Last time: Hydro licensing one stop shopping regulation

Coal Mining
Today: Coal mining safety and environmental risks Presentation: Coal mining in China Monday:

Coal Combustion externalities

Presentation: Coal combustion in Germany

COAL
Lignite

Sub-bituminous

Bituminous

Anthracite hard vs. soft coal

COAL
Lignite Major producers: Europe, Russia, US, Australia

Sub-bituminous

Bituminous

Major producers: China, US, India, Australia, Russia

Anthracite

NOTE: US anthracite production has almost disappeared since the 1960s; bituminous production has remained steady; lignite and subbituminous production has increased since the 1960s.

Electric Generation Fuel Sources, Worldwide

Source: IEA Key World Energy Statistics 2001

Dependence on Coal for electric generation:

Poland 96% India 66%(e)

South Africa 90%

Australia 84% PR China 80%(e) Greece 69%

USA 56%
Denmark 52% Germany 51% European Union 25% (1999)

Czech Republic 71% Netherlands 42%

Why so much reliance on a relatively dirty fuel?

Labor agreements: sectoral bargaining

Mining Regulation Health and Safety Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1972

Benefits
Black Lung Benefits Act of 1972 Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act of 1992 Retroactivity issue

UNDERGROUND MINING
Surface rights Subsurface rights

PROBLEM: Subsidence regulation Pa. Coal (1922) and Keystone Bituminous Coal (1978) Factors in takings cases

What is AMD? Where does it come from?

HYPOTHETICALS: 1. If the mine owner captures AMD from gob piles (piles of mining byproduct, unused material removed from the earth) in retention ponds (to allow solids to settle out), and then diverts the runoff from the ponds into a nearby stream without a CWA permit, is he violating the law? 2. If a surface mountaintop mine in West Virginia deposits its overburden into the valley below, which contains a stream, without a CWA permit, is it violating the law?

Mining Site
Gob Piles
slope

stream

Mining Site
Gob Piles
slope

Drainage ditches

stream

Clean Water Act

What does the Clean Water Act require of the mining company in this case? What circumstances trigger potential liability here? Do the defendant and the government agree on the proper interpretation of the Clean Water Act? Clean Water Act Sec. 301(a): the discharge of any pollutant by any person [without a permit] shall be unlawful What does it mean to discharge a pollutant?

Discharge Definition
CWA Section 502: (12) The term ''discharge of a pollutant'' and the term ''discharge of pollutants'' each means (A) any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source, (B) any addition of any pollutant to the waters of the contiguous zone or the ocean from any point source other than a vessel or other floating craft.

Did the mining company add a pollutant to navigable waters from a point source?

Point source Definition

CWA Section 502:

(14) The term ''point source'' means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include agricultural stormwater discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture.

SURFACE MINING: mountaintop mining

SURFACE MINING: mountaintop mining

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth v. Riverburgh