Recently in Coal Category

International Coal Group, Inc. (NYSE: ICO) today announced that its ICG Beckley subsidiary received West Virginia's highest honor for environmental excellence in coal mining.

The coveted Greenlands Award was presented to ICG Beckley's Beckley-Pocahontas underground mine complex in Raleigh County, West Virginia, for overall outstanding environmental stewardship in 2009 by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) at the 37th Annual West Virginia Coal Mining Symposium.

At an awards ceremony held today in Charleston, West Virginia, state officials praised the ICG Beckley mining operation for its many community and environmental projects in the Eccles, West Virginia area. Among the practices leading to the recognition, ICG Beckley has constructed and paved new roads and bridges, improved a local memorial cemetery, installed drainage control measures and pump systems to control rain runoff, voluntarily reclaimed an old abandoned coal refuse site, completed noise reduction projects and established a Community Advisory Panel to facilitate communications with local residents and community leaders.

"The Greenlands Award reflects the ongoing commitment by International Coal Group and our ICG Beckley employees to environmental stewardship and to being a good neighbor in the Eccles community," said Ben Hatfield, ICG's President and CEO.  "We are proud that our employees have taken those values to heart and put them into action on the ground."

Additionally, the WVDEP once again honored ICG Eastern's Birch River surface mine in Webster County, West Virginia - this year with an award for its innovative handling and disposal of coal refuse.  "ICG Eastern continues its tradition of award-winning practices in operating with a unique sensitivity to its environment," Hatfield noted.  "Our employees there continue to raise the bar for other ICG subsidiaries and the industry as a whole in environmental compliance and land restoration methods."

ICG is a leading producer of coal in Northern and Central Appalachia and the Illinois Basin.  The Company has 13 active mining complexes, of which 12 are located in Northern and Central Appalachia and one in Central Illinois.  ICG's mining operations and reserves are strategically located to serve utility, metallurgical and industrial customers domestically and internationally.

SOURCE International Coal Group, Inc.

Southern Company today announced that China will be the site for the first worldwide commercial implementation of the Transport Integrated Gasification (TRIG(TM)) technology for producing low-emission coal-based electricity.

TRIG is an advanced integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology that produces electricity with lower emissions than traditional coal power plants. It also is compatible with lower rank coals that are abundant in China.

The technology was developed by Southern Company, KBR Inc., and other partners, including the U.S. Department of Energy, at the DOE's research facility in Wilsonville, Ala., that is managed and operated by Southern Company.

Under the terms of their technology licensing arrangements with KBR Inc., the companies will provide Beijing Guoneng Yinghui Clean Energy Engineering Co., Ltd. with licensing, engineering services and proprietary equipment for the implementation of TRIG technology at a power plant operated by Dongguan Tianming Electric Power Co., Ltd. (Dongguan TMEP) in Guandong Province, Peoples Republic of China.

At the Dongguan TMEP facility, TRIG technology will be added to an existing gas turbine combined cycle plant so that it can use clean synthetic gas from coal as its fuel for generating electricity, rather than fuel oil.

"China's rapid growth vividly demonstrates the global need for advanced technologies to ensure reliable, affordable and cleaner supplies of energy," said Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO David Ratcliffe. "This plant will demonstrate that TRIG offers an effective technological solution to these challenges."

The 120-megawatt Dongguan TMEP plant, expected to begin operation in 2011, would demonstrate an example of advanced U.S. IGCC technology that is being developed in partnership between the DOE and industry. This IGCC technology is compatible with carbon capture, and its deployment in China is an important step toward positioning IGCC for future integration with carbon capture technology.

Ratcliffe also noted that Southern Company subsidiary Mississippi Power currently is seeking regulatory approval to build a 582-megawatt plant using TRIG technology in Kemper County, Miss. That plant would include 65 percent carbon capture and sequestration.

Source: Southern Company

Southern Company today announced plans to demonstrate carbon capture and sequestration on a coal-fired power generation plant to support the development of technologies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Along with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), the Electric Power Research Institute and other partners, Southern Company will build a demonstration facility to capture carbon dioxide emissions from an existing unit of subsidiary Alabama Power's Plant Barry near Mobile, Ala.

Beginning in 2011, between 100,000 and 150,000 tons of CO2 per year - the equivalent of emissions from 25 megawatts of the plant's generating capacity - would be captured for permanent underground storage in a deep saline geologic formation.

The CO2 will be supplied to the DOE's Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB), which will transport it by pipeline from the plant and store it underground at a site within the area of the Citronelle Oil Field, about 10 miles from the plant, operated by Denbury Resources. The Southern States Energy Board is leading the SECARB effort.

"This project will help increase our knowledge of carbon capture and sequestration, technology we must demonstrate at a commercial level in the effort to reliably generate electricity using coal with reduced greenhouse gas emissions," said David Ratcliffe, Southern Company chairman, president and CEO.

"The main challenge facing deployment of carbon capture and sequestration technology is demonstrating its effectiveness at a large scale," Ratcliffe added. "Our involvement in this and other related projects is part of our commitment to be a leader in finding solutions that make technological, economic and environmental sense."

With carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), CO2 released during the combustion of coal would be separated from the flue gas, compressed, and then permanently sequestered - or stored - deep underground.

The CO2 capture technology to be used in this project, called KM-CDR(TM), was jointly developed by MHI and the Kansai Electric Power Company Inc. It deploys an advanced amine-based solvent that reacts readily with CO2 in flue gas before being separated and compressed so that it is ready for pipeline transport.

The MHI process offers improved performance and lower cost than other existing capture technologies. The process has been demonstrated at smaller scale at a coal-fired generating station in Japan, and is currently being deployed commercially on natural gas-fired systems around the world. This project represents the largest coal-fired demonstration of the technology.

"We are excited to be a partner in this important project that will help further the global goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions for the benefit of everyone," said Shunichi Miyanaga, executive vice president and representative director general manager of MHI's Machinery & Steel Structures Headquarters. "The confidence our partners have shown in the MHI CO2 capture technology is a testament to the research and development efforts we have undertaken during the past 20 years. Together with our partners, we are ready to deploy and demonstrate to the world the safety and viability of commercial-scale CCS."

An important part of any CO2 sequestration project is site selection through geologic characterization and a robust program to monitor the injected CO2. Therefore, a thorough monitoring process will be deployed to map the movement of the sequestered CO2.

Through this project and others, Southern Company and its partners seek to support the goal of better understanding the impacts of reducing CO2 emissions from electricity generation. The project in Alabama is designed to demonstrate start-to-finish CCS technology, an important step toward commercialization.

Plant Barry, located in Bucks, Ala., has a total capacity of 2,525 megawatts and includes seven generating units -- five coal-fired units and two natural gas-fired combined-cycle units.

SOURCE Southern Company

Highlights

• White Energy's first clean coal upgrading modular completed
• Commissioning of plant now underway -- production to be ramped up over a six month period to 1MTPA in capacity
• Early cash flows from upgraded coal expected during first six month period
• Significant increase in proposed scope of joint venture with Bayan Resources from 5MTPA to 15MTPA
• Focus on building the largest clean coal facility in the world at a time when environmentally improved coal is a priority to power utilities and governments alike

White Energy Company Limited (White Energy (ASX: WEC)) today announced the completion of construction of the first one million tonne per annum (MTPA) clean coal upgrading modular plant at Bayan's Tabang mine in East Kalimantan. The plant utilises WEC's exclusively licensed Binderless Coal Briquetting ("BCB") clean coal upgrading technology.

As a result of the successful construction of the first plant at Tabang combined with the modular nature of the plant design, White Energy is confident that the proposed future plants at the Tabang mine can be easily expanded on a timely basis to meet the production goals of the parties.

The commissioning process is now well underway and production at the plant is expected to ramp up to full capacity over the next six months with export sales of the more valuable and environmentally friendly BCB coal taking place during that period.

Through the joint venture company, PT Kaltim Supacoal (KSC), the project allows White Energy to capitalize on the price spread that exists between low energy, high moisture sub-bituminous coals and the much higher energy value bituminous coals.

The estimated average cost of production of upgraded BCB coal is lower than the mining costs for most global thermal coal producers. This positions KSC as a low cost producer of thermal grade coal that is cleaner to transport, handle and combust with less residual waste than traditional bituminous thermal coal.

White Energy estimates that the upgraded coal will be marketable with a similar or premium price to conventional high rank thermal coals, due to the similar energy yield, lower pollution profile, and general handling characteristics. Based upon the current and forecasted coal prices for the low rank feedstock and high rank bituminous coals, as well as the estimated capital and operating costs of the BCB technology, the BCB coal upgrading process is expected to enjoy a favourable long-term coal upgrading price arbitrage.

White Energy and Bayan have recently commenced formal discussions with a short-list of external bankers with the objective of negotiating debt facilities to assist with the accelerated rollout of additional plants in the near term. This process will focus on the re-financing of a portion of the equity contributed by both partners on the first plant.

In addition, both parties have agreed to significantly expand the capacity of the existing joint venture in Indonesia from 5 MTPA in production capacity to 15 MTPA in production capacity. As part of this expanded arrangement White Energy and Bayan have agreed that the expanded capacity will be constructed in priority to any other BCB plants to be built by White Energy in Indonesia.

White Energy CEO John Atkinson said, "Whereas White Energy has successfully built and operated other BCB plants at various locations, the significance of this project is the fact it will be our first full commercial production, large scale operating plant, providing the first steady revenue stream to White Energy.

"Bayan's desire to expand our joint venture to 15 million tonnes per annum is an endorsement of our technology and demonstrates the economic opportunity it creates.

"Our joint venture company, PT Kaltim Supacoal, can now focus its efforts on building the largest clean coal facility in the world at a time when environmentally improved coal is a priority to power utilities and governments alike."

PT Bayan Resources TBk. CEO Eddie Chin said, "The joint venture, PT Kaltim Supacoal, has taken another significant step in maintaining its leading position in supplying premium value, environmentally friendly upgraded briquettes into the Asian market.

"We are confident that this will unlock material additional value from our significant reserve of low sulfur sub-bituminous coal."

SOURCE White Energy Company Limited

Proposed coal plants across the United States would produce nearly 18 million tons of dangerous waste, including toxic metals, each year. Nearly 130 million tons of coal waste from existing plants is being produced annually, most of which is disposed of in largely unregulated landfills, ponds and other locations, posing serious public health and environmental risks.

According to a new analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the 15 states that would be the biggest polluters -- the "Filthy 15" -- have proposals for 54 coal plants and would create nearly 14 million tons of dangerous waste.

The list is topped by Texas (rank #1, 8 proposed plants, 4,093,087 tons of coal ash waste); followed by: South Dakota (#2, 2, 952,630); Florida (#3, 3, 911,118); Nevada (#4, 3, 888,272); Montana (#5, 3, 848,278); Illinois (#6, 4; 797,450); South Carolina (#7, 2, 731,110); Ohio (#8, 3, 711,616); Wyoming (#9, 5, 697,850); Michigan (#10, 5, 686,897); Kentucky (#11, 4, 593,662); Missouri (#12, 4, 515,709); Wisconsin (#13, 3, 507,952); Georgia (#14, 2; 445,202); and West Virginia (#15, 3, 430,275).

(A complete list of states and national data can be found here: http://www.nrdc.org/energy/coalwaste.)

"Coal waste poses a large and unnecessary risk to people's health and the environment, and we need to act before another Kingston disaster strikes," said Peter Lehner, executive director of NRDC, "The EPA took a big step forward this week by announcing it will regulate coal ash, but they need to quickly examine how coal waste is handled and ensure proper management and disposal are in place at all new plants."

Earlier this week, EPA announced that it would begin to regulate coal ash, a shift in position after years of delay. Many states currently allow dangerous coal waste to be dumped, without proper oversight, into poorly constructed landfills, ponds and even old mines. These storage facilities risk having coal waste seep into ground water or breaking, like the Kingston, Tennessee, disaster that unleashed 1 billion gallons of coal ash last December.

The EPA conducted an assessment in 2007 that showed that certain types of ash disposal sites pose a cancer risk nearly 1,000 times the acceptable level. EPA also identified 24 sites in 13 states that are known or suspected to be contaminated by coal ash, but has not been regulating coal ash disposal, instead allowing states to set their own regulations, which are typically weak.

According to the new NRDC analysis, proposed coal plants would also produce more than 18,000 tons annually of toxic metals -- like arsenic, mercury, lead, and other toxic substances. The toxic metals that are often found in coal waste can pose serious health risks to people -- especially children -- including cancer, birth defects, reproductive problems, damage to the nervous system and kidneys, and learning disabilities.

The "Filthy 15" states with proposed plants that would produce largest amount of toxic materials is led by Texas; and includes: South Dakota, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Nevada, Montana, South Carolina, Kentucky, Wyoming, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, West Virginia and Georgia.

"There are cleaner, safer and more sustainable energy choices available," said Lehner. "America should be moving toward energy efficiency and renewable energy sources that will drive our economic recovery and meet the challenges of the 21st Century."

In conjunction with the new analysis, NRDC has released a new Web site that includes a state-by-state breakdown of the total amount annually of waste, including toxic metals, from existing and proposed plants. Go to: http://www.nrdc.org/energy/coalwaste.

SOURCE Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, N.Y.

American families faced the biggest increase in energy expenses on record last year, in large part because of costs for transportation fuels driving global demand.

According to a study released today by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), for the half of the U.S. families earning $50,000 or less, energy costs consumed 20 percent of after-tax income in 2008. The study also reveals energy costs consumed a quarter of after-tax income when families made $30,000 or less.

"This is our annual household energy cost report card, and this year we would grade 2008 as a D for dangerous," said Joe Lucas, Senior Vice President of Communications for ACCCE. "As our economy is faltering and more and more Americans are finding it hard to make ends meet, adopting policies that help keep energy costs affordable should be a national priority."

Families saw their total energy burden increase by 75 percent between 2001 and 2008. Electricity costs increased less than 38 percent during that same timeframe showing that electricity remains an energy bargain in most parts of the country.

"Primarily because we used lower-cost domestic coal for half our nation's electric generation, electricity costs have increased at less than the inflation rate during the past two decades," Lucas said.

The study notes that gasoline prices retreated from historic highs in July, but they are once again starting to climb, ensuring the total energy cost burden will continue to seriously constrain most people's budgets. Lucas said that this shows the economic peril associated with high reliance on imported energy resources.

"In our focus groups, many Americans say that they feel helpless to reduce energy costs when America is dependent on other countries to meet our energy needs. We can change that. We have domestic fuels like coal available here at home, and we can use those fuels wisely to not only promote energy independence but to also keep energy costs low," said Lucas.

Lucas said that ACCCE supports the expanded use of electricity to fuel transportation energy needs, recognizing that a variety of fuels will be needed to meet the increase in electricity demand as a means of displacing foreign oil.

Lucas also noted that keeping energy costs affordable needed to be a key factor in shaping government policies - especially in designing a federal program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We support a mandatory program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Lucas. "We just believe that we have to be smart in designing the program to ensure that consumers are not paying a higher than necessary cost of energy."

According to Lucas, the 100 percent auction for emissions allowances being promoted for inclusion in a federal cap-and-trade bill will drive up the cost to consumers.

"Under an auction for emissions credits, you get the very same environmental benefit as you would with an allocation of credits - it is just that the cost to the consumer is higher," said Lucas.

"These auctions really work as a de facto energy tax where the government raises revenue ultimately paid by consumers with the hope of getting that money back at some future date in the form of an increased government service. We say, don't raise the cost of energy on American consumers, if you can keep from it, based upon the promise of repaying that investment somewhere in the future," said Lucas.

SOURCE American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity

ThermoEnergy Corporation ("ThermoEnergy" - OTC Bulletin Board: TMEN), and Babcock Power Inc. of Danvers, Massachusetts announce the formation of a limited liability company to be called Babcock-Thermo Carbon Capture LLC, to develop and commercialize a new and advanced carbon capture power plant design. Since entering into a MOU in April of 2008, the two companies have worked together to further advance the ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System ("TIPS") technology and will now formally join forces to develop subsystems and designs for pilot plant application.

This patented new technology represents a totally different thermodynamic approach in power plant design. Based on high pressure oxy-fuel chemistry, TIPS combines the combustion of carbonaceous fuels, including coal, oil, natural gas, municipal waste and biomass, into energy with near-zero air emissions and no smoke stack. In addition, it effectively captures carbon dioxide ("CO2") in clean, pressurized liquid form ready for sequestration or beneficial reuse, such as enhanced oil recovery. The TIPS technology promises to achieve greater fossil-fuel power plant thermal efficiency due to its novel and patented process design. Coupled with the recovery of pipeline quality liquid CO2, TIPS is expected to have an economic and environmental edge over competing carbon capture technologies.

Babcock Power and its subsidiaries are industry leaders in the design and supply of environmental pollution controls, combustion and steam generator technology and other power plant heat exchanger products and systems. This experience will be used to design the TIPS process components and subsystems for pressurized oxy-fuel burners and combustors, heat transfer surfaces for generating superheat and reheat steam and condensing heat exchangers which will remove the products of combustion including toxic pollutants, water and CO2 as liquid streams.

"Planned TIPS industrial heat and power plants represent an ideal solution for many US infrastructure industries," said Dennis Cossey, Chairman and CEO of ThermoEnergy. "Not only will it allow them to switch to a cheaper fuel source, significantly lowering energy costs, but reduce the plants carbon footprint at the same time. The carbon credit offsets associated with greatly reducing green house gas emissions could eventually provide a substantial source of income should Congress enact some form of carbon tax in the coming months," said Cossey.

"The progression of the TIPS technology coincides well with the timeline of anticipated forthcoming CO2 legislation," stated James F. Wood, President and CEO of Babcock Power Inc. "As we evolve TIPS into a commercial scale product utilizing pilot plant results, Babcock-Thermo Carbon Capture LLC will be well positioned to compete in the multi-billion dollar CO2 capture market."

SOURCE ThermoEnergy Corporation

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 / -- A coalition of key labor and energy industry groups agree that the next generation of advanced clean coal technologies -- those that capture and safely store CO2 -- will create millions of high-skilled, high-wage jobs for American workers.

The Industrial Union Council of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), and The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), today released a study entitled "Employment and Other Economic Benefits from Advanced Coal Electric Generation with Carbon Capture and Storage Technologies (Preliminary Results)."

The study estimates the employment and economic benefits resulting from deployment of advanced coal-based electricity generation facilities (power plants) equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Depending on how many CCS-equipped plants are deployed, some 5 to 7 million man-years of employment could be created during construction, and a quarter of a million permanent jobs added during operations (see table below.)

Conducted by BBC Research and Consulting, the study assumes that 20, 65 and 100 gigawatts (GW) of advanced coal-based electricity generation equipped with CCS are added to the nation's generation mix. (One gigawatt provides enough electricity to power 300,000-400,000 homes. There are slightly more than 300 gigawatts of coal-based power plants in operation today). In addition, the study estimates the benefits of HR 6258, introduced by Representative Boucher in 2008, that provides independent funding support for the early commercial demonstration of CCS technologies.

A U.S government economic model was used to calculate the resulting benefits in terms of jobs, output, value-added (GDP) and labor income associated with both the construction and operation of advanced coal-based facilities equipped with CCS.

Preliminary results of the study are summarized in the tables below:

                  Cumulative Benefits During Construction

    Benefits                100GW       65GW       20GW       Boucher
    Jobs                      6.9        4.5        1.4           0.2
    (million job years)
    Output                   $1.1       $0.7       $0.2         $0.03
    (trillions)
    Labor Income             $368       $240        $75           $12
    (billions)

                     Annual Benefits During Operations

    Benefits                 100GW      65GW        20GW      Boucher
    Jobs                       251       153          48          7.5
    (thousands)
    Output                     $58       $36         $11           $2
    (billions)
    Labor Income               $17       $10        $3.2         $0.5
    (billions)

Bob Baugh, Executive Director of the Industrial Union Council, AFL-CIO, representing some 3 million union members, including the IBEW, Boilermakers and Mine Workers, observed that: "Our nation needs good jobs and new technology that will cut our carbon emissions. It is time to quit talking about advanced coal technology and begin building it."

Ed Hill, President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, stated that: "This study is a valuable contribution to the national debate on energy policy. While we support the development of wind and solar power on a large scale, the only realistic course for our nation is to minimize the carbon emissions from coal generation, which, along with nuclear, will continue to be a vital part of our energy mix for the foreseeable future."

Newton Jones, President of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers said: "Carbon capture and storage technology is essential to enabling the responsible use of our nation's strategic coal reserves -- a resource we cannot ignore if we are to make energy independence a reality. This study demonstrates that it also has the potential to create thousands of good paying jobs for boilermakers and other union building trades. We urge policymakers to keep the results of this study in mind as they move forward in regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and take appropriate steps to encourage the commercialization of CCS technology."

"This study demonstrates that developing CCS technology in America is a win-win-win for all concerned," UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. "Workers and their families win, the communities where these facilities will be constructed win, and the environment wins. It's time to get started."

"The results of this study show the importance of deploying CCS technologies, not only because of their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also because of their substantial economic benefits, At the same time, we must ensure that these technologies are developed and commercialized as rapidly as possible to achieve these benefits. " said Steve Miller, president and CEO, ACCCE.

A full version of the study can be obtained at: www.americaspower.org.

Websites for additional information:

Industrial Union Council, AFL-CIO: http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/manufacturing/iuc/

International Brotherhood of Boilermakers: http://www.boilermakers.org/

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers: http://www.ibew.org/

United Mine Workers of America: http://www.umwa.org

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity: http://www.cleancoalusa.org/

SOURCE American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity