Welcome to a review of King Coal in the news during the week of April 19 - April 25, 2010. Come on in and sit a spell. Take a look at the Good, Bad, and Ugly when it comes to the dirtiest of dirty energy. Stop by the Activist Corner for how to lend your voice to the demise of King Coal.
The news this past week was dominated by the memorial service for the 29 miners killed in the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia led by President Obama and the touching concern by Massey Energy for their lost production, profits, and equipment. Lost in the shuffle was the death of another miner in West Virginia and a study linking water pollution and cancer in areas of high mining activity.
>>>>> THE GOOD
A moving memorial
President Obama gave a moving eulogy to the 29 miners that died in the Upper Big Branch mine tragedy on April 5. The complete text of the eulogy can be found here. Here is the opening to that speech.
To all the families who loved so deeply the miners we've lost; to all who called them friends, worked alongside them in the mines, or knew them as neighbors, in Montcoal and Naoma or Whitesville, in the Coal River Valley and across West Virginia - let me begin by saying that we have been mourning with you throughout these difficult days. Our hearts have been aching with you. We keep our thoughts with the survivors who are recovering and resting in a hospital and at home. We are thankful for the resescue teams. But our hearts ache alongside you.
We are here to memorialize 29 Americans:
Carl Acord. Jason Atkins. Christopher Bell. Gregory Steven Brock. Kenneth Allan Chapman. Robert Clark. Charles Timothy Davis. Cory Davis. Michael Lee Elswick. William I. Griffith. Steven Harrah. Edward Dean Jones. Richard K. Lane. William Roosevelt Lynch. Nicholas Darrell McCroskey. Joe Marcum. Ronald Lee Maynor. James E. Mooney. Adam Keith Morgan. Rex L. Mullins. Joshua S. Napper. Howard D. Payne. Dillard Earl Persinger. Joel R. Price. Deward Scott. Gary Quarles. Grover Dale Skeens. Benny Willingham. Ricky Workman.
Nothing I or the Vice Presdient or the Governor, none of the speakers here today, nothing we say can fill the hole they leave in your hearts, the absence they leave in your lives. If any comfort can be found, it can, perhaps, be found by seeking the face of God, who quiets our troubled minds, a God who mends our broken hearts, a God who eases our mourning souls.
Obama included an apology and a promise to work to prevent another tragedy.
How can we fail them? How can a nation that relies on its miners not do everything in its power to protect them? How can we let anyone in this country put their lives at risk by simply showing up to work; by simply pursuing the American dream?
We cannot bring back the 29 men we lost. They are with the Lord now. Our task, here on Earth, is to save lives from being lost in another such tragedy. To do what we must do, individually and collectively, to assure safe conditions underground. To treat our miners like they treat each other - like a family. Because we are all family, and we are all Americans. And we have to lean on one another and look out for one another and love one another and pray for one another.
Putting the tragedy in perspective
Journalist Ken Ward Jr. puts the tragedy into a context for all of us. What if 29 of your coworkers died in a single afternoon? What if 15% of your coworkers died in an instant? What would be your thoughts during the memorials and funerals?
Look around your workplace tomorrow and imagine 29 people gone in one instant. That’s what happened at about 3 p.m. on April 5 deep inside the Upper Big Branch Mine, when methane — and probably coal dust — ignited and blew up the mine. Twenty-nine men, all gone … and now, so many white crosses.
Charleston Gazette blog post by Ken Ward Jr.
An end to mining on the horizon?
Finally, there is growing buzz about mining without miners using underground coal gasification.
Called “coal energy with a natural gas footprint,” experts argue that this technology would greatly reduce greenhouses gasses while avoiding the dangerous pitfalls of traditional mining.
The technique has two hazards - contamination of groundwater and underground fires. John Thompson of the Clean Air Task Force suggests that both problems could be resolved, making “it is a very, very attractive way of getting energy out of coal while also allowing the world to make deep, deep reductions in CO2 by the midcentury."
Underground coal gasification might reduce the toxic footprint of coal from extraction and combustion. That is good news. However, I cannot help but wonder if the ultimate yield from greater investment in clean renewable energy would be much larger than trying to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.
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>>>>> THE BAD
The deadly consequences of mining pollution
A peer-reviewed study in the scientific journal EcoHealth by Nathaniel Hitt and Michael Hendryx reported a strong association between stream pollution, mining activity, and cancer mortality in West Virginia. They used the Stream Condition Index (SCI), a measure used by the state Department of Environmental Protection, to evaluate water quality across the state. Their findings highlight the dangers of mining-related water pollution to the health of people living in areas of heavy mining activity, particularly mountaintop removal mining.
Regression and spatial analyses revealed significant associations between ecological integrity and public health. SCI was negatively related to age-adjusted total cancer mortality per 100,000 people. Respiratory, digestive, urinary, and breast cancer rates increased with ecological disintegrity, but genital and oral cancer rates did not. Smoking, poverty, and urbanization were significantly related to total cancer mortality, but did not explain the observed relationships between ecological integrity and cancer. Coal mining was significantly associated with ecological disintegrity and higher cancer mortality. Spatial analyses also revealed cancer clusters that corresponded to areas of high coal mining intensity. Our results demonstrated significant relationships between ecological integrity and human cancer mortality in West Virginia, and suggested important effects of coal mining on ecological communities and public health. Assessments of ecological integrity therefore may contribute not only to monitoring goals for aquatic life, but also may provide valuable insights for human health and safety.
EcoHealth, April, 2010
This study is one of several that have appeared in the past few years that reveal reduced life expectancy and high risk of devastating diseases such as cancer in those living with the environmental effects of coal mining. Unfortunately the media has largely ignored these studies. Greater public awareness is essential to pressure state and federal regulators to enforce the Clean Water Act and other laws. Perhaps one day there will be a large class action lawsuit that produces a record judgment against the companies that have a long history of environmental violations, including Massey Energy. More information on the Hitt and Hendryx study can be found here.
Another miner killed in a West Virginia mine
Less than a month after a horrific explosion killed 29 workers in the worst mine disaster in four decades, another miner has been killed at a second Raleigh County mining installation in an accident involving only the victim.
An unidentified worker suffered fatal injuries around 11:15 p.m. Thursday at the Beckley Pocahontas mine near Eccles when he was pinned by a continuous mining machine against the rib of the mine.
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The mine is owned by International Coal Group, the owner of the ill-fated Sago mine in Upshur County where a dozen workers perished in a 2006 explosion that prompted new state and federal safety laws.
Beckley Register-Herald article by Mannix Porterfield
The Beckley Pocahontas mine was on a list of dangerous mines released by Congressman George Miller after the Upper Big Branch mine accident.
Washington, DC (HNN) – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued a statement today after a miner died at a coal mine listed by federal mine safety officials as facing potential higher sanctions if not for a backlog of thousands of owner appeals. A 28-year old miner at the Pocahontas Mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia was crushed between a continuous miner and the mine wall last night. The miner died this morning.
“I am deeply saddened by yet another coal miner’s death. It is especially troubling that this death occurred at a mine that we knew posed a danger to miners. The 48 mines identified publicly last week by this committee continue to pose a danger to our nation’s miners. The fact is that a mine that has a pattern of safety problems indicates a dangerous workplace. Tragically, we have had to learn that lesson again today.
Huntington News article
Giving the finger to earth on Earth Day
The latest evidence comes in an Earth Day news release from Peabody Energy, the largest private coal company, which is thriving both domestically and through rapidly growing coal exports from its worldwide mining operations to China, India and other developing countries.
NY Times DotEarth Blog by Andrew Revkin
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>>>>> THE UGLY
Massey Energy went from butt-ugly to monstrous last week.
Retired Admiral Bobby Inman, a member of the Massey Energy Board of Directors, was spitting mad that the media was still talking about the safety of Massey mines. Inman seems to be confusing the Mine Safety and Health Administration with the United Mine Workers of America.
"My anger level is pretty high for the disinformation pushed by unions," he said. "I'm a political independent, but this is enough to make a tea partier out of me."
Inman also praised the hard work and sacrifices of Massey Energy CEO Baron Don Blankenship.
“Therefore, we want to emphasize that Don Blankenship has the full support and confidence of the Massey Energy Board of Directors.”
Baron Blankenship gave a touching memorial to the mine equipment, productivity, and profits lost in the April 5 disaster.
Financial results for the second quarter 2010 will include a charge related to the tragic accident at the Upper Big Branch mine. While Massey anticipates further analysis will be required, the Company estimates the range of loss to be $80 million to $150 million for charges related to the benefits being provided to the families of the fallen miners, costs associated with the rescue and recovery efforts, insurance deductibles, possible legal and other contingencies. In addition, the full book value of equipment, mine and longwall panel development and mineral rights at the mine potentially impacted by the disaster is approximately $62 million. Massey will assess these assets for possible impairment once full access to the mine is restored but it does expect to recover much of the equipment.
Meanwhile, Massey wasted no time in rubbing salt in the wounds of workers at the Upper Big Branch mine.
Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that runs the Upper Big Branch Mine, has denied time off for miners to attend their friends’ funerals; has rejected makeshift memorials outside the mine site; and, in at least one case, required a worker to go on shift even though the fate of a relative — one of the victims of the April 5 disaster — remained unknown at the time, according to some family members and other sources familiar with those episodes. In short, the company might be taking heat for putting profits and efficiency above its workers, but it doesn’t appear to have changed its tune in the wake of the worst mining tragedy in 40 years.
“They told my husband, ‘You’ve got a job to do and you’re gonna do it,’” said the wife of one Massey miner, referring to the funerals he’s missed this month for friends.
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>>>>> Tale of the Tape
Stock prices for the major mining companies were mixed as mine safety issues continue to plague Massey Energy and Consol Energy.
Company | % change for week |
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Arch Coal | +8.19 |
Consol Energy | -0.04 |
Massey Energy | -0.11 |
Peabody Energy | +6.93 |
>>>>> Video Pick of the Week
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>>>>> Activist Corner
1. Support the Appalachia Restoration Act
The Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696) is a bill in the U.S. Senate which will sharply reduce mountaintop removal coal mining and protect clean drinking water for many of our nation's cities. It will protect the quality of life for Appalachian coalfield residents who face frequent catastrophic flooding and pollution or loss of drinking water as a result of mountaintop removal coal mining.
Contact your Senators to support the Appalachia Restoration Act
2. Urge EPA regulation of coal ash as a hazardous waste.
The EPA will announce its decision on regulating coal ash as hazardous waste in April. At the moment, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is holding up the release of new regulations. The OMB and EPA are being barraged with pleas from the coal industry, utilities, business groups, state regulatory agencies, and politicians opposing classification of coal ash waste as a hazardous material. It would be extremely helpful if you would take a moment to drop a line to the OMB to encourage them to move forward with regulation of coal combustion waste as a hazardous material. Remind them that the patchwork of state regulatory agencies has failed to protect the public against spills and contamination, there is overwhelming evidence of heavy metal toxic contamination in water on or near containment sites, and secondary uses need to be tightly regulated using a national standard to prevent contamination of water resources.
Use this form from the Natural Resource Defense Council to provide feedback to the OMB: NRDC form
Use this form from Earth Justice to provide feedback to President Obama: Earth Justice form
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