CANADIAN PRESS – EDMONTON – The federal government has bowed to provincial and industry lobbying in weakening proposed standards for coal mining effluent, critics say.
The draft regulations, released earlier this year, would double the amount of toxins – such as selenium – the mines are allowed to release and wouldn’t apply to any mine that starts producing before 2027. Nor do they require companies to monitor overall environmental effects.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/
Canadian Press – An Alberta mayor says he’s concerned a massive public outcry over coal mining in the province’s Rocky Mountains will be ignored after hearing Premier Jason Kenney tell him he remains an “unapologetic supporter” of the industry.
“It’s very clear to me that Premier Kenney is 100 per cent behind the coal mining companies,” said Craig Snodgrass of High River after meeting with the premier, Energy Minister Sonya Savage and his local member of the legislative assembly, Roger Reid, earlier this month.
CHENNAI, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Global coal prices have shot back towards record highs as the Ukraine crisis raises expectations that European buyers will start loading up on the fossil fuel for fear that a standoff between Russia and western nations will cut off gas supplies.
The benchmark Newcastle coal index has soared by over a third this month to $262 a tonne, fuelled initially by a month-long export ban by top supplier Indonesia and now by worries that any military engagement in Ukraine will sever gas supplies from Russia.
(Bloomberg) — Coal will play a vital role in helping to keep the lights on in Europe this winter even as prices are jumping and lawmakers are doing their best to kill off one of the dirtiest power-plant fuels.
Northwest European coal for February rose more than 3% to trade at its highest in three months on Tuesday. The latest example of the fuel’s importance came on Monday as U.K.’s usage peaked at its highest level since March to help plug a gap in supplies early in the evening.
A one-man judicial commission, looking into allegations of illegal mining in Assam’s Digboi forest division, has found that rat-hole mining, an unscientific and dangerous technique in which workers enter deep tunnels around three or four feet high to extract coal, is flourishing unchecked in the region.
The area examined by the one-man commission of Justice Brojendra Prasad Katakey overlapped with parts of numerous ecologically sensitive zones, including the Dehing Patkai elephant reserve, which contains within it the Dehing Patkai National Park. Though rat-hole mining has been banned in neighbouring Meghalaya since 2014, numerous instances of it have been recorded there.
https://www.timescolonist.com/
A committee could soon be set up to rename Coal Tyee Elementary School, named for a First Nations man who helped the Hudson’s Bay Company find coal deposits in the area. The Nanaimo-Ladysmith school board will consider the move after its education committee unanimously backed a motion to set up the committee.
Coal Tyee Elementary school, located in Nanaimo’s north end, was named for Ki-et-sa-kun, who was nicknamed Coal Tyee because he brought the coal deposits near Nanaimo to the attention of the Hudson’s Bay Company, paving the way for mining on the central Island. The school, which opened in 1996, has about 350 students.
Coal prices have shot up around the world this month after Indonesia — the fourth biggest coal producer in the world — temporarily banned coal exports from January 1 to January 31 after domestic stockpiles at the state-owned PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) power plants fell to critically low levels.
By December 31, the PLN had less than 1 percent of the coal it needed this month, according to officials from Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Without the ban, islands including Java and Bali may have faced widespread power loss and blackouts, according to Ridwan Jamaludin, the ministry’s director general for coal.
This week, HG Ventures, an investment arm of The Heritage Group, and American Rare Earth LLC, a subsidiary of the American Resources Corporation (NASDAQ: AREC), announced they are teaming up to scale up the recycling of batteries, magnets and e-waste with the goal of recovering and supplying critical minerals and rare earth metals to US and global markets.
Mining rare earths, essential elements to realizing an electrified economy, can be challenging as materials needed are either not yet mined, or are latent, stranded, for example, in old coal mines – environmental legacy liabilities spread all over North America.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Alberta is one step closer to new coal-mining rules for the province. Energy Minister Sonya Savage said Wednesday she has received the final report from a committee charged with making recommendations about how the province should manage coal development.
Ms. Savage struck the independent committee earlier this year after widespread public backlash about the United Conservative government’s decision to rip up Alberta’s 1976 coal policy, making it easier for companies to pursue mines in sensitive regions.
JAKARTA/CHENNAI, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Indonesian coal miners are seeking a quick resolution to a government coal export ban that has caused fuel prices to rise and could disrupt the energy supplies of some of the world’s biggest economies.
The world’s leading exporter of thermal coal on Saturday banned the shipments because of concerns it could not meet its own power demand. But the risk is a knock-on impact on economic linchpins China, India, Japan, and South Korea, which together received 73% of Indonesian coal exports in 2021, shiptracking data from Kpler showed.
First Nations are self-determining nations. We do not cede our rights
to self-governance to any outsider group, and that includes those
activists that purport to represent our environmental interests.
Groups that utilize any tool available at their disposal to stop
industrial development do not represent First Nations.
The National Coalition of Chiefs (NCC) was established in 2017 with a mandate to defeat on-reserve poverty through Indigenous participation in Canada’s natural resource industry.
The NCC provides a forum for pro-development chiefs to communicate directly with leaders of the natural resource industry while advocating for policies that pave the way for more Indigenous involvement in industry, as employers, contractors, partners and owners.
Global coal-fired power generation is expected to rise 9% and hit an all-time high by the end of 2021, despite efforts to slash carbon emissions, the International Energy Agency said Friday.
Overall coal demand — including its use in steelmaking, cement and other industrial activities — is expected to grow by 6% in 2021 to 8.11 billion tonnes, the Paris-based group said in its annual report.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/
Mining vital to Sparwood economy, but pressure mounting to get off the coal train
Members of Troy Cook’s family have been miners for four generations. His great-grandfather dug through underground rock in Czechoslovakia. The 52-year-old has worked for the Elkview Mine near Sparwood, B.C., for 34 years. Coal is in his DNA.
“I’m super proud to be a coal miner,” he says. “It’s been a great life. A lot of great people at the mine.” After all those years of extracting metallurgical coal — used to make steel — Cook suffers from back pain and hearing problems.
This year, Albertans won’t find out if there’s coal in their stockings until after Christmas. Sometime early in 2022 – the government won’t say exactly when – Energy Minister Sonya Savage is to release two reports that will determine the future of coal mining in the province’s beloved Rocky Mountain foothills and eastern slopes.
One report will sum up months of submissions from Albertans, the other will make recommendations. The choice is stark. You either build a mine or you don’t, said Craig Snodgrass, mayor of High River, Alta., a town just east of the foothills that opposes mining.
(Bloomberg) — Billionaire Gautam Adani’s coal mine in Australia, a project that’s become a global emblem for opposition to fossil fuels, is preparing to begin exports after more than a decade of bitter dispute over its development.
Proposed in 2010 and stalled by legal challenges, financing setbacks and a sustained campaign from climate activists, the operation is scheduled to ship first cargoes before the end of December and aims to supply an initial 10 million tons of thermal coal annually for at least 30 years.
