H.R. 3409 - Virginia (and America) Needs This Legislation

House to Vote on Measure to Halt Overregulation of Coal

 

By: Ross Eisenberg under Energy on September 18, 2012 @ 4:36 pm

[One week ago]Alpha Natural Resources, one of the world’s leading producers of coal, announced plans to idle eight mines and lay off 1,200 workers in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania....  It’s another unfortunate chapter in what has been a very difficult few years for the American coal industry.

It is against this grim backdrop that the House of Representatives will take up H.R. 3409, the “Stop the War on Coal Act.” The bill was scheduled for Rules Committee debate [last] Wednesday and the House floor shortly thereafter. H.R. 3409 takes aim at several federal regulations that, if allowed to go forward, would effectively kick the coal industry while it’s down. Regulations like EPA’s recently-proposed greenhouse gas New Source Performance Standards, which effectively ban the construction of new conventional coal-fired power plants. Or the “Utility MACT” regulation, a $10 billion annual hit to the economy that costs 40 percent more than all of EPA’s power plant-sector air regulations combined.

Coal is one of the nation’s most abundant energy resources and a vital part of our efforts to meet our energy and transportation needs. Coal generates a significant percentage of our nation’s electricity, and maintaining coal in a diverse national energy portfolio is in the national economic interest. The NAM strongly supports H.R. 3409, which would protect a reliable, affordable and available part of our nation’s energy mix from overregulation.

Obama Delivers a Death Blow to the Coal Industry | FrontPage Magazine

Obama Delivers a Death Blow to the Coal Industry FrontPage Magazine

Good luck getting them Chevy Volts and Nissan Leafs charged up without a dependable electrical grid. This is one more reason Virginia needs to remove the current occupier of the White House and get this reversed. Coal is an essential part of Virginia's economy. This will result in more jobs lost; more people on government dole. Less and more expensive electricity. Another hand in our pocket taking money they don't deserve for no other reason than they think they can.

Mr Cantor, you need to be making arrangements to get this reversed and protect Virginia jobs.

The coal industry and coal-fired power has been dealt a series of body blows by the Obama administration over the last four years. Yesterday, the EPA delivered the coup de grace to coal, in the form of a new rule that – unless overturned by Congress or a future administration – will ensure that no new, modern coal-fired power plants will be built in the United States.

The EPA released Subpart TTTT of New Source Performance Standards yesterday, a proposed rule that limits carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. No coal-fired power plant can meet the emission limit (1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of power produced), but natural gas-fired power plants can. This will lead to some significant changes in the power energy once the rule goes final, sometime next year.

It is now estimated that around 50,000 to 80,000 megawatts of coal fired power will be retired from the grid over the next few years. Coal fired power is base load power (that is, power that has to be available all of the time) and neither solar nor wind can provide base load power anywhere but in the President’s green fantasies. Biomass (wood, energy crops, etc.) can provide base load power, but there’s not nearly enough of the fuel to replace so much coal. More nuclear power could easily shoulder the load, but there’s no way that we can permit and build enough nuclear plants in the time available. That leaves natural gas as the only fuel that can possibly be used to replace all of that coal.

It’s a shame that we’re knowingly abandoning such a cheap, reliable and plentiful resource like coal in a foolish effort to fulfill a ridiculous crusade led by eco-puritans. It’s maddening that such a decision was made not by Congress, nor by the voters, but by a few faceless bureaucrats hiding behind global-warming pseudo-science that has become the twenty-first century’s version of alchemy. But that’s where we are and, unless something changes this November, that’s where we’re likely to be for quite a while.

News Flash!!!! Obama's BLM Salazar Lied

Salazar Lied About Oil Production on Federal Lands

Yesterday I pointed out that the production of fossil fuels on federal lands is down from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2011 (October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2010 compared to October 1, 2010, to September 30, 2011).This is significant because the administration is… well, lying. Not long ago, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said, “

The fact of the matter is we are producing more from public lands – both oil and gas, both onshore as well as offshore, than any time in recent memory.”

Not only is Salazar wrong, he’s wrong for every type of fossil fuel produced on federal lands.

Crude oil production? Down from 739 million barrels to 646 million barrels in FY 2011.

Natural gas production? Down from 5,415 Billion cubic feet (Bcf) to 4,859 Billion cubic feet (Bcf) in FY 2011.

Natural gas plant liquids? Down from 115 million barrels to 111 million barrels in FY 2011

Coal production? Down from 478 million short tons to 470 million short tons in FY 2011.

Taken altogether, the total amount of fossil fuel produced from federal land hit 18.6 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu), lower than every year since 2003.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, recently asked Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey about the discrepancy between administration claims and the most recent figures from the Energy Information Agency.

EPA Hurting Jobs in Virginia

EPA'S REGULATORY TRAIN WRECK
TELL CONGRESS TO STOP THE EPA FROM KILLING APPALACHIAN JOBS

WE NEED YOU TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

The House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment is scheduled to hold a hearing this week on the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory assault on America's mining industry.

Click here to urge your representatives to support reasonable mining policies and demand EPA end its assault on America's coal industry.

EPA cannot be allowed to dictate its own environmental policies without the oversight and approval of our elected representatives in Congress. Thousands of high-paying jobs are in jeopardy; tax revenues that sustain schools and vital services are being threatened; and the coal that provides reliable and affordable electricity is at risk.

Contact your Member of Congress today and make your voice heard!

The focus of Thursday's hearing, "EPA's Mining Policies: Assault on Appalachian Jobs - Part 1," will be on EPA's conductivity surface mining guidance and other regulatory assaults under the Clean Water Act, which could effectively impose a moratorium on new mining permits in Appalachia.

If we work together and speak in one voice, we will end EPA's attack on the coal industry and ensure that our nation continues to benefit from America's abundant supply of coal and other vital minerals for years to come.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION

Coal Provides Virginia Jobs

Take Action: Protect Appalachian [and Virginia] Jobs

The Environmental Protection Agency has provided an additional comment period on the agency's proposed new water quality guidelines for coal mining operations in Appalachia. We urge you to visit our Action Center and submit your comments to the EPA telling them you oppose these new guidelines which would effectively bring an end to coal mining in Appalachia. We need you to act now, the deadline to submit comments is tomorrow!

These proposed guidelines would impose new regulatory barriers for coal mining permits in Appalachia effectively stopping the issuance of permits creating a moratorium on coal. Such destructive regulatory actions would jeopardize the economic future of the region and one of our most reliable and economically affordable domestic sources of energy.

It is clear that the EPA is unfairly targeting thousands of hardworking miners and coal communities across Appalachia.

The EPA must listen to those who will be most affected by this policy. We need you to make your voice heard and tell the EPA and the Obama administration that they can't take away coal jobs without hearing the voices of the people that depend on coal to provide for their families and communities across Appalachia.

The deadline to submit comments is tomorrow! Please share this link with people you know, and encourage them to write the EPA today!

ACCE Response to SOTU

ACCCE President and CEO Steve Miller Statement on 2010 State of the Union Remarks
Click here to read the statement on behalf of Stephen L. Miller, president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), in response to the 2010 State of the Union remarks.

A Message From FACES of Coal

As 2009 draws to a close, we would like to thank you for your support of FACES of Coal and your efforts to ensure that lawmakers and the American people understand that coal energizes our nation and fuels our economy.

Since we launched our campaign in August,

• 40,000 individuals have registered as members of FACES of Coal;
• 104 organizations, including chambers of commerce, fiscal courts, manufacturers and retailers, support our coalition; and
• 1,349 lawmakers representing 44 states have received 30,000 e-mails and letters in support of coal.

Washington bureaucrats have still taken no action on dozens of mining permits that have been arbitrarily stalled. Our legislators have still not delivered the balanced energy and economic policy we need and deserve.

The future of coal mining in America remains uncertain, and we need you to continue writing and calling your elected representatives (you can do so now by clicking the link below).

Remind them our holiday lights are shining bright because of the affordable electricity generated by coal. And we can provide good food and gifts to our families and friends in our warm homes, because of the good jobs sustained by coal.

Thank you for your efforts to protect our jobs and secure our future.

We wish you and yours a happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security(FACES of Coal)

Click the link below to log in and send your message:
http://www.votervoice.net/link/target/faces39210323.aspx

American Resources Review

We can't stop using coal. But we should use every flammable substance we have to generate power.


Millions of Jobs would be Exported

National Mining Association President and CEO, Hal Quinn, contributed to a recent forum on National Journal’s “Energy and Environment” experts blog:
We do not believe that the public interest is well served by policies that approach
our energy future as a zero-sum game.

Public policies encouraging the replacement of coal based electricity generation with natural gas are the bridge for accelerating the export of our manufacturing base and, with it, millions of high-wage jobs.

Look no further than actual experience over the past decade. As the use of natural gas increased for generating electricity, our manufacturing sector paid substantially higher prices for electricity (56 percent) and natural gas (200 percent).

In a report released last year, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) warned that “policies that encourage the use of natural gas to substitute for coal in power generation could very well lead to spectacular price increases for households and industry.”

Heritage Morning Bell - Wacky/Marxist Bill

The Transparent Costs of Cap and Trade

On June 26th of this year, the House of Representatives narrowly passed H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. More commonly known as the Waxman-Markey bill (named after bill sponsors Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), the 1,427-page bill tries to control global temperatures by creating a “cap” on greenhouse gas emissions, and then hoping that greenhouse emitters would “trade” emissions permits meet the cap. Under the scheme, the government would issue fewer allowances each year, causing the cost of the permits to rise. The cost of these allowances is a tax, and under Waxman-Markey, the tax would rise each year. As with any tax, it will ultimately be passed on to consumers in the form of higher energy and product prices.

On August 6th, the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis released a report detailing the economic costs of the Waxman-Markey. Since energy is the lifeblood of the American economy, 85 percent of which comes from CO2-emitting fossil fuels, the Waxman-Markey bill’s arbitrary and severe restrictions on the current energy supply and infrastructure will not only have direct impact on consumers’ budgets through higher electric bills and gasoline prices, but also cause unnecessary inefficiencies at virtually every stage of production. CDA estimates that Waxman-Markey legislation would cost the average family-of-four almost $3,000 per year, cause 2.5 million net job losses by 2035, and a produce a cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) loss of $9.4 trillion between 2012 and 2035.

Surely our study did not produce the results Waxman and Markey expected. Earlier this month Reps. Waxman and Markey sent us, and a number of other institutions, a letter asking us to answer 33 methodological questions about the analytical techniques used in our study. We were delighted by Waxman and Markey’s letter since it is just the kind of thoughtful investigative work our lawmakers should do more often. For example, they asked if our model took into account an increase in private sector investments in research and development that would be sparked by the legislation and a new carbon market. Answer: It did. Our model incorporates both short and long-run responses to higher energy prices.

Waxman also asked if our model quantified any benefits of avoided climate change. Answer: It didn’t. Because according to estimates based on IPCC data, the Waxman-Markey bill would only impact global temperatures by .044 degrees C (about .09 degrees F) by 2050. There simply are no economic benefits from such a minuscule impact.

Waxman-Markey did not send their questions to some notable organizations that have conducted analysis of their bill like the Congressional Budget Office and the Brooking Institution. After we requested they do so, we have since received word that Waxman and Markey sent the same letter to the CBO. They had previously included the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Energy Information Administration (EIA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), CRA International, the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF), and the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC).

In the interests of an honest and transparent debate about the costs of cap and trade the Heritage Foundation has devoted a space on our website, www.heritage.org, where we have posted our answers in their entirety. We have formally invited the other organizations who were asked these questions to allow us to post their responses as well, in the interest of full transparency.

Let’s hope the Waxman-Markey questionnaire signals that a serious debate can now take place. American families deserve to be kept fully apprised of how Congress intends to act, and how those actions will most likely affect their pocketbooks, their jobs, and their lives.

Enviro-Wackos Whining About Bats

FACES of Coal

Environmentalists are trying to have it both ways in West Virginia – no coal mining and no wind farms. West Virginians wonder whether or not they will have electricity if the environmentalists win both the coal and wind fights.
Environmentalists divided over wind turbines, endangered bats - washingtonpost.com
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
GREENBRIER COUNTY,
W.VA. -- Workers atop mountain ridges are putting together 389-foot windmills with massive blades that will turn Appalachian breezes into energy. Retiree David Cowan is fighting to stop them.

Bob McDonnell Should Visit Dutch Gap

"I think it's a real concern, and we need to find ways to be able to reduce [carbon dioxide] emissions," Mr. McDonnell said in advocating development of technology to eliminate pollutants from coal-fired energy plants.

Hello!!! We have it and we are doing it.

Learn about it...talk about it.
We're one of the first, again.
Virginia has always been first.

Coal, National Security and Virginia Jobs

We have a petition opposing the Wacky-Marxist legislation.

It goes like this:

We, your constituents, have signed this petition against the passage of the Waxman-Markey bill and the Senate version of the Cap and Trade Bill and the trillions of dollars and the 100’s of thousands of jobs it will cost the Commonwealth and all of America.

This legislation will increase the cost of energy in the Commonwealth at a time when every feasible source of domestic energy should be explored and used, and at a time when Virginians can afford it least.

Virginia is a coal state. There are thousands of Virginians whose livelihood depends upon the production and use of coal; hard working, tax-paying Virginians who deserve better.

Coal is a reliable source of energy.

It is plentiful.

Clean coal technology works.

The theory of so-called “global warming”, or “climate change” is junk science.

CO2 is not a pollutant.

Ya'll know how I feel about domestic energy production and specifically, the use of coal. You know I help build clean coal facilities for Dominion Power. I've told people over and over, clean coal works its viable, and its cheap.

This is, IMAO, a states' rights issue. A 10th Amendment Issue. Its Virginia's coal. We should be able to use our resources as we see fit, within the guidelines of good sense and economic viability.

The current crop of new candidates seeking election to the House of Delegates and VA Senate would be well-served to address this issue now. Do not allow the radicals and outside agitators to dictate Virginia's economy. The future of Virginia jobs and her citizens depend on you for protection.

Thanks to one of my Facebook friends I found a link to a website supporting coal production in Appalachia. You'll see a new avatar on the left hand side of this website.

Go and sign the letter, please.

From the website:
Coal energizes our communities and the nation. It fuels our economy and powers our homes and businesses. It provides good jobs and an economic future for our families. But radical activists are determined to end coal in Appalachia. They don't care about our jobs, our communities or our future. Without coal, our thriving communities will not survive. Sign the letter today.

Dear Elected Officials,
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has arbitrarily decided to halt for further review 79 pending coal mining permits in the Appalachian states. These permits have been reviewed and approved by both state and federal regulatory authorities, after the EPA had commented, or chosen not to comment, on each of the permit applications.

Only when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals wholly rejected the challenges by outside environmental activists, did EPA decide to intervene and reassert the same arguments the courts had already rejected.

EPA's action, or inaction, is threatening more than 100,000 jobs and further destabilizes communities that have been battered by the recession. Moreover, millions of Americans depend on coal for affordable electricity, and the Appalachian states depend on coal for tax revenue that keeps their budgets afloat.

When nationwide unemployment is at its highest level in years, the government should not stop Americans from going to work. When states are facing major budget shortfalls and even bankruptcy because of the weak economy, the federal government should not kill significant sources of revenue.

The consequences of the EPA's actions will be severe. Please take action today to pressure the EPA to lift these bureaucratic roadblocks. The future of families across Appalachia depends on you.

Thank you,

Dhimmicrats Intentionally Sabotage American Economic Independence

Family Security Matters

....the Obama administration has installed an “energy team” that is completely opposed to the development of any energy resources in America, from offshore and ANWR oil to coal mining or the construction of coal-fired plants to generate electricity. Coal currently produces 50% of the nation’s electricity.

Steven Chu, the Secretary of Energy, is on record saying, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”

It is $8 a gallon there.

Oil producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, along with Venezuela, will grow rich while Americans will be faced with high costs for gasoline, motor and heating oil, and everything else that depends on oil such as asphalt or even Vaseline.

Meanwhile, oil producers in America, large and small, will take a financial beating. If you don’t like living in a modern, advanced and industrialized society, you will favor this. If you think Americans consume too much, drive too much, and deserve to be punished for it, you will favor this.

Recently, Barry Russell, the president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, released a statement in which he said, “President Obama delivered a devastating blow to the American oil and natural gas industry by proposing an astonishing $30 billion tax increase (as part of his FY 2010 budget) on American energy producers, most of whom are small businesses.”

“Ninety percent of the oil and natural gas wells developed in the United States are done by small, independent businesses – not so called ‘Big Oil’ – so tax increases hurt these companies most.” It also, of course, hurts any prospect for the discovery and production of new sources of oil and natural gas in America.

Dominion Power Is Making An Effort to Produce Clean Energy

Before you get your panties in a wad about the price of electricity, think about what you're getting for your money. Frozen steaks, air conditioning, hot water. It's what makes this country great.
Dominion Resources has invested $350,000,000 (yes, thats MILLION) in a system that scrubs the emissions from it's coal-fired facility at Dutch Gap to less than 5% solids and less than 2% sulfur. What is sent into the atmosphere from the power-generation process is a cloud. Thats right, a cloud. Water vapor.
I have video of the top of the stack on my vox site. Thats clean energy friends and neighbors.
We have it now, right here in the Old Dominion.
Now before you left wing tree hugging nutjob enviro-nazis start calling me a shill for the power industry, let me tell you what I do.
I'm an inspector. I am a Third Party Special Inspector to be precise. I verify compliance with approved construction documents and the 2003 International Building Code under Chapter 17. I answer to the Internationl Code Council and my Project Manager.

Cleaner Energy

Thats what we want, right? I mean, lets face it, we flip a switch, a light comes on. We put steaks in the freezer, they stay frozen until we're ready to throw them on the grill. We turn on a faucet, hot water for showers comes flowing out.
None of that will happen without electricity. The first component of a civilized society is a continous source of clean water. The second component is electricty.
We need it, we've become accustomed to having it; and when its not there, well, we all remember September 2003. I went wihout power for 16 days, and finally spent the money for a generator.
But how to generate that power without incurring the wrath of the enviro-nazis and the Sierra Club?
Don't mention nuclear power. That will get you a tirade on spent fuel rods, storage, 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl.
Hydro? Very clean, but not everyone has a free running stream to tap, and you have all those snail darters and newts to worry about.
The best way to generate power is to use coal and water. Coal fired boilers and steam turbines.
But wait a minute. What about all that coal smoke and the ash? What about the srtip mines and Peabody's coal train?

Well, Dominion Resources (thats VEPCO to you old folks) has built the latest in clean coal fired technology down here at Dutch Gap and it is now up and running and it is simply remarkable.

Limestone and water, mixed into a slurry, is injected at a certain point in the combustion process. The result is a plume at the top of the stack which is 100% water vapor. Particulants are measured at 15 ppm, and it will get better as the system adjusts itself.

Take a look at the image below. That white cloud over the chimney is exactly that: a white cloud. It's water vapor. Steam. It vanishes as it moves syward. A still shot really doesn't do this justice, so I'll get some video to show the evaporation as the plume rises, as soon as I can.


The by-product of this process is gypsum, used to make sheetrock and a dozen other products.
The coal ash is processed and stockpiled, or sold to cement manufacturers for use in concrete.
Thats flyash. The second best thing to happen to concrete.
Dominion Resources is working night and day to provide us with clean electricty. I have been a part of this project for over two years. It works. It's clean.
All you global warming enviro-whackos can now STFU.
You're welcome

$100 Oil = Liquid Coal = ?

Hey Carl! Spark this up! Wise County = Virginia's Saudi Arabia? Coal to Gasoline!


David Adam of The Guardian reported over the weekend on the first international conference on “coal to liquids,” in Paris, at which a host of officials from around the world excitedly described a host of new coal-to-liquids initiatives aimed at securing flows of transportation fuel in a world facing high oil prices for a long time to come.