Coal

Questions on Pizarchik related to coal ash disposal, mountain-top mining

October 8, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Today in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) went on the record in opposition to the nomination of Jospeh Pizarchik to be the US Department Interior’s Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. Menendez released the following statement after the Committee’s business meeting, citing questions about Pizarchik’s views on coal ash disposal and mountain-top mining:    » read more »

September 30, 2009 -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is announcing today a new proposal to reduce global warming emissions from the country's largest polluters. The proposal would require new coal plants and other large facilities to install global warming pollution controls.

Existing facilities would have to upgrade global warming pollution controls when the rest of the facility is modified or expanded to increase emissions by more than 10,000 tons. The proposed rule would only apply to sources emitting at least 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases each year, exempting small businesses, churches and apartment buildings, while still addressing the bulk of the nation's global warming pollution.    » read more »

September 30, 2009 -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today reasserted its concerns about the potential environmental harm that would be caused by the issuance of dozens of new mountaintop removal coal mining permits in Appalachia.

The EPA, which announced on September 11, 2009 that all 79 of the mountaintop removal coal mining permits currently under agency review would violate the Clean Water Act, today formally announced that it would conduct an enhanced review of all 79 permits.

In response Mary Anne Hitt, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign, issued the following statement:    » read more »

September 25, 2009 -- An article in today's Washington Post exposed the coal and oil industry interests behind recent anti-climate-change advertisements.

In a "smoking is good for you" twist on reality, the ads actually call for higher levels of carbon dioxide, the primary heat-trapping gas driving global warming. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry-funded libertarian think tank, released similar ads last year.

The ads are reminiscent of tobacco companies' attempts to hide the dangers of smoking. A decades-old Chesterfield ad informed viewers that test subjects "were not adversely affected" by smoking during a short period of observation. And Camel ad campaign from the same era claimed "more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette."    » read more »

GE’s CHP Units Help Mine Reduce Environmental Impact by Saving 1.3 Million Tons of CO2 per Year

29 September 2009 -- NORTH QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA -- Queensland Minister for Mines and Energy Stephen Robertson today formally opened one of Australia‘s most powerful onsite power plants fueled by waste coal mine gas (WCMG). Today’s event highlights the mining industry’s efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its activities while ensuring that coal remains an important national export and global energy source.    » read more »

September 15, 2009 -- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it plans to issue new standards to better protect America’s waters from coal plant pollution. The announcement comes a day after environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, Environmental Integrity Project and Defenders of Wildlife, put the EPA on notice for the agency’s 26-year delay in updating coal pollution regulations.

Pollution from coal plants is becoming increasingly toxic as more pollutants are taken out of the air, only to then be transferred to coal ash and other coal waste discharges. These toxic discharges can contaminate drinking water and pose serious threats to fish and other wildlife.    » read more »

Sierra Club and allies requested disclosure via FOIA on June 19

June 29, 2009 -- Washington, D.C.--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released information regarding the locations of 44 "high hazard potential" coal combustion waste facilities (or coal ash impoundments), previously kept a secret from the public. On June 19, 2009, Sierra Club and its allies filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to force EPA to make these sites known to the public.

Coal ash impoundments were placed on the list based on the potential for harm to surrounding communities in the event of an accident, but at the request of the Department of Homeland Security and the Army Corps of Engineers, EPA previously refused to release the information.    » read more »

First step toward fighting global warming

June 23, 2008 -- Washington, DC: As the Environmental Protection Agency’s comment period comes to a close almost 42,000 comments supporting strong action on global warming were submitted through the Sierra Club’s Big Picture campaign. The comments and testimony were collected through more than 70 house parties across the country, massive turnout and rallies at the EPA hearings in Virginia and Washington, and online outreach efforts.    » read more »

Peabody Energy and Shanxi Lu'an Mining Group Co., Ltd. agree to pursue joint development of open-cut mine in Xinjiang

ST. LOUIS, June 23 -- Peabody Energy and Shanxi Lu'an Mining Group Company Ltd. (Lu'an) have announced that their subsidiaries have entered into an agreement to explore joint development and operation of Lu'an's Shaxi Mine in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China.

The Shaxi Mine, which is under construction, has access to a large dedicated thermal resource. The mine has the potential to expand to 15 million tonnes or more per year in line with the development of a new rail project that would serve electricity customers and other industrial users in Central and Eastern China.    » read more »

June 8, 2009 -- The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that a $3 million contribution from Massy Coal to Justice Brent Benjamin’s 2004 campaign created “a serious, objective risk of actual bias that required Justice Benjamin’s recusal.”

Justice Benjamin cast the deciding vote in the reversal of a West Virginia court decision ordering Massey to pay $50 million in damages in a dispute with a local coal company.

Another West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals judge involved in the Massey case, Justice Spike Maynard recused himself last year after photos surfaced showing the judge and Massey CEO Don Blankenship vacationing together in Monaco. Justice Maynard voted with Justice Benjamin to reverse the decision against Massey.    » read more »

ST. LOUIS, May 27 -- Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) today became a founding member of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Carbon Capture Center. The center is a public-private partnership to advance the next generation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. The effort will be based at the Power Systems Development Facility (PSDF) south of Birmingham, Ala., the nation's premier carbon research and development laboratory. Peabody has been a funding partner of the PSDF since 1997.    » read more »

ATLANTA, May 26 -- Southern Company last week announced plans to demonstrate carbon capture and sequestration on a coal-fired power generation plant to support the development of technologies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Along with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), the Electric Power Research Institute and other partners, Southern Company will build a demonstration facility to capture carbon dioxide emissions from an existing unit of subsidiary Alabama Power's Plant Barry near Mobile, Ala.

Beginning in 2011, between 100,000 and 150,000 tons of CO2 per year - the equivalent of emissions from 25 megawatts of the plant's generating capacity - would be captured for permanent underground storage in a deep saline geologic formation.    » read more »

Ion Transport Membranes Could Help Boost Carbon Capture in Coal-Fired Power Plants

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. (May 21, 2009) – Air Products (NYSE: APD) and the ElectricPower Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI) today announced the signing of an agreement which will support Air Products’ ion transport membrane (ITM) development for use in integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), oxyfuel combustion, and other advanced power generation systems.    » read more »

May 20, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Liquid fuels from biomass and coal have the potential to reduce petroleum fuel use and CO2 emissions in the U.S. transportation sector over the next 25 years, says a new report from the National Research Council. Even with abundant resources in biomass and coal, however, substantial investments in research, development, and commercial demonstration projects will be needed to produce these alternative liquid fuels in an environmentally conscious way, and at a level that could impact U.S. dependence on imported oil.    » read more »

May 21, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC- U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today introduced legislation to spur research, development and deployment of new technology to reduce global warming pollution. The Responsible Use of Coal Act would promote technology that could capture and store carbon dioxide pollution.

“Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is essential to help us solve the challenges of global warming,” said Senator Casey. “The Responsible Use of Coal Act will accelerate the research, development, demonstration and deployment of CCS technologies. This technology can protect the environment while also creating and sustaining jobs in the United States.”    » read more »