Safety rules, court cases over environmental issues squeeze coal producers in Central Appalachia

With new coal-mine safety regulations being implemented and more being proposed in Congress, "Industry analysts expect bigger mining companies with highly productive underground mines . . . to be able to afford the new safety measures," writes Matthew Dalton of Dow Jones Newswires in The Wall Street Journal. "But underground miners in the Central Appalachian region, which includes southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, are likely to be more affected. The mines there tend be smaller, older and higher cost -- and less able to pay for new underground mine-safety regulations. Miners have already been coping with higher labor and fuel costs associated with the region's underground mines."

So, Dalton reports, "Central Appalachian companies such as Massey Energy Corp. and James River Coal Co., both based in Richmond, Va., have been trying to switch more of their production to surface mining, which in central Appalachia involves the controversial technique of mountaintop mining." Dalton notes a recent federal-court ruling, now on appeal, that keeps Massey from getting permits for four mountaintop mines. "This case and other pending litigation filed by environmental groups have, for the time being, limited surface mining in the Appalachian region." Dalton writes. "That leaves more market share for coal miners using other methods in other regions that don't have the environmental-permit problems of Massey and other Central Appalachian producers." (Read more; subscription may be required)

For sources on covering environmental issues, from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, click here. For Institute reports on other coal issues in Appalachia, click here.