FLEET ASSIGNMENT FINANCING DRILL PATTERNS MACHINE WHEREVER REBUILDS THERE’S MINING, WE’RE THERE. SHIFT CHANGE WHEREVER THERE’S MINING, THERE ARE CHALLENGES. FUEL Lowering costs. Keeping people COSTS COLLISION safe. Working more efficiently. AVOIDANCE Mining is a challenging business, and whether you have one piece TELL US ® of Cat equipment or 100, we’re YOUR MINING there to help you manage it. CHALLENGE: We’re a true business partner CAT.COM/CHALLENGES HAUL who shares your goal of mining ROADS excellence—and we have OPERATOR the knowledge, products, FATIGUE technologies and solutions to help you get there. TIRE LIFE © 2015 Caterpillar. All Rights Reserved. CAT, CATERPILLAR, BUILT FOR IT, their respective logos, “Caterpillar Yellow,” the “Power Edge” trade dress as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillar and may not be used without permission. JULY 2015 VOL. 120 NO. 7 FEATURE ARTICLES NEWS/4 SHUTTLE CARS & SCOOPS/24 20 Shipping World Review 24 Getting the Scoop The latest in scoop, shuttle car technology 28 2015 Coal Age Buyers Guide 38 A Life-saving Response MSHA, partners test new mine emergency operations response system at CONSOL’s Harvey mine DISASTER TRAINING/38 INDIAN LIGNITE/46 42 2Q Fatality Review April-June quarter proves to be another active period in coal mining, particularly underground 46 Neyveli Updates its Excavator Fleet Indian miner relies on bucketwheel excavators to mine lignite 50 AIMEX Links Mining and METS COAL IN THE NEWS 4 Supreme Court Rules Against EPA on MATS Rule 4 Alliance Picks Up Remaining White Oak Stake THIS ISSUE 5 Deadline is Extended to Bid on Patriot Assets 6 Bowie Resource Partners Files IPO 8 Justice Reopens 2 Bluestone Mines This month, Coal Age reports on a new type of disaster training tech- nique. On the cover, miners prepare for a mine emergency response drill 10 Alcoa Seeks Permit to Expand Liberty Coal Mine at CONSOL Energy’s Harvey mine. 12 Still No Decision on Future of Foresight’s Deer Run Mine 14 North Dakota Mine Idled After Dragline Slip 15 Coal Age Recognizes Top Performers at Longwall USA 2015 DEPARTMENTS 16 Blankenship Trial is Delayed Until October 2 Editorial 17 Arch Coal Scheme Ringleader is Sentenced to Prison 4 Coal in the News 17 Duke Energy Cuts Fuel Use and Emissions 5 World News 10 With New Locomotives People 12 49 DTE Makes Plans to Upgrade Plants to Comply With MATS Rule Dateline Washington 14 Calendar 16 WORLD NEWS Awards 18 Marketwatch 5 Alberta’s Environment Minister Goes Hard on Climate Change 20 Transport Tips 53 Operating Ideas 6 Poland Restructures Coal Group 56 Suppliers News 8 MEC, E.ON Create Global Commodities Venture 58 Product News 61 Classified 64 Legally Speaking July 2015 www.coalage.com 1 editor’s note Carbon and the Climate Change Dogma www.mining-media.com Mining Media International Editorial Office 11655 Central Parkway, Suite 306 The late June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court revealed just Jacksonville, Florida 32224 U.S.A. how reckless the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has Phone: +1.904.721.2925 become. In Michigan v. EPA (See News, p.4), several states and Fax: +1.904.721.2930 industry groups, including the National Mining Association, challenged the EPA’s mercury rule for power plants, which Editor-in-Chief—Steve Fiscor, [email protected] Western Field Editor—Russ Carter, [email protected] would have essentially forced most of the coal-fired power Field Editor—Donna Schmidt, [email protected] plants to close as part of the Obama administration’s Climate European Editor—Simon Walker, [email protected] Action Plan. A Supreme Court that made several landmark Latin American Editor—Oscar Martinez, [email protected] BY STEVE FISCOR decisions — it bent over backward to support the Affordable Assistant Editor—Jennifer Jensen, [email protected] / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Care Act (Obamacare) and it ruled in favor of gay marriage — Graphic Designer—Austin St. Clair, [email protected] acknowledged that the regulatory overreach by the Obama administration and the EPA was just too much. The ruling was a huge win for people Mining Media International Corporate Office and businesses that rely on inexpensive power from coal. 8751 East Hampden, Suite B1 One of the terms that is conveniently omitted from the carbon and climate Denver, Colorado 80231 U.S.A. change discussion is “stationary.” Coal-fired power plants are the largest stationary Phone: +1.303.283.0640 Fax: +1.303.283.0641 emitters of CO2. Remove the word stationary from that sentence and it makes the coal business look bad. The term stationary is used to distinguish power plants from President/Publisher—Peter Johnson, [email protected] internal combustion engines, which are a very large source of emissions worldwide. Vice President of Sales & Marketing—John Bold, [email protected] Midwest/Eastern U.S. & Canada, Sales—Victor Matteucci, [email protected] The auto and petroleum lobbies have much deeper pockets than the mining and Western U.S. & Canada, Sales—Mary Lu Buse, [email protected] power generation business, so the EPA, the environmental nongovernmental organi- Scandinavia, UK and European Sales—Colm Barry, [email protected] zations, sovereign wealth funds and the Catholic Church overlook the automobiles Germany, Austria & Switzerland Sales—Gerd Strasmann, [email protected] churning out the smog in most of the metropolitans areas. Australia/Asia Sales—Lanita Idrus, [email protected] Environmental activists, for the sake of global climate change, convinced Japan Sales—Masao Ishiguro, [email protected] Norway’s sovereign wealth fund (Norges Bank Investment Management) to dump all Indonesia Sales—Dimas Abdillah, [email protected] of its coal-related investments (See World News, p. 6). The people of Norway are the Latin America Sales—Paulina Downey, [email protected] / Sylvia Palma, richest people on Earth. They (all 5.1 million of them) own the fund, which is estimat- [email protected] Classified Advertising—Kirk Carbo, [email protected] ed to be worth $890 billion, making each Norwegian worth approximately $175 mil- Show Manager—Tim Fearney, [email protected] lion. Where did the fund get the money? Oil from the North Sea. Production Manager—Dan Fitts, [email protected] Vattenfall, another company suffering from carbon guilt, recently sold one of its power plants in Denmark (See World News, p. 6). Vattenfall is a Swedish power com- pany, owned by the Swedish government; the same Swedish government that con- tributes to the Clinton Foundation. It’s also trying to offload its lignite-fired power plants in Germany. Readers should note that they are not converting the plants; they are selling them. The carbon footprint has not been reduced; they are just getting them off their books. Finally, if coal didn’t have enough detractors, the Catholic Church has weighed in Coal Age, Volume 120, Issue 7, (ISSN 1040-7820) is published monthly by Mining Media Inc., 10 Sedgwick Drive, Englewood, Colorado 80113 (mining-media.com). on the climate debate. Pope Francis published the Encyclical on Faith, the Periodicals postage paid at Englewood, CO, and additional mailing offices. Canada Environment and the Modern Industrial Economy. In it, he says climate change has Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40845540. Canada return address: Station A, PO grave implications. The world needs to get its priorities and facts straight. We have a Box 54, Windsor ON N9A 6J5, Email: [email protected]. Current and back issues and additional resources, including subscription request forms and an much bigger job as far as educating the masses about the value of low-cost energy editorial calendar, are available online at www.coalage.com. from coal than we ever perceived. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Free and controlled circulation to qualified subscribers. Non-qualified persons may subscribe at the following rates: USA and Canada, 1 year, $56.00, 2 year, $96.00, 3 year, $162.00, Student, $16.00, Outside the USA and Canada, 1 year, $77.00, 2 year, $137.00, 3 year, $225.00 surface mail (1 year, $145.00, 2 year, $257.00 airmail delivery). For subscriber services or to order single copies, write to Coal Age, 8751 East Hampden, Suite B1, Denver, CO 80231 USA; call +1.303.283.0640 (USA) or visit www.mining-media.com. ARCHIVES AND MICROFORM: This magazine is available for research and retrieval of select- Steve Fiscor, Coal Age Editor-in-Chief ed archived articles from leading electronic databases and online search services, including [email protected] Factiva, LexisNexis, and Proquest. For microform availability, contact ProQuest at 800-521- 0600 or +1.734.761.4700, or search the Serials in Microform listings at www.proquest.com. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Coal Age, P.O. Box 1337, Skokie, IL 60076 USA. REPRINTS: Mining Media Inc, 8751 East Hampden, Suite B1, Denver, CO 80231 USA phone: +1.303.283.0640, fax: +1.303.283.0641, www.mining-media.com PHOTOCOPIES: Authorization to photocopy articles for internal corporate, personal, or instructional use may be obtained from the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at +1.978.750.8400. Obtain further information at www.copyright.com. COPYRIGHT 2015: Coal Age, incorporating Coal and 2 www.coalage.com Coal Mining & Processing. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. news Supreme Court Rules Against EPA on MATS Justices at the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 June 29 against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) landmark Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) outlines, ruling that the Obama administration’s push to limit mercury and pollutant emissions from coal-fired power plants failed to consider costs and compli- ance issues.