One Step Back Toward “Almost Heaven” - American University

97 Pages·2009·3.1 MB·English

One Step Back Toward “Almost Heaven”

A Production-Based Proposal for the Elimination of Mountaintop
Removal Coal Mining in West Virginia

Submitted by:

Rory McIlmoil

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of:

Master of Arts
Global Environmental Politics

American University
Washington, D.C.

December 21, 2007
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents Page

I. An Introduction to Mountaintop Removal and Its Impacts on the Land
and Communities in Southern West Virginia 3

Overview 3
Economic Drivers of MTR 4
Environmental Impacts of MTR 7
Social Impacts of MTR 10
Economic Impacts of MTR 11

II. An Analysis of Coal Production and Employment in West Virginia 15

Overview 15
Data Collection and Calculation Methods 16
Litigation Battles Related to Surface Mining in Central Appalachia 17
Bragg v. Robertson 17
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth v. Martin County Coal Co.
and the Army Corps of Engineers 18
Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment v.
the Army Corps of Engineers 19
Greater Impact on the Land: Trends in Surface Mine Permitting 21
Analysis: DEP Data 24
Data on Mountaintop Removal Permits 26
Analysis: GIS Mapping 27
Concluding Comments on Trends in Surface Mine Permitting 28
Coal Production 29
Overview of Influences on Production Trends 29
Underground Mine Production 32
Surface Mine Production 33
Final Production Comments 36
Coal Mining Employment 37
Overview – Total WV Mining Employment 38
Coal Mining Employment in Southern West Virginia 39
Price as an Additional Indicator 44
Review of Key Findings and a Viability Analysis for Shifting Production 46
South: Surface-to-Underground Shift 46
Regional: South-to-North Shift 49

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III. Proposal and Analysis for Shifting Coal Production Away from
Mountaintop Removal and Back to Underground Mines 51

Overview 51
Production 53
Production Shift by Mine Type 53
Production Shift by Region 54
Post-Shift Production in Northern West Virginia, by Mine Type 56
Post-Shift Production in Southern West Virginia, by Mine Type 58
Concluding Comments on Production and Viability
of the Proposal 60
Employment 61
Overview – pre-Shift Employment Trends 61
Post-Shift Employment 62
Price Impacts of the Proposed Production Shift 70
Concluding Comments on the Policy Proposal 72

IV. Conclusion: Post-MTR Possibilities for Alternative Energy and
Economic Development in Southern West Virginia 78

Overview: Moving Forward 78
One Model for Alternative Development: Wind Power 78
Preliminary Case-Study: Coal River Mountain 79
Proposed Surface Mining 79
Coal River Mountain Underground Mines 80
Production Shift Policy Analysis for Coal River Mountain 81
Coal River Mountain Wind Potential 82
Concluding Comments 86

V. Bibliography and List of References 87

VI. Acknowledgements 89

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LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES AND GRAPHICS

Title Page

Economic Drivers of MTR

Table I: Annual Mine Mouth Prices for West Virginia Coal, by Mine Type (1990-2006) 7

Table II: Annual Mine Mouth Prices for S. West Virginia Coal, by Mine Type (1990-2006) 7

Economic Impacts of MTR

Graphic 1: Overlay of Surface Mines onto County-level Poverty Rates, 2000 12

Graphic 2: Overlay of Surface Mines onto County-level Population Change, 2000 12

Graphic 3: Overlay of Surface Mines onto County-level High School Education Rates, 2000 12

Greater Impact on the Land: Trends in Surface Mine Permitting

Chart 1: Post-SMCRA Permitting of Surface Mines in West Virginia, post-SMCRA, 1977-2007 22

Chart 2: Strip-Mine Permitting in West Virginia, post-SMCRA, 1977-2007 (non-Litigation years) 22

Chart 3: Strip-Mine Permitting in West Virginia, post-CAA, 1990-2007 23

Chart 4: Strip-Mine Permitting in West Virginia, post-CAA, 1990-2007 (non-Litigation years) 23

Table III: Comparative Permit Data, non-Litigation vs. Litigation Years 24

Table IV: Number of Permits by Acre Range 25

Table V: Comparative Data for the Ten Largest Mines 25

Chart 5: Frequency of Large Permitted Surface Mines, by Area Range, 1990-2007 (non-Litigation Years) 26

Table VI: Comparative Analysis of MTR Permitting 26

Coal Production

Chart 6: West Virginia Coal Production by Region, 1990-2006 29

Chart 7: West Virginia Coal Production by Mine Type, 1990-2006 31

Chart 8: West Virginia Underground Coal Production and Operating Mines, by Region, 1994-2006 32

Chart 9: Regional Productivity of Underground Mines, 1994-2006 33

Table VII: Contribution of Mountaintop Removal to Total and southern WV Coal Production 34

Chart 10: Total Coal Production, Southern Production, and Southern Surface Production, 1994-2006 35

Chart 11: Surface Mine Production and Number of Operating Mines, by Region, 1994-2006 35

Chart 12: Surface Mine Productivity vs. Number of Operating Mines, by Region, 1994-2006 36

Coal Mining Employment

Chart 13: Coal Production and Employment in West Virginia, by Mine Type, 1990-2006 38

Chart 14: West Virginia Coal-Mining Employment, by Mine Type, and Surface Share of Production, 1990-2006 38

Chart 15: Coal Mining Employment and Production in Southern West Virginia, by Mine Type, 1994-2006 40

Chart 16: The Impact of Surface Mining on Total and Underground Mine Employment in S. WV, 1994-2006 40
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Coal Mining Employment (continued)

Chart 17: Avg. Mine Employment and Number of Mines in Southern West Virginia, by Mine Type, 1994-2006 41

Chart 18: Average Mine Employment and Mine Productivity for Southern West Virginia Mines, 1994-2006 42

Price as an Additional Indicator

Chart 19: Mine Mouth Price and Mine Productivity for S. West Virginia mines, by Mine Type, 1994-2006 44

Chart 20: Mine Mouth Price and Avg. Mine Employment for S. West Virginia Mines, by Mine Type, 1994-2006 45

Review of Key Findings and a Viability Analysis for Shifting Production

Chart 21: Coal Production and Number of Operating Mines in southern West Virginia, by Mine Type, 1994-2006 47

Chart 22: Mine Productivity and Number of Operating Mines in S. West Virginia, by Mine Type, 1994-2006 48

Chart 23: Comparison of Mine Productivity at S. Surface and N. Underground Mines, 1994-2006 50

Production

Table VIII: Pre-Shift Production Levels (1000 tons) 53

Table IX: Post-Shift Production Levels (1000 tons) 54

Table X-A: Pre- and Post-Shift Production, North (1000 tons) 55

Table X-B: Pre- and Post-Shift Production, South (1000 tons) 55

Table XI-A: Post-Shift Coal Production by Mine Type, NORTH (1000 tons) 56

Table XI-B: Post-Shift Underground Mining, NORTH 57

Table XI-C1: Post-Shift Viability Analysis, NORTH UNDERGROUND 58

Table XII-A: Post-Shift Coal Production by Mine Type, SOUTH 58

Table XII-B: Post-Shift Underground Mining, SOUTH 59

Table XIII: Summary, Post-Shift Shares of Total Production, 1994-2006 60

Employment

Table XIV: Coal Mining Employment, 1990-2006 61

Table XV-A, Post-Shift Employment, UNDERGROUND 63

Table XV-B, Post-Shift Employment, SURFACE 64

Table XV-C, Post-Shift Employment, TOTAL, by Mine Type 65

Table XVI-A1: Avg. Employment Productivity, for Analysis 67

Table XVI-B: Mixed Scenario: 90-93 Surface, 90-98 South Underground, 90-96 North Underground 67

Table XVII-A: Summary of Trends in S. West Virginia Coal Production and Employment, 2004-2006 69

Table XVII-B: Annual Production Shift, Employment Method Benefits 69

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Price Impacts of the Proposed Production Shift

Chart 19: Mine Mouth Price and Mine Productivity for S. West Virginia Mines, by Mine Type, 1994-2006 71
(This chart is duplicated from page 44)

Table XVIII: Summary Comparison of Pre- and Post-Shift Coal Prices ($/ton), 2001-2006 71

Preliminary Case-Study: Coal River Mountain

Table XIX: Coal River Mountain Permit Data 79

Table XX: Estimates for Coal River Mountain Underground Mines 81

Table XXI: Comparison of Underground and Surface Mining for Coal River Mountain 82

Table XXII: # Wind Turbines per Wind Class, CRM Wind 82

Graphic 4: Wind Potential for Coal River Mountain, and a View of Surrounding MTR 83

Graphic 5: Coal River Mountain Wind Potential and Turbines with Surface Mine Boundary 83

Graphic 6: Overlay of Coal River Mountain MTR boundaries over CRM Wind Potential 84

Graphic 7: Post-Mountaintop Removal, Coal River Mountain and Surrounding MTR Sites 85

Graphic 8: Coal River Mountain 396 MW Wind Farm Composed of 220 Turbines, Mountain Intact 85

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“To know about strip-mining or Mountaintop Removal is like knowing about the
nuclear bomb. It is to know beyond doubt that some human beings have, and
are willing to use, the power of absolute destruction.”
– Wendell Berry1

“They’re blowin’ up my damn home, and they just expect me to sit around like a
good little hillbilly and let ‘em do it? If they wanna shut me up, they’re gonna
have to kill me, because I ain’t gonna stop fightin’ until I’m lyin’ in the ground. ”
-- Maria Gunnoe, Boone County, WV, 2007

“There is no wise answer to strip-mining, but to phase it out as quickly as we can.”
-- Reverend Lloyd, 19772

1 Direct quote by Wendell Berry from the Prologue to: Goodell, Jeff, Big Coal, p. xv. (2006)
2 Montrie, Chad. To Save the Land and People: A history of Opposition to Surface Coal-Mining in Appalachia, p. 175. (2003)
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