EMLS Fracking Forum

Last Friday, the EMLS sponsored a live simulcast of a forum on hydraulic fracturing at the Appalachian School of Law. The forum was held at Case Western University, and featured some of the best legal minds from throughout the country. (Click here for more information about the forum.)

EMLS members and other students from the Appalachian School of Law provided some interesting onservations on the current state of the law. Some of the more interesting student observations are below, along with commentary from EMLS President Matthew Hardin:

"One of the things that surprised me in the seminar was the fact that in Washington County, Pa., property values have increased where fracking is taking place..."
              -Misti Napier-Burton, 2nd year law student from West Virginia

President Hardin responds: Hydraulic Fracturing provides economic benefits for property owners. Royalties are paid to property owners, usually based on the volume of natural gas produced from the wells. This payment system incentivizes production while encouraging the energy industry to eliminate any possibility for leaks. The environmental risks of fracking involve the possibility of fluids or gases escaping from the well casing, but everyone involved in the process has strong financial incentives to maintain well integrity. Hydraulic fracturing benefits everyone. Landowners see royalty payments and increased property values, energy companies make a profit and hire additional workers, and the US becomes more energy independent every day due to this technology.

"Could you explain to me how fracking will eliminate nuclear plants, as the opening speaker stated?"
              -Sherra Kissee, 2nd year law student from Missouri, EMLS Treasurer

President Hardin responds: Fracking has driven the price of natural gas down. Nuclear power was already among the most expensive means of energy production, prior to the natural gas boom which is now underway across the United States. Twenty years ago, some energy analysts predicted that natural gas prices would skyrocket and nuclear power would become an economical option for power generation. Exactly the opposite has occured. Natural gas is cheaper and safer than nuclear power. The last nuclear power plant in the U.S. opened in 1974, and it is difficult to imagine another being built in the coming years due to both economic and political factors. Why build a nuclear plant when clean-burning natural gas is abundant and cheap?

The War on Coal

Click here to learn more about the Obama administration's War on Coal.

EMLS Tours Underground Mine

On October 15, law students and EMLS benefactors toured the Hubble Mine at Feds Creek, Ky. This mine opened slightly over a year ago, and is expected to remain open for the next twenty years, extracting high-grade metallurgical coal.




The students were decked out in coveralls and steel-toed boots for the tour, and TECO provided training on the hazards of underground mining. The Energy & Mineral Law Society's tour was led by two of TECO's engineers, who explained in detail how coal from the Hubble Mine is extracted, processed, and eventually sold on the market to producers of steel and other metals. At left, EMLS students are examining maps and technical diagrams of the Hubble Mine. TECO engineers explained how to interpret the mine schematics and discussed what it takes to create a safe working environment underground.

 The Energy & Mineral Law Society would like to thank TECO for sharing their workspace with us for the day. We enjoyed spending an afternoon underground and learning what it takes to keep American industry strong.

EMLS Tours Surface Mines

The following is a guest post written by one of the students in attendance at the Energy & Mineral Law Society's recent surface mining tour. All photographs are courtesy of Tori Herman.
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On Monday, TECO coal hosted a tour of 2 surface mines for the EMLS, its members, and interested community members. One of the mines we toured was an active mine and the second was a fully reclaimed mine that had been reclaimed using the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) in 2009. First, we toured the reclaimed mine. Even though it was raining and muddy, I was surprised at how clean the entire area was at first. The roads were well-maintained as we entered and climbed to the top of the first ridge. From the ridgeline, our company guides explained that we were looking across the mine area. In the distance we could see areas that were still in the process of being reclaimed by the company. Even those areas, however, appeared clean -cleaner than most construction sites I've seen. The land in the reclaimed area was well-maintained and planted with various trees. It had the look of a large park instead of a former coal mine.

As we drove to the open mine, we stopped and saw a sediment pond being removed. Our hosts explained that as the mines were in operation, the ponds were necessary to keep the soil from washing away in the rivers. As the areas were being reclaimed, the ponds had to be removed and the streams restored to their natural state. Indeed, all of the property was to be returned to its original state as far as possible. Our guides explained that in many cases, it coal companies can create areas on private owners property that actually raise their property values. Depending on the owners' desires, reclamation has incorporated land uses from hardwood forests, to farmland, to orchards, to golf courses. If the pre-mining land use was as a forest and the land is not going to be used for anything else in the future, then it is returned to a natural state, complete with native hardwoods. The days when "reclamation" involved sowing ground with grass seed and a high number of locust trees are long gone.

The active mine site was also very impressive. The area was clean and well-maintained by TECO. We drove to the top of a ridge where the bulldozers were scraping coal from the ground, but even this area was impressively clean. Chris, one of our company guides, explained that the reason the mine looked so clean was that that reclamation takes place almost immediately after mining is complete in each section of the mine, Each section is reclaimed as soon as possible. As bulldozers remove the coal, others go behind and clean up the land, readying it for the planting that will come at the end. It was wonderful to see how TECO coal recognizes a responsibility to the land and the people that will use it once they are done mining.

Conservative Visions of Our Environmental Future

The Energy & Mineral Law Society will be attending a conference entitled "Conservative Visions of Our Environmental Future" on September 24, 2012. The conference will be held at the Duke University School of Law, and we look forward to hearing regulators, practicing attorneys, and academics discuss how environmental goals can be achieved within the framework of conservative political thought.

For more information on the conference, the presenters, and the conservative environmental vision, click here.

Victoria Herman Elected EMLS Secretary

Victoria Herman, a Tennessee native, has been elected secretary of the Energy & Mineral Law Society. Ms. Herman is an alumna of Middle Tennessee State University and is currently a J.D. candidate at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia. She also serves as an Associate Editor for the Appalachian Natural Resources Law Journal.

EMLS Secretary/Treasurer Selected as Editor for Appalachian Natural Resources Law Journal

The Energy & Mineral Law Society congratulates Sherra Kissee on her selection as a member of the editorial staff at the Appalachian Natural Resources Law Journal.

The Appalachian Natural Resources Law Journal publishes articles written by students, practitioners, and tenured academics about the legal environment of mining in Appalachia and beyond. For more information, visit the journal's website: www.anrlj.com.

EMLS Officers Selected as Editors for Appalachian Journal of Law

Two EMLS officers have been selected as associate editors for the Appalachian Journal of Law. The competition for editing positions on the journal was intense, but both Matt Hardin and Westley Ketron were chosen to serve on the editing staff for 2012-2013. Both Ketron and Hardin will be writing publishable student notes over the coming academic year, and look forward to contributing to the academic conversation on legal and policy concerns in the mining industry. Each of these new editors has past experience with the mining industry; Ketron served this summer as a law clerk for Alpha Natural Resources, and Hardin as a clerk for Fogle Keller Purdy, PLLC, a Kentucky defense firm which frequently represents coal mining interests.

Next week, the Appalachian Natural Resources Law Journal will be making its selections. Check this blog to find out which EMLS members were selected as editors for that publication, which specializes in articles dealing with energy issues in Appalachia.

EMLS featured on Coal Blog

The Energy & Mineral Law Society is pleased to announce that it has been featured on the CoalBlog, a blog hosted by the American Coal Council. You can view the CoalBlog post here.

The EMLS is a proud member of the American Coal Council, and supports the council's mission to "advance the power, the promise & the pride of America’s coal industry."

The Energy & Mineral Law Society is also engaged with other organizations working to secure a place for coal in America's energy future. The EMLS, either collectively or through its officers, also proudly supports groups such as the Virginia Mining Association, the Energy Bar Association, the Kentucky Mining Institute, the Illinois Mining Institute, the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation (EMLF), and the Defense Research Institute. Working together, we hope to educate both the bar and the public about problems facing the industry, as well as to promote possible solutions.

Touring the Ore Mining Areas of Upper Michigan

      EMLS president Matt Hardin spent the past week touring mine sites in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. To the left is an old mine shaft in the Keweenaw Peninsula, used to extract copper ore. This particular mine has been exhausted and is now used as an exhibition mine.

To the right is a photo of a surface mining operation in progress. This photo is several years old and the mine land has now been reclaimed. A photograph of this site as it stands today is virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding forestland.

 

To the left is the portal at the new Eagle mine, operated by Rio Tinto subsidiary Kennecott Eagle. The mine is located several miles north of Ishpeming, Michigan. This mine is entirely underground, and will be backfilled as mining is underway. Kennecott plans to harvest both iron and nickel ore once the mine is fully operational.

EMLS President Inducted into American Society of Mining and Reclamation

On Tuesday, EMLS president Matt Hardin was inducted into the American Society of Mining and Reclamation (ASMR). The ASMR was founded in 1973 as a small advisory council concentrating on reclamation issues in the West Virginia coalfields, but has evolved over the years into an organization with members from twenty different countries around the globe. The ASMR has also broadened its focus from the reclamation of lands disturbed by coal mining to the reclamation of all lands disturbed by any type of mining.

We look forward to working with the American Society of Mining and Reclamation in its mission to ensure that the best, research-based reclamation techniques are used in the Appalachian coalfields.

EMLS Trip to 2012 West Virginia Black Lung Conference

       In early June, the EMLS traveled to Pipestem State Park in Pipestem, West Virginia for the 2012 Annual West Virginia Black Lung Conference. While there, we learned from doctors, regulators, and attorneys about current developments in the science of pneumoconiosis (commonly known as Black Lung Disease). We also had the chance to meet and speak with several officials from the Department of Labor, who are charged with adjudicating claims made by coal miners seeking Federal Black Lung Benefits.

       The hot topic in Pipestem was NIOSH's recent research identifying several "hot spots" for increased prevalence of pneumoconiosis. Most of these "hot spots" are located in central Appalachia. There is much debate over what these NIOSH findings mean, and especially about the role silica may play in the development of pneumoconiosis among central Appalachian miners. In the coming weeks, this blog will feature commentary on differing interpretations of NIOSH's research. Be sure to check back regularly.

EMLS Field Trip to Big Stone Gap

Back in May, the Energy & Mineral Law Society traveled to the 2012 Annual Conference of the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Over the course of two days, we learned about the latest experimental approaches to mine reclamation, gob removal, and reforestation with native plants.

To the right is an experimental reclamation site
we visited, which is run by Virginia Tech scientists in
Wise County, Virginia.

Welcome to the new EMLS Blog!

Welcome to the new EMLS blog. The Energy & Mineral Law Society at the Appalachian School of Law is excited to use this new medium to keep everyone up to date about our activities.

In the coming academic year, we'll be hosting a forum on surface mining regulations, a continuing legal education program for attorneys practicing in the field of mineral law, and an Arbor Day tree-planting event in rural Buchanan County, Virginia.

Check back regularly for updates on our organization and its work. We have an exciting and ambitious agenda, and we're glad to have the support of so many people from across the region following us and showing their support!