Press
- Parent Category: News
Resources Boom Fuels Demand for Underground Labor, Spurs Skyrocketing Pay; a $1,200 Chihuahua
By John W. Miller
MANDURAH, Australia—One of the fastest-growing costs in the global mining industry are workers like James Dinnison: the 25-year-old high-school dropout from Western Australia makes $200,000 a year running drills in underground mines to extract gold and other minerals.
The heavily tattooed Mr. Dinnison, who started in the mines seven years ago earning $100,000, owns a sky-blue 2009 Chevy Ute, which cost $55,000 before a $16,000 engine enhancement, and a $44,000 custom motorcycle. The price tag on his chihuahua, Dexter, which yaps at his feet: $1,200.
James Dinnison, a 25-year-old high school dropout from Western Australia, makes $200,000 a year running drills in underground mines to extract gold and other minerals. Why is he paid so much? John Miller explains on Lunch Break.
- Parent Category: News
ST. LOUIS , Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE:PCX - News) today announced the realignment of its operations management to strengthen oversight of key mine complexes in Appalachia and facilitate plans for expansion of captive production. Effective November 21 , the following management team will report directly to Bennett K. Hatfield , Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer:
- ·John R. Jones will join Patriot as Vice President, Operations – West Virginia South Region, including the Rocklick, Wells, Big Mountain and Paint Creek complexes.
- ·James N. Magro will serve as Senior Vice President, Operations – West Virginia North Region, including the Panther, Kanawha Eagle and Federal complexes.
- ·Michael D. Day will be Senior Vice President – Engineering and West Virginia Central Region Operations, with dual responsibilities for both the corporate engineering group and an operating region that includes the Logan County, Corridor G, Campbell 's Creek and Blue Creek complexes
- ·Lawrence J. Millburg will become Vice President, Operations – Kentucky Region, including the Bluegrass, Dodge Hill and Highland complexes
- ·Terry G. Hudson will continue in his current position as Vice President – Safety.
- · E. Kent Hartsog will continue in his current role as Vice President - Operations Support
- Parent Category: News
The Associated Press story about the anticipated decline of Central Appalachian coal production paints a bleak picture for the future of coal in that region. According to the article, coal production is expected to plummet in the near future, primarily due to depletion of mineable reserves.
The writer cites a 2010 report by Mcllmoil and Hansen of Downstream Strategies, an environmental consulting firm in Morgantown, W.Va., as well as other sources. As a geologist familiar with coal resources in Eastern Kentucky, I wanted to find out more about how Mcllmoil and Hansen arrived at these conclusions.
- Parent Category: News
Total coal stockpile levels at U.S. electric power plants were 139 million tons in August 2011—the lowest total level for August since 2006. Bituminous coal stockpiles declined the most, down 27% since August 2009. Increases in the spot price of Central Appalachian coal as well as some supply disruptions in the late spring of 2011 contributed to declining stock levels.
Coal stockpile levels typically decline during summer months as power plants burn through stocks to meet seasonal peak electric demand for air conditioning load. Stockpile levels have been depressed throughout 2011 compared to 2009 and 2010 levels. According to average monthly data, the spot price of Central Appalachian coal (a key benchmark for the price of Eastern bituminous coal) was up 18% since August 2010. Flooding in April and May disrupted some coal deliveries, especially in the Southeast, and likely played a role in the declining stock levels going into the summer of 2011.
"Days of burn," another measure of the disposition of coal stocks, dipped under 60 days by mid-year 2011 for the first time since 2008. The average number of days of burn held at electric power plants is a forward-looking estimate of coal supply, given a power plant's current stockpile and past consumption patterns. Mostly for reliability reasons, plant operators maintain stockpiles within certain ranges even though supply disruptions in excess of 60 days are relatively unlikely. Days of burn held generally rose in 2009 as a result of the reduced electricity demand associated with lower economic activity.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electricity Monthly Update
- Parent Category: News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - State general revenue collections again exceeded expectations last month, pushing the state's current surplus over $69 million just four months into the fiscal year.
The state collected $336.7 million in general revenue during October, about $25.6 million or 8 percent above budget expectations of $311.2 million for the month.
Since the fiscal year began on July 1, the state has taken in just under $1.4 billion in revenue, 5 percent more than the $1.33 billion the state had projected it would collect by this point.
That $1.4 billion represents a 6.5 percent growth rate over last year.
- Parent Category: News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A strong overseas market for West Virginia coal continues to reap dividends for the state's government finances.
Tomblin administration officials credit coal exports for much of the economic health reflected in October's general revenue tax collections.
Last month's general revenues totaled nearly $337 million. That's $25 million more than expected.
Sales and personal income taxes beat their October estimates by a combined $10 million. These are key sources of general revenue, and are also signs of economic activity.
The state's main business taxes also brought in more than expected last month. So did taxes on coal and other extracted natural resources.
Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow says coal experts were up 42 percent for the calendar year as of August.
- Parent Category: News
By Perry Chiaramonte
A scathing new expose on the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change -- which sets the world's agenda when it comes to the current state of the climate -- claims that its reports have often been written by graduate students with little or no experience in their field of study and whose efforts normally might be barely enough to satisfy grad school requirements.
Grad students often co-author scientific papers to help with the laborious task of writing. Such papers are rarely the cornerstone for trillions of dollars worth of government climate funding, however -- nor do they win Nobel Peace prizes.
Read more: U.N. Hires Grad Students to Author Key Climate Report
- Parent Category: News
By Rich Trzupek
Lisa Jackson still doesn’t get it. The EPA Administrator is stuck in 1970 and refuses to acknowledge the environmental and economic realities of 2011, as her rambling, misleading Op-Ed that ran in the L.A. Times last week so clearly demonstrates.
Jackson claims, for example, that House Republicans are conducting an "…assault on our environmental and public health protections will mean the difference between sickness and health — in some cases, life and death — for hundreds of thousands of citizens."
She refers here to the proposed "Boiler MACT" and "Utility MACT" (MACT stands for Maximum Achievable Control Technology) rules that the EPA is trying to ram down the nation’s throat at a time we can least afford such pristine luxuries. The fact is that the nation has made enormous progress in cleaning up the air over the last forty years and EPA’s claims that it’s vital to crank down on the thumbscrews in the industrial sector once again are both self-serving and highly dubious. Consider a few facts that Jackson failed to mention:
- Parent Category: News
By Rep. Ed Whitfield
FoxNews.com
Economists call it "the jobs multiplier effect" – each new job created in turn supports other new jobs. A new pool of workers means new salaries being spent in local economies for everyday needs at places like the supermarket, the car dealer, or the dentist.
The jobs multiplier can also work in the opposite direction when people are laid off, causing a domino effect of job losses due to decreased spending in local communities. And that’s exactly what’s happening today. The regulatory attack of President Obama’s EPA on affordable electricity is unleashing a negative multiplier effect that is resulting in lost jobs and hurting local economies all across the country.
This is puzzling, to say the least, in that the president himself has spoken of the need to draw on all of our energy resources to meet our electricity needs. But his Environmental Protection Agency clearly has a different agenda.
Since 2009, EPA has been rolling out an unprecedented wave of new regulations targeting the coal-fired power plants that provide nearly half of the nation’s electricity and support thousands of jobs both directly and indirectly.
Read more: There's A War On America's Biggest Energy Resource - And Jobs Are the Casulaties