earth Supply Technology and Resources Transformation (RESART) Act” as an effort to help the United States regain its position as a leader in the mining and processing of rare earths elements.

“America’s growing reliance on foreign minerals endangers our efforts to advance cleaner energy,” Murkowski said in a June 22 statement. “We have slowly but surely surrendered the front end of the clean energy supply chain.”

Murkowski’s statement noted that America is estimated to hold 15 percent of the world’s rare earth reserves, but the nation remains dependent upon China for imports of nearly all of these critical materials.

“Rather than further restrict mining in this country, the industry could be creating American jobs and producing minerals that are essential to clean energy technologies. Unless action is taken, we will trade our current dependence on foreign oil for an equally unsettling dependence on foreign minerals,” Murkowski said.

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) introduced a companion measure (H.R. 4866) in March that has attracted bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Nevada Mining Tax Proposal Fails to Qualify for Ballot

Proponents of a ballot measure that would have tripled taxes for Nevada natural resource producers failed this month to secure the signatures necessary to put a question to Nevada voters this November on whether to impose crippling new taxes to help plug the state’s budget deficit.

The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) fell approximately one-third short of the 92,000 signatures required for qualification based on voter turnout in the state in 2008.

Nevada Mining Association President Tim Crowley, in response to press inquiries, said Nevadans “have chosen not to support this highly flawed initiative. As one of Nevada's founding industries, mining is proud to be an important part of the state’s economy, providing tens of thousands of jobs and significant tax revenue.” Crowley continued, “We will continue to work with our leaders and business community to find long-lasting, broad-based solutions that establish a course for future success and economic prosperity.”

Specifically, the proposed ballot measure would have amended the state’s constitution to require that mining companies pay no less than a 5 percent tax on their gross proceeds instead of the current law that allows a tax on no more than 5 percent of the net proceeds.

The Nevada Supreme Court had not yet ruled after hearing oral arguments on June 7 from attorneys representing mining interests and PLAN on whether the initiative was legally flawed and should not be on the ballot. PLAN said it will press the measure before the state legislature.

Nevada mining interests had already pre-paid certain taxes for the current fiscal biennium and in March voluntarily paid an estimated $25 million in new mining claims fees to help the state reduce its budget deficit.

No Green Technology Without Mining?

The Newshour on PBS recently examined how a shortage of rare earth minerals could deal a serious setback to the development of advanced green and clean energy technologies.

Rare earth minerals are critical components for windmills, solar panels, cell phones, laptop computers and military applications.

Amidst moves by China, by far the world’s largest producer, to reduce the supply of rare earth exports, The Newshour looked at efforts in the U.S. by Molycorp Minerals to re-open production at the Mountain Pass mine in California.

Molycorp CEO Mark Smith told The Newshour that Molycorp hopes the Mountain Pass Mine will be producing about 20,000 tons of rare earths a year by 2012.

A complete transcript of the report is available at: PBS Newshour story.

Biomass Over Coal? Skeptics Begin to Raise Doubts

The New York Times recently featured an article examining whether the carbon dioxide savings offered through the use of biomass to generate electricity are as great as have been previously advertised.

According to the story, “power generated by burning wood, plants and other organic material, which makes up 50 percent of all renewable energy produced in the United States, according to federal statistics, is facing increased scrutiny and opposition.”

The Times reported that critics believe biomass is “not as climate-friendly as once thought, and the pollution it causes in the short run may outweigh its long-term benefits.”

The story cited critics who argue that wood can actually produce more greenhouse gases than coal because carbon dioxide is produced when trees are burned and new trees needed to absorb those emissions grow very slowly. “That means the low-carbon attributes of biomass are often realized too slowly to be particularly useful for combating climate change,” according to the story.

Opposition to new biomass projects in Massachusetts prompted state officials to commission a review of the environmental credentials of biomass power. The study, released this month, concluded that, at least in Massachusetts, power plants using woody material as fuel would probably prove worse for the climate than existing coal plants over the next several decades.

A complete copy of the story is available at: New York Times story.

Peabody Energy Grants $2 Million to Develop Clean Energy
Technology Lab at the University of Wyoming

The University of Wyoming (UW) recently announced that it received a $2 million gift from Peabody Energy to create the Peabody Energy Clean Coal Technology Laboratory in the UW Energy Resource Center in Laramie, Wyo.

This gift will be doubled by a Wyoming State Legislature matching fund. Wyoming is investing significant resources in clean coal research and has committed nearly $75 million, which has resulted in partnerships with industry leaders – such as Peabody – who prioritize developing and commercializing clean coal technologies, said UW President Tom Buchanan.

“Research in the area of clean coal technology is one of the particular emphases for our School of Energy Resources, and this gift provides laboratory space for the expanding work that UW faculty and students are doing in this field,” said Buchanan. “ This serves as an excellent example of how university research and industry application can work together with support from state government to make Wyoming a leader in clean coal technology.”.

More information is available at: Peabody Energy grant.

Bucyrus Sponsors NASCAR® Nationwide Series Race

Bucyrus International was the lead sponsor of the June 19 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. The “Bucyrus 200” aired on ESPN2 to a nationwide audience.

Bucyrus used the national spotlight to showcase the importance of U.S. mining through advertising agreements with the National Mining Association, CONSOL Energy, Arch Coal Company, Peabody Energy and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy (ACCCE).

“We are excited about the opportunity to sponsor one of the premier spectator events in the Midwest this summer, and one that will reach a nationwide television audience,” Bucyrus President and CEO Tim Sullivan said prior to the race.

“The association with NASCAR is a perfect fit for Bucyrus in that the chief characteristics of these drivers and their race cars – tenacity, skill, high-tech equipment, reliability and speed -- are also the hallmarks of the way we do business. The Bucyrus 200 race is also a great way for our employees and customers to join thousands of other fans from all over the Midwest and the country for a wonderful summer weekend of racing,” Sullivan added.

More information is available at: Bucyrus press release.