EPA could spoil coal boom

Feb 17 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bill Archer Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.

Coal industry leaders have raised their voices to express opposition to tighter air quality controls on carbon-based energy production as well as strict adherence to water quality standards they say will adversely impact surface mining, but the coal industry -- at least in the southern West Virginia metallurgical coal fields -- has been thriving.

"I don't have any hard numbers to throw at you, but our coal car loadings are up and they have been up for several months," Robin Chapman, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern Railway said. "Steal production is up overseas, and with weather issues in Australia that have caused an interruption in mining and shipping met coal, coal from southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia has been in great demand."

While some sections of the economy are rebounding more slowly than others, the market for steel-making coal is growing globally. At least in the short term, floods in Queensland have pushed international met coal buyers to search for supplies in the U.S. The price of metallurgical coal on the spot market is pushing close to the $300-per-ton range according to at least some financial forecast. Most of the coal in southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia is steel-making coal.

"Even though the market for export coal is robust right now, that is partially driven by global conditions that will change," Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association said. "More importantly, the industry is working to get the urgency of this permit issue out there. The surface mine permits and the deep-cut permits can wreck the industry. If the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't loosen its grip on these permits, the current conditions are bound to change."

According to Raney, the efficiency of the industry and the strength of overseas markets may account for the present price of coal. He said that experienced coal operators have "engineered the sequence" that has enabled them to continue mining, but he predicted that won't last long.

Raney said that while he hasn't examined every aspect of the budget that President Obama introduced on Tuesday, "from what I understand, it would remove some of the tax incentives to reduce carbon emissions," he said. "Right now, there are only a few states that are operating in the black, and West Virginia is one of the states that has a budget surplus," Raney said. "What is going to happen if the federal agencies that have rescinded coal mining permits that they have already issued don't reverse that trend?

"West Virginia's economy has a surplus because of coal. Does President Obama want us to operate in the red like almost every other state?" Raney said.

-- Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com