Magnificent Group of Speakers Being Assembled for Bluefield Coal Symposium
The Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias based in Bluefield and Princeton, WV recently announced that the 2024 Bluefield Coal Symposium will take place at the Chuck Mathena Center in Princeton, WV on August 12-14. Chair of the Symposium is Bill Reid, Managing Editor of CoalZoom.
Bill Reid
“This one-of-a-kind Symposium has four specific aims: first is to aid the search for zero accidents and second to lift the spirits of those serving the coal industry,” said Reid. “The third is to help promote MINExpo INTERNATIONAL® and fourth is to examine the challenges and opportunities for coal. We are confident that this quite magnificent group of well-known speakers being invited will absolutely delight all those who are able to attend this marquee national event.”
The Bluefield Coal Symposium has the theme Using U.S. Coal for a Better America and is jointly presented by the Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias and CoalZoom.com. The symposium is being held at the Chuck Mathena Center, 1298 Stafford Drive, Princeton, WV. which has a beautiful 930-seat theater with state-of-the-art audio and visual capabilities as well as stunning architecture.
The distinguished group of speakers, comprising leaders in the industry from all parts of the country, comprises:
4 coal operator CEOs
5 coal association heads
2 government agency leaders
10 industry experts
top-class entertainment on both evenings
The speakers will present their experiences in achieving greater safety and increased productivity in both underground and surface mining. Over a day and a half, there are three technical sessions and the Symposium includes entertainment with special live performances by top-class entertainment during the two evenings.
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Department of Labor Issues Final Rule Reducing Silica Dust Exposure, Better Protecting Miners' Health From Irreversible Workplace Illnesses
The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that its Mine Safety and Health Administration has issued a final rule to better protect the nation’s miners from health hazards associated with exposure to respirable crystalline silica, also known as silica dust or quartz dust.
The final rule lowers the permissible exposure limit of respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air for a full-shift exposure, calculated as an 8-hour time-weighted average. If a miner’s exposure exceeds the limit, the final rule requires mine operators to take immediate corrective actions to come into compliance.
“It is unconscionable that our nation’s miners have worked without adequate protection from silica dust despite it being a known health hazard for decades,” said Acting Secretary Julie Su. “Today, the Department of Labor has taken an important action to finally reduce miners’ exposure to toxic silica dust and protect them from suffering from preventable diseases. Mining communities across the country should know that the Biden-Harris administration is determined to do what must be done to ensure that miners come home safe and healthy at the end of every day.”
In addition to reducing exposure limits, the final rule does the following:
Requires mine operators to use engineering controls to prevent miners’ overexposures to silica dust and use dust samplings and environmental evaluations to monitor exposures.
Compels metal and nonmetal mine operators to establish medical surveillance programs to provide periodic health examinations at no cost to miners. The exams are similar to the medical surveillance programs available to coal miners under existing standards.
Replaces an outdated standard for respiratory protection with a new standard reflecting the latest advances in respiratory protection and practices. This update will better protect miners against airborne hazards, including silica dust, diesel particulate matter, asbestos and other contaminants.
“This rule reducing miners’ exposures to toxic silica dust has been a long time in the making, and the nation’s miners deserve its health protections,” said Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health Chris Williamson. “Congress gave MSHA the authority to regulate toxic substances to protect miners from health hazards and made clear in the Mine Act that miners’ health and safety must always be our first priority and concern. To further advance this directive, MSHA is committed to working together with everyone in the mining community to implement this rule successfully. No miner should ever have to sacrifice their health or lungs to provide for their family.”
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Meeting Growing Global Demand With U.S. Coal
The fourth quarter of 2023 brought a surge in U.S. coal exports and there are promising signs the robust market for U.S. coal will continue.
Total 2023 Q4 exports surged 25% year-over-year compared with 2022, according to S&P Global. The surge in exports was led by cargoes to India where the volume of imported U.S. coal doubled, grabbing nearly a third of U.S. export volumes. While exports to Europe retreated from their highs in 2022 during the scramble to replace Russian energy, exports to China, Morocco and Turkey also increased to close out 2023.
For the year, coal exports rose 17.7% from 2022 to 90.5 million metric tons in 2023. Of that volume, 51.4% was metallurgical coal and 48.6% was thermal coal.
Rising U.S. export cargoes reflect rising global coal demand. Global coal use hit an all-time high in 2023, surpassing 8.5 billion tons for the first time, on the back of strong demand in emerging and developing countries and in China. And there are no signs of a coming slowdown. The International Energy Agency expects coal consumption in India and Southeast Asia to “grow significantly.”
For all the attention given to China’s prominence in coal markets as the world’s largest producer and user, and Beijing’s plans to rapidly expand China’s coal generating capacity as an energy security and reliability backstop, coal’s irreplaceable role in India is increasingly coming into focus.
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Stop Apologizing
This is the year where we stop apologizing. Advocating for ‘coal elimination’ is irresponsible and it makes vulnerable nations more vulnerable. It is time people understood the facts.
Guest Comment: Issue 1 2024
In November 2023, the World Coal Association rebranded to ‘FutureCoal: The Global Alliance for Sustainable Coal’. Why did we do this? To shed a misaligned negative perception of coal and unite the global coal value chain under a shared vision.
FutureCoal reminds us that coal offers us solutions to achieve both economic progress and emissions reductions. It is easy to say that eliminating coal automatically leads to zero emissions, or that installing renewables automatically leads to 100% clean, affordable, and reliable energy; but both statements are incorrect.
Instead, we have created a roadmap that charts the course for the global coal value chain to navigate to a future of sustainability, technology (much of which exists today), innovation, and resilience. We call this Sustainable Coal Stewardship (SCS). SCS redefines the role of responsible coal participants across the mining, utilization, and recycling sectors – empowering innovative stakeholders to lead the charge towards a sustainable society.
SCS encompasses three phases: Pre-Combustion, Combustion, and Beyond Combustion.
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New Paper Highlights the Collision of Surging Electricity Demand with EPA’s Grid Reliability Crisis
Surging demand for electricity is colliding with rapidly eroding grid reliability and projected power supply shortfalls driven by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulatory agenda, the National Mining Association (NMA) highlighted in a new white paper issued today. The paper also found that as coal plant retirements accelerate due to the cumulative impact of EPA’s agenda, new renewable energy and interstate transmission additions aren’t materializing to reliably meet existing or expected power demand.
“This paper clearly shows America’s electricity reality: our ability to keep the lights on now and in the future is in the hands of an agency unwilling to grapple with the facts on the ground and recognize the danger posed by its agenda,” said Rich Nolan, NMA president and CEO. “Surging power demand is here, and despite repeated warnings by electricity grid operators, utilities, electric co-ops and the nation’s energy reliability regulators that we are already in a power supply crisis, EPA is doubling down.”
Rich Nolan
Specific challenges raised in the paper include:
- Power Demand is Soaring. Power demand is surging due to the rapid growth of data centers, artificial intelligence, the reshoring of heavy industry and electrification of the economy. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which oversees the reliability of the nation’s grid, reported in December that “key measures of future electricity demand and energy needs are rising faster than at any time in recent years, adding to future resource adequacy concerns at a time of unprecedented transformation in the industry.”
- Power Supply is Under Siege. NERC warned in its Long-Term Reliability Assessment that the planned retirement of 83 GW of fossil and nuclear generation over the next decade creates blackout risks for much of the country. The grid monitor also noted that another 30 GW of capacity is expected to close but the plans aren't yet final.
- EPA is Charging Ahead. The EPA is using a suite of rules to force the accelerated retirement of the majority of the nation’s coal fleet by 2032. Despite repeated warnings from the nation’s electricity providers and energy reliability regulators that its agenda poses a direct threat to grid reliability, EPA remains committed to accelerating coal plant retirements.
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