COAL REPORT April 29, 2008

A Wise County miner has died, Virginia’s first mining fatality since 2004. The Coalfield Progress reports that David Sizemore of Big Stone Gap died following a roof fall at Osaka Mining’s No. 1 mine. Another miner was injured. State safety officials said the accident occurred under supported roof—that is, in a section that had been secured by roof bolts. The Associated Press reports that the mine had been cited 48 times for safety violations since 2005, including seven citations for failure to keep the mine roof safe. The mine is idle while the investigation continues

West Virginia’s Supreme Court—whose members are elected—is at least waist deep in politics in cases involving Massey Energy and its colorful chief Don Blankenship. The Charleston Gazette reports that Chief Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard has removed himself from deciding any Massey cases after it emerged that Maynard and Blankenship had vacationed together on the French Riviera. When Maynard is not sitting on a case, the role of chief justice goes to Justice Brent Benjamin. Blankenship raised and spent $3.5 million to support Benjamin’s election to the court in 2004. Justice Larry Starcher thinks that means Benjamin too should remove himself from hearing Massey cases, but Benjamin refuses to step aside. Some say Starcher himself should step aside, as he has publicly insulted Massey’s Blankenship. Starcher has apologized for his comments but says he won’t step aside unless Benjamin does too. The stakes are high here. Recently a jury hit Massey with a fine of $240 million in a contract case; Massey hopes the West Virginia Supreme Court will overturn that judgement.

Massey Energy is set for a big expansion, according to the Associated Press. The company plans to open up new mines at a rate of one every seventeen days for the rest of the year. The mines would be mostly deep mines, as a pending court ruling may make it harder and more expensive to do surface mining. Massey CEO Don Blankenship told a conference call of Wall Street analysts that the company has all the permits and the equipment it needs to boost its output 25 percent by 2010. Labor may be harder to find. The company will need 300 to 400 new miners this year, in a tight labor market. Massey is taking advantage of heavy demand for Appalachian coal. Steam coal futures recently hit nearly $96 a ton, and metallurgical coal futures have sold recently for as high as $230.

Selenium poisoning is emerging as a big issue in mountaintop removal. In tiny quantities, selenium is an essential for good health. In slightly larger quantities it’s a poison. It shows up downstream from mountaintop removal sites, and it shows up in fish in such places. The Charleston Gazette reports that last week a leading expert testified that selenium in Boone County’s Mud River is so high that the fish population there is on the verge of collapse. The testimony by biologist Dennis Lemly came in a lawsuit in which an environmental group is trying to force Hobet Mining to stop violating its selenium discharge limits.
This lawsuit is the current stage of a long-running battle over selenium in West Virginia. In 2003 a pair of federal studies showed widespread and dangerous selenium levels near mining sites. Following pressure from the coal industry, the state gave nearly 100 coal operations three years to clean up their selenium discharges, and the state has not taken any enforcement action against violators. Two environmental groups have filed their own action asking a federal court to force one operation, Hobet 21, to stop discharging the toxin. They claim the big Boone County job has over 3,000 selenium water discharge violations. The company has testified that it is not treating its selenium discharges because it doesn’t know what sort of treatment system to use.

A mine blowout covered Kentucky Route 194 near Kimper on Friday, releasing thousands of gallons of water and temporarily driving six families from their homes. The Williamson Daily News reports that the mine on Grapevine Creek was known as Berkley Energy Corporation—reportedly a Massey operation—and last operated in 1995. The paper reports this is the second mine blowout this year in the Tug Valley; the first was February 13 at Delbarton.