May 25 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Debra McCown Bristol Herald Courier, Va.



Mike Quillen, executive chairman of Alpha Natural Resources, may be semiretired from leading the nation's third-largest coal company, but he says he'll never stop defending those who help power the nation's economy.

"I don't know what's wrong in America today that because you do a job where you get dirty and it's not something a lot of people understand, all these people want to help us and need to rescue us from what we do as coal miners," said Quillen, speaking Monday at the Eastern Coal Council conference. "I have nothing against green jobs, have no idea what green jobs are, but we like our black jobs."

Attendance was high and the tone worried on the first day of this year's conference themed, "Coal: Backbone of Energy -- Backbone of the Economy."

U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-1st, summed up the prevailing feeling in the industry at the uncertainty created by a host of new regulations: "I, personally, think coal has a bull's-eye on it, and I think it's deliberate."

 Political predictions

Roe, of Tennessee, and his Virginia counterpart, U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat who represents the 9th District, both spoke about issues and concerns facing coal.

"The reason that's a big deal right now is a mile down the road from here we have a company called Eastman Chemical Co. that uses 60 carloads of coal a day, and they make stuff," said Roe, speaking of carbon dioxide regulation. "Those jobs could go away if we pass this legislation because of increased costs."

Roe had some other predictions about what could come from efforts to regulate greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which are blamed for climate change.

He said states with higher electricity costs could effectively prevent jobs from moving to coal-fired regions like his by using federal legislation to drive up the cost of electricity. Worse, other countries could gain authority to control U.S. emissions, causing American jobs to move overseas because of rising costs, he said.

He said the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the U.S. House to control carbon emissions, commonly known as "cap and trade" for the regulatory structure it would impose, would hit 1st District residents hard. Citing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, he said it would cost the average household $3,200 a year in added energy costs.

"That's $250 per month if that bill that passed out of the House became law today," Roe said. "How many people on a fixed income can afford that? In my district, not many."

He said the dramatic cost increase would come at the same time as the loss of three million manufacturing jobs and $5 trillion in gross domestic product.

"I'm going to vote no as many times as they'll allow me to vote no," Roe said.

On that point, he differs with Boucher, who reiterated Monday a stance that's become controversial in coal-dependent Southwest Virginia: strong support for cap and trade.

"It is essential that we prevent the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] from regulating carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases," Boucher explained of the court-mandated alternative to regulation by Congress.

"It is very important that we keep that from occurring because the EPA lacks the tools that are necessary to balance the environmental regulation with steps that will soften its economic effect and make sure that the environmental regulation doesn't cause broad economic disruption," Boucher said. "We in Congress have the tools to do that. We perceive it as an obligation to act in a way that protects the economy."

Boucher explained -- and Roe acknowledged -- that Congress lacks the political will to strip EPA of its power to regulate greenhouse gases. Instead, Boucher said, he's trying to stall the process with the passage of a law that would prevent EPA from regulating for at least two years, which would allow the slow-moving Senate more time to act.

He stressed that as a key author of the legislation, he collaborated with power and coal companies to develop a palatable set of rules that provide free emission allowances, allow for emissions to be offset with other carbon-reducing activities and enable funding for development and deployment of carbon capture and storage technology.

Industry issues

Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey also spoke, tackling the jobs issue from the perspective of workers who fear they'll be hurt directly by EPA regulation.

From this angle, there are multiple concerns, he said: restriction of surface mining, tightening controls on disposal of fly ash from coal-fired power plants and decreased demand for coal caused by regulation of carbon dioxide, which is produced when coal is burned.

"It's kind of comical, the people who are trying to regulate this ... saying this is only about 350 to 400 jobs, he said of Tennessee's coal mining industry.

"Well, go there and tell those 350 or 400 families that this is only 350 or 400 good-paying jobs. Tell the people that run the convenience store, that run the car wash, that run all the other businesses that depend on it that it's only 350 or 400 jobs."

He said it's important not to let emotion overcome good science and common sense.

"They say we are destroying God's creation," he said of mountaintop mining. "I believe God put the coal there, too."

He had the same comment about the death of 29 miners in an April 5 explosion in West Virginia and the accidental spill of millions of cubic yards of coal ash slurry into the Emory River in Roane County, Tenn., in 2008: "It's a tragedy, but we all understand that we don't need a knee-jerk reaction."

Boucher got into the specifics of the fly ash issue: It would be a bad idea, he said, to start regulating it as hazardous waste. If that happened, he said, it would stop the use of 40 percent of the ash in building materials, meaning a whole lot more ash to dispose of.

On the surface mining issue, he said complete elimination of Nationwide 21 permits for disposal of mine spoil would add an unnecessary layer of federal review over competent state agencies, adding unneeded cost and delays for mining companies.

Changes being considered to the Stream Buffer Rule, which impacts the dumping of that material, "would make most of our surface mining operations uneconomical," he said.

The future

Amid the coal industry doom and gloom Monday, Boucher said there is one bright spot.

"Transportation is electrifying at a dramatic pace," he said, pointing to hybrid and all-electric cars beginning to enter the market in large numbers. Those cars, he said, could be the best answer to weaning the U.S. from its dependency on foreign oil.

In 10 years, he said, half the nation's automobiles will be electric.

"Electric cars run on coal, and coal is going to enjoy a tremendous surge as the transportation industry in the United States electrifies," he said.

"This is an industry that now faces challenges, but will emerge from those and do better in the future than ever before."

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