05Feb

Why the CPP Is so Bad for Rural America

Via EnergyBiz.com: IN AUGUST, THE U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled the final version of a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 32% by 2030. Dubbed the Clean Power Plan, EPA’s blueprint is one of those ambitious initiatives — a big overreach, some say — that will have extensive and long-term consequences, some of which we […]
05Feb

Parties Clash Over How to Allocate Carbon Allowances in MO.

Via E&E News: JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — No matter the politics or point of view on U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan, utilities and other parties in Missouri working on a state compliance strategy unanimously favor a “mass-based” plan to cap power plant carbon dioxide emissions and trading of emissions allowances. But there is far less […]
05Feb

Views on Coal Mining Clash in Senate Hearing on Stream Protection Rule

Via Kentucky.com: An ongoing cultural battle between coal mining and environmental groups played out in a Senate hearing Wednesday over an Obama administration proposal to mitigate the impacts of coal mining activity on streams. The hearing, in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, afforded an opportunity for mining interests and their mostly Republican supporters […]
04Feb

Senators Say Coal Rules are Illegal ‘Power Grab’

Via The Bluefield Daily Telegraph: WASHINGTON – Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, calls tougher rules on the coal industry a “power grab” by federal mining regulators who want more leverage over states. He and other senators grilled the director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement for more than an hour Wednesday over a […]
03Feb

NMA Supports Senate Measures to Block OSM’s “Rule in Search of a Purpose”

National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn today praised a Senate oversight hearing for exposing the fatal flaws in the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement’s (OSM) so-called Stream Protection Rule (SPR) and urged passage of legislation to block its implementation: “The SPR is a massive rule in search of a purpose. […]
03Feb

Coal States Challenge Obama’s Clean Power Plan

Via The Daily Signal: CHARLESTON, W.Va.—The Mountain State has its back against the wall, and time is running out. Leading a coalition of more than two dozen coal states, West Virginia is asking the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of President Obama’s new regulations governing the coal industry. West Virginia and 26 other states […]
02Feb

Protecting Coal Mining From the Stream Protection Rule

Via The Cato Institute Blog:  On Wednesday, February 3, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee will hold a hearing on a new “Stream Protection Rule” being proposed by the Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining (OSM) that looks to be another nail being hammered into the coal industry’s coffin by the Obama […]
02Feb

Coal Generation Plays Key Role in Midwest

Via The State Journal-Register: A recent article in the SJ-R stated a national figure for coal-powered generation of 30 percent. While that may be true nationally, it is not valid for the Midwest. Coal generation in the MISO (Mid-Continent Independent System Operator) area provides 50 percent to 60 percent of the energy used in this […]
01Feb

Obama on Coal Mining a Throwback to Jimmy Carter

Via The Washington Times. President Obama’s plot to use the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to kill federal coal mining with a thousand paper cuts is not the first time he has used NEPA to try to end energy development. Disturbingly, his scheme is a throwback to President Carter and a decade-long moratorium that ended […]
29Jan

States Seek Delay Of EPA Clean Power Plan

Via The Wheeling News-Register: WASHINGTON (AP) – A coalition of 25 states opposing President Obama’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to stop the new regulations from taking effect until after their legal challenge is resolved. West Virginia and Texas led the group of mostly Republican states that asked […]