Mining

Funds Being Directed to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Rend Lake College

September 15, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Roland W. Burris today announced that the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Rend Lake College in Ina, IL will be receiving $100,000 in Brookwood-Sago grant awards from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Funding will support the development and implementation of training materials for mine emergency preparedness and haulage safety. The following are descriptions of the funds being allocated to Illinois:    » read more »

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announces Recovery Act Projects to address safety hazards and environmental damage at abandoned mines

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2009 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today $19.88 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to address safety hazards and environmental damage caused by abandoned mines. The 14 projects receiving Recovery Act funds are located in National Forests in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Michigan, and Montana.

"The funding provided by President Obama's Recovery Act will address safety hazards and correct environmental damage at neglected and abandoned mines around the country," said Vilsack.    » read more »

Peabody Energy and Shanxi Lu'an Mining Group Co., Ltd. agree to pursue joint development of open-cut mine in Xinjiang

ST. LOUIS, June 23 -- Peabody Energy and Shanxi Lu'an Mining Group Company Ltd. (Lu'an) have announced that their subsidiaries have entered into an agreement to explore joint development and operation of Lu'an's Shaxi Mine in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China.

The Shaxi Mine, which is under construction, has access to a large dedicated thermal resource. The mine has the potential to expand to 15 million tonnes or more per year in line with the development of a new rail project that would serve electricity customers and other industrial users in Central and Eastern China.    » read more »

June 22, 2009 -- U.S. Senator Mark Begich issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling upholding a permit held by Coeur Alaska to dispose of mine tailings from the Kensington Gold Mine near Juneau into a nearby lake.

"Today's decision is good for Southeast Alaska jobs and brings clarity to a 20-year-old dispute. It's time for the federal agencies to work with the Kensington team to move the project forward.

"This is particularly important given the current economic downturn in Southeast Alaska. I expect Coeur will honor their commitments to train and employ Alaskans while developing this resource in a responsible manner. The hundreds of jobs this project is likely to create will be welcome at just the right time."

Source: Senator Mark Begich

June 22, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today welcomed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Kensington mine, a gold mining project near Juneau.

Today’s ruling reversed a decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and confirmed the validity of a previously issued permit from the Corps of Engineers for disposal of tailings. The project is being developed by Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation.

The state supported Coeur’s legal efforts to move the project ahead at every level of court review, including intervening in the lawsuit at the outset, litigating the case in the Ninth Circuit, filing a petition asking for review by the Supreme Court, and briefing the case in the Supreme Court on the merits.    » read more »

Washington, DC -- June 9, 2009 -- A three-member NAFTA arbitration tribunal rejected a $50 million claim filed by the Canadian mining company, Glamis Gold Ltd., challenging certain actions taken by the Department of the Interior (DOI) and certain measures adopted by the State of California relating to land reclamation in connection with proposed open-pit mining operations. The Office of the Legal Adviser of the Department of State represented the United States in the case.    » read more »

Mining Firm's Claim Had Major Flaws, but Four Foreign Investor Cases Against U.S. Totaling Over $6 Billion Still Pending

June 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A NAFTA tribunal's dismissal of Glamis Gold Inc.'s challenges against California's mining regulations is not surprising given severe flaws in Glamis' claim and the fact that the ruling does nothing to remedy the serious problem of NAFTA providing foreign investors special rights to attack domestic health and environmental laws, Earthjustice, Earthworks, Public Citizen and Sierra Club said today.    » read more »

May 15, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. Today Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reportedly given the green light to the Army Corps of Engineers to approve as many as 42 new permits for destructive mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.

If true, and if these permits -- more than were even approved during recent years by the Bush Administration -- were to proceed, this could mean certain destruction of hundreds of miles of Appalachian streams and hundreds of acres of America’s oldest mountains.

Statement of Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope:    » read more »

May 15, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – At the direction of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the state Department of Law filed a supplemental brief today with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting development of the Kensington Mine near Juneau.

“The state’s legal efforts, including the supplemental brief filed today, show support for developing our resources responsibly, growing Alaska’s economy and creating well-paying jobs,” Governor Palin said. “The brief should assist the Supreme Court with rendering a decision that finally allows the Kensington Mine to move ahead.”    » read more »

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Violations Point to Widespread Unlawful Stream Destruction; TECO Coal and Appolo Fuels to Pay for Illegal Mining

May 6, 2009 -- Eastern Tennessee & Eastern Kentucky - Sierra Club, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC), Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM) and Tennessee Clean Water Network (TCWN) today announced two settlements over separate legal claims against coal companies that operated mountaintop removal coal mines without permits.

Appolo Fuels, Inc. will pay for having destroyed streams at its Jellico mine site in Claiborne County, Tennessee. TECO Coal and subsidiary Clintwood Elkhorn will pay for its illegal coal mining practices in Pike County, Kentucky.    » read more »

Washington, DC - 05/06/2009 - Jane Danowitz, U.S. public lands program director at the Pew Environment Group, today issued the following statement on a decision by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management to authorize eight uranium mine exploration operations adjacent to the Grand Canyon National Park.

Mining on public land surrounding the park is permitted under the nation’s 1872 mining law, which allows the mining industry access to more than 350 million acres of public lands across the West. Last June, in response to vast increases in claims-staking near the Grand Canyon, the House Natural Resources Committee called for 1 million acres of public lands to be withdrawn from new mining claims.    » read more »

Restores Protections Against Dumping in Streams

April 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced his determination that the mountaintop coal mining “stream buffer zone rule” issued by the Bush Administration is legally defective. Salazar directed the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to file a pleading with the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. requesting that the rule be vacated due to this deficiency and remanded to the Department of the Interior for further action.    » read more »

April 20, 2009 -- Washington, D.C.-The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Environmental Foundation named Maria Gunnoe, a tireless voice in the movement against mountaintop-removal coal mining, as a recipient of the prestigious 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize. The Worldwatch Institute was one of several organizations to nominate Gunnoe for the award, which recognizes individuals for their sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk.    » read more »

April 15, 2009 -- Colorado Governor Bill Ritter today thanked the Obama administration for dedicating $10 million to $25 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for cleaning up the Summitville Mine Superfund site, an investment Ritter had sought to help clean up one of Colorado's worst environmental disasters.

"These funds will serve the dual purpose of accelerating the cleanup of a hazardous waste site in Colorado while also creating jobs and strengthening the southwest Colorado economy," Gov. Ritter said. "The funds should be made available within a matter of weeks and construction could begin as early as this summer."    » read more »

Community members applaud decision to protect streams, residents

April 8, 2009 -- Appalachia, Virginia -- In a victory for community members and for clean water, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to revoke the "nationwide 21" mining permit for A&G Coal’s massive Ison Rock Ridge mountaintop removal coal mine in Southwest Virginia.    » read more »