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MiningWeek Online
April 2, 2004 Volume 10, Issue 13
This Week's Issue:
Proposed OSM rules offer fairer, more accurate approach, NMA says
NMA this week said it supports the Office of Surface Mining’s (OSM) proposed ownership and control rules because they are the result of a favorable settlement agreement between the agency and the association.
The settlement follows a series of court decisions in the D.C. Circuit between NMA and OSM in which the Section 510(c) rules were initially vacated in their entirety (1997); and later had various portions declared unlawful when promulgated again (1999 and 2001).
NMA said, “…the proposed rules mitigate” some concerns regarding the “systemic disregard” of the existing ownership and control regulations and Applicant Violator System (AVS) “for the due process of mining companies and their officers, directors, shareholders and managers.”
The proposals also “better balance the interests involved, fully preserving the agency’s lawful authority to deny permits to (or otherwise sanction) those actually responsible for violations or their continued existence, whatever their formal place or titular role in or outside a mining company, without presumptively implicating as ‘controllers’ and thereby burdening the many other persons and entities that could, in theory, have had responsibility, but in reality do not.”
Ultimately, although the proposed rule “still goes further than what the law requires, or even authorizes, the settlement and the proposed rule represent a much fairer, more accurate and better system that is much closer to the intent of Congress as expressed in SMCRA (Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act), compared to current rules,” NMA said.
NMA members seeking additional information on this issue or the comments should contact Bradford Frisby at bfrisby@nma.org.
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USGS launches mineral resources research program
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) this week announced a grant and/or cooperative agreement opportunity called the “Mineral Resources External Research Program” (MRERP).
The program announcement and application is currently posted at www.grants.gov and will be available until May 14. Applications will only be accepted via the website, USGS said.
The program is open to everyone in the non-federal sector that has the ability to conduct research in topics that meet the goals of the agency’s Mineral Resources Program (MRP). This includes individuals associated with universities, state agencies, tribal governments or organizations, and industry or other private sector groups.
The total amount of funding available for the MRERP is $200,000; the awards will be made for Fiscal 2004, with four-to-five proposals expected to be funded, USGS said. For more information, contact 1-800-518-GRANTS.
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House Majority Whip Roy Blunt briefs CBGS, NMA on issues
House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) visited NMA headquarters this week to brief staff, member companies and the Coal Based Generation Stakeholders group on important issues facing Congress. Among other things, he discussed the upcoming election, energy legislation, mercury, AML, the pending transportation bill, and trade issues.
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Proposed OSM rule clarifies Stream Buffer Zone in relation to SMCRA, NMA says
Bradford V. Frisby, NMA associate general counsel, told an OSM hearing in Washington, D.C., this week that NMA strongly supports OSM’s propsed rule on the placement of excess spoil and stream buffer zones because the current rules are in need of clarification. SMCRA explicitly recognizes and allows the construction of spoil disposal fills near springs, natural water courses and wet weather seeps, “as long as environmental and public safety objectives are met.”
He noted the proposed rule implements a federal Appeals Court decision in Kentuckians for the Commonwealth v. Rivenburgh, which found that SMCRA “does not prohibit the discharge of surface coal mining excess spoil in waters of the United States.”
Frisby also pointed out the proposal:
- Conforms language of the rule to the actual permitting practices of OSM over the last 20 years, which has required compliance with the relevant statutory and regulatory requirements of the Clean Water Act and all other provisions of SMCRA, but has not prohibited mining activity in the SBZ;
- Provides needed clarification to the circumstances in which fills may be constructed within the stream buffer zone; and,
- Is in addition to numerous other OSM regulations that also protect streams.
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Uranium Recovery Workshop scheduled for May 18-19
NMA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are hosting the Uranium Recovery Workshop, May 18-19, at the Executive Tower Hotel in Denver, CO.
The workshop will provide an opportunity for representatives from NMA, NRC and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), its regulated utilities and other stakeholders to meet and communicate directly regarding uranium recovery technical and regulatory process issues.
It will feature many critical issues affecting the uranium recovery industry and will focus on enhancing and promoting a better understanding of regulatory trends and the uranium recovery licensing program.
Hotel reservations can be made by contacting the Executive Tower at 1-800-525-6651; for the registration form visit NMA’s website at www.nma.org/events/schedule.asp. An agenda will be available on the website soon. For additional information, contact NMA’s Katie Sweeney at 202-463-2627, orksweeney@nma.org.
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Environmentalists seek to align with patient advocacy groups, expert says
Environmentalists are involved in a number of “coordinated” campaigns that are “gaining momentum,” trying to attract patient advocacy groups to proposals that promise to improve public health as well as protect the environment, says a lobbying expert.
Addressing the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA) annual meeting in San Antonio, TX, Bart Mongoven said the growing alliance seeks to link exposure to harmful pollution with chronic diseases and life-long disabilities to add credibility to activists’ calls for more restrictive environmental requirements.
“In five years,” he said, “the environmental community would like to see all debates (be about) the environment and health. Right now, the environmental community doesn’t have the credibility with the (American) public like it does in the Netherlands and Germany. “The health issue,” he added, “works here.”
Mongoven said environmentalists have traditionally focused health arguments on the impacts of toxic exposure to pesticides. But the advocacy groups have now broadened the debate to the health impacts of industrial emissions and effluent as well. He said one way for industry to fight the new lobbying initiatives is to paint the efforts as being “anti-chemical,” rather than in favor of a public health goal.”
Mongoven monitors non-governmental lobbying efforts for Stratfor, a private intelligence firm that consults with industry and government agencies.
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Industry committed to working with EPA to fashion appropriate mercury regulatory program, CMA says
The Colorado Mining Association (CMA) this week said it and other industry groups are “committed to working” with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “to fashion an appropriate and cost-effective regulatory program for mercury.” However, such standards “must be technically achievable and have a reasonable compliance time so as to not create reliability and supply problems with electricity generation.”
During testimony at an EPA public hearing, CMA noted that while U.S. coal use has tripled during the last 30 years and meets more than half the nation’s electricity requirements, “EPA has found that emissions have declined during the same period by 76 percent for sulfur dioxide, 58 percent for nitrogen oxide and 96 percent for particulate matter.” CMA also noted:
- The electric utility industry in the U.S. accounts for only 1 percent of the world’s mercury emissions.
- Mercury is released from a wide variety of sources, with natural sources comprising two-thirds of global mercury emissions.
- Mercury release is a global problem which cannot be solved solely by restrictions on U.S. power plants.
- Although research is ongoing, “we do not yet have a commercially available technology to remove mercury from coal-based utilities at higher thresholds.”
- The presence of methyl mercury in fish has triggered health concerns and “fish advisories” even though a 2002 study by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that the risk of adverse health effects from exposure to mercury is low for the vast majority of Americans.
CMA noted the EPA proposal would “impose enormous costs on power plants that use coal, which, according to the agency’s own testimony before Congress, will have little-to-no benefit to the environment or to the health of consumers.” Since the rulemaking is proceeding, however, industry is committed to working with the agency to fashion a workable and cost-effective regulatory program.
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Failure to pass energy bill leaves U.S. vulnerable to OPEC, Pombo says
Congress’ failure to pass comprehensive national energy legislation that would increase domestic supply and “take positive steps toward self-sufficiency has rendered the United States helpless to the whims of OPEC,” House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) said this week.
Noting OPEC’s (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) move to cut production by another million barrels daily, Pombo said, “Our energy problems need comprehensive, long-term solutions.” He said legislation approved by the House (H.R. 6) “would not only help deliver real energy independence, it would create jobs and grow our economy at the same time.”
He urged Congress to “come together and pass this comprehensive plan to secure our energy future.”
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NAS Committee on Earth Resources adds new provisional members
The National Academy of Science’s (NAS) Committee on Earth Resources (CER), which is considering a study of the strategic and national security implications of having domestic capability to extract and manufacture minerals and other earth resources, has named eight new provisional members.
The new members are: Paul Bertsch, University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory; Frank Burke, CONSOL Energy Inc.; Henry Dalton, retired senior consultant, Department of Energy; Drew Meyer, Vulcan Materials Co.; Clayton Nichols, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory; Susan Patton, associate professor of mining engineering, Montana Tech; Reginal Spiller, Frontera Resources Corp.; and Rong-yu Wan, metallurgy consultant.
Other members of the committee include Thomas Falkie, chairman of Berwind Natural Resources Corp.; Patrick Cummings, air quality program manager, Western Governors’ Association, Michael Menge, senior advisor to the Alaska governor for energy, mining and the environment; John Murphy, research professor, University of Pittsburgh; Donald Paul, Chevron Texaco Corp.; Mark Roberts, professor of mineral economics, Michigan Technological University; Joaquin Ruiz, dean of the College of Sciences, University of Arizona; and Russell Stands-Over-Bull, president, Arrow Creek Resources Inc. The chair is Murray Hitzman, Colorado School of Mines.
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NMA voices concerns FY 2005 budget proposal
NMA this week said it supports the Bush Administration’s funding request for FutureGen “using previously appropriated funds for the Clean Coal Technology Program,” but is concerned the Administration’s support for the project “has come at the expense of the CCPI (Clean Coal Power Initiative) and basic coal R&D programs.”
DOE’s FY 2005 budget requests $237 million for the FutureGen project and $50 million for CCPI.
NMA said the technologies developed in the CCPI and coal R&D programs are “integral to the success of the FutureGen project. The alliance of coal and utility companies interested in cost-sharing the FutureGen project with the federal government warned the administration that this type of request could jeopardize the future technological integrity of the FutureGen project.”
NMA urged Congress to “restore the shortfalls in the CCPI and the deep cuts to the coal R&D programs while providing statutory language which would dedicate the total $237 million to the FutureGen project in this and future fiscal years.”
In a written statement filed with the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee, NMA also took issue with the Interior Department’s intentions to administratively impose several fee increases. NMA argued that Congress should require the department to address permitting delays before raising fees to pay for a broken permitting system.
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Coal plants increase performance in response to market dynamics
U.S. coal-based power plants collectively increased their performance in 2002 in response to market dynamics, particularly the rise in natural gas prices, according to Electric Light and Power magazine.
ELP said the top 10 coal-based plants needed to have generation above 16.6 million megawatt hours (MWH) in the latest data available (2002), compared with a cutoff of 15.8 million MWH the previous year. The difference, ELP said, “reflects the increase in utilization of coal units due to the increase in natural gas costs.”
Six new plants included in the list this year – John E. Amos (WV); Belews Creek (NC); Bruce Mansfield (PA); W.H. Sammis (OH); J.M. Stuart (OH); and Marshall (NC) – all “benefited primarily from high natural gas prices” and operational problems at a nuclear plant.
Overall coal generation in 2002 was at 70.6 percent capacity, compared to 69.9 percent in 2001, ELP said. “There was a slight increase in net capacity factor, in part due to retirement of smaller units.” Several high capacity factor power plants are mine-mouth facilities with low fuel costs,” ELP noted.
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Land use is ‘significant player’ in climate change debate, study says
Land use changes, including deforestation and shifts in agricultural production, are a “significant player” in impacting air temperature and causing climate change, according to a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.
The study, led by Somnath Baidya Roy of Princeton University, compared U.S. land use patterns during the past 300 years with temperature trends. It focused on two periods: 1700 to 1910, when pristine vegetation gave way to maximum deforestation as agriculture blossomed; and from 1910 to 1990, when eastern forests became re-established and croplands became concentrated in the Midwest.
According to the researchers, in 1910 forest cover in the United States reached its lowest level in the 300-year period of the study, making up about 21 percent of total land area. In contrast, forest cover in 1990 amounted to almost 40 percent of the total area.
These changes corresponded to significant warming in the eastern and southeaster U.S. between 1700 and 1910. From then until 1990, the Great Plains cooled by more than 1 degree Fahrenheit as agriculture expanded, which Roy said is statistically significant. “This tells you that the magnitude of climate change from land cover changes is quite large,” he said.
Land induced cooling could offset temperature increases caused by rising concentrations of greenhouse gases, Roy said, but scientists do not know by how much. He noted computer models have consistently predicted more rapid temperature increases than have been observed; it is clear that land use is probably a factor.
“One could conclude that the warming due to greenhouse gases (is) being to some extent mitigated by the land cover change signals,” Roy said. “To what extent is hard to tell.”
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