Fundamentals for Coal Look Good for 2014
By Steve Fiscor / Editor-In-Chief What do you call a ship full of climate researchers stranded in the ice at the South Pole? A good start to a new year. Seeing those folks entertain themselves on live...
View ArticleSpills Overshadow EPA’s Dubious Science
Each year for the February edition, Coal Age collects and publishes data on American longwall installations (see U.S. Longwall Census, p. 26). Readers should note two interesting trends. The first is...
View ArticleFind the Political Will
This month, like last month and the month before, Coal Age is publishing several stories that report the frustration that coal executives are feeling as they endure the excessive overreach by federal...
View ArticleBlankenship Produces a UBB Documentary
Four years have passed since families and friends lost their loved ones in the Upper Big Branch (UBB) tragedy, and Coal Age would like to express its condolences. On April 5, 2010, 29 miners were...
View ArticleConstant and Continuous Improvement
Our hearts and prayers are with the widows and their families in Manisa. As this edition was going to press, the world watched with heavy hearts as surviving miners carried injured and dead miners to...
View ArticleMistakenly Marginalized
When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its sweeping guidelines to cut carbon emissions on June 2 (See News, p. 4), few if any people outside the energy sector heard the message or...
View ArticleSkeptics Gather in Las Vegas
By Steve Fiscor During early July, the Heartland Institute hosted the Ninth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) in Las Vegas. A total of 64 speakers - mostly scientists, economists and...
View ArticleEPA Policies Hit Home in West Virginia
By Steve Fiscor At the end of July, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to host hearings in Atlanta, Denver, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. to discuss President Barack Obama’s proposed...
View ArticleFinding Ways to Work Together
By Steve Fiscor The state of Oregon's decision to reject a critical permit for the planned Morrow Pacific coal export terminal caught many by surprise last month (see Breaking News, p. 4). Coal Age has...
View ArticleA Failure to Report
At the beginning of October, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued a press release declaring that the agency’s reforms related to pattern of violations (PoV) had made mines safer. As...
View ArticleStrong Allegations
Former Massey Energy Chairman and CEO Donald L. Blankenship was indicted during November. It didn’t make the cover of the Wall Street Journal, but word spread quickly through the coalfields, especially...
View ArticleA Difficult Year Ends with a Few Positive Signs
December was not a complete wash. Coal Age is reporting a few good stories this month, which helps break up the monotonous reports of WARN notices and companies exiting the coal business. First off,...
View ArticleEPA Makes the Right Decision on Coal Ash
During December, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized regulations for the safe disposal of coal ash from power plants, which is more formally referred to as coal combustion...
View ArticleTransitions Underground
Coal Age does finally have a little good news to report this month. Longtime readers know that included in the February edition of Coal Age is the U.S. Longwall Census. It lists all of the U.S....
View ArticleKnowledge and Insight Afford an Advantage
In this edition of Coal Age, readers will immediately identify a recurring theme of coal operators finding value where others do not. These examples include the Cline Group acquiring the Cape Breton...
View ArticleEPA Faces Scrutiny
One of the clichés often heard in this business is that the only constant is change. As this edition of Coal Age goes to press, the coal industry sees one major producer acquiring another. U.S. coal...
View ArticlePolitician Cuts Funding for Miners Used as Props
Former Hillary Clinton campaign manager and current Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe was espousing her virtues on the Sunday, April 19th episode of “Meet the Press.” He and anchor Cuck Todd were...
View ArticleThe New Norm
Throughout the news section of this edition of Coal Age, readers will note a couple of positive stories among a volley of sad announcements that shook the coal business in early June. Four U.S. coal...
View ArticleCarbon and the Climate Change Dogma
The late June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court revealed just how reckless the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has become. In Michigan v. EPA (See News, p.4), several states and industry groups,...
View ArticleEnergy Deception
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled out its Clean Power Plan (CPP) during August. The details of and the opposition to the plan are covered in several articles in this edition, including...
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