Proposed EPA regulations to limit the recycling and beneficial use of CCPs (coal combustion products) could have some frightening implications for our economy and environment.

CCP recycling and use currently provides $6.4 – $11.4 in annual economic benefits, significant environmental benefits, reduced energy consumption, water savings, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

All of those economic, social, and environmental benefits — and many more — stem from our growing use of coal combustion products (CCP’s). However, pending EPA regulations that could classify coal ash as a “hazardous waste” could have substantial negative impacts on this growing industry.

Congratulations to Janet Gellici, CEO of the American Coal Council on her recent election as Vice President for 2010 of the Washington Coal Club.

More information on the election and the Washington Coal Club is available on the ACC website. You can also download the news release in pdf format.

The American Coal Council and the Women’s Mining Coalition are pleased to provide a link to author Jill Tietjen’s website www.herstoryatimeline.com. Jill’s site is dedicated to the recently published Harper Collins edition, “Her Story: A Timeline of Women Who Changed America” by Jill Tietjen and Charlotte Waisman.

Please join the ACC and WMC on January 22nd, 2 – 3 pm EST as we present a webinar event featuring guest speaker Jill Tietjen.

For more information about this exciting web event please click here.

Prices are,
$15 for Women’s Mining Coalition Members
$45 for All Others ~ which includes an annual membership in the Women’s Mining Coalition

The Democrat Herald has a good editorial describing just how badly the latest Sierra Club anti-coal push misses the mark. Hasso Hering, (the author) describes how simple things like the fact that there’s no coal at Oregon State University appear to have escaped the movement’s organizers.

Hering then notes that if they expect OSU to stop buying their electricity from utilities that have coal in their generation portfolio, they will essentially have to give up on electricity or create their own special utility for their energy. Furthermore, he notes that while coal does have environmental impacts associated with its use, so do all the alternatives.

A new face in Kansas politics is bringing bipartisan solutions to difficult problems. Rather than simply falling back on strict anti-coal ideologies, Kansas’ new governor, Mark Parkinson, has worked with energy producers to end a protracted legal dispute over the state’s energy future.

The dispute began in 2007 when the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), Roderick Bremby, ruled that a planned expansion of the Sunflower Energy Holcomb generation station could not proceed. Despite the fact that the planned expansion “complied with all federal and state environmental laws and regulations”, Bremby arbitrarily refused to grant the project’s state air quality permit citing his personal concerns over potential future impacts of CO₂ emissions from the plant. Project proponents argued that Bremby and the KDHE were playing capricious political games as they attempted to change the rules in the middle of the permitting process.

Janet Gellici, CAE – Chief Executive Officer – American Coal Council

Welcome to the inaugural newsletter column – From the Beltway & Beyond. In each future issue of the ACC’s Members’ Update, I’ll be reporting to you on recent noteworthy activities in which I’m participating in fulfillment of ACC’s two core objectives to:

• Enhance the business, marketing & management capabilities of our members.
• Advocate for coal as an economic, abundant/secure & environmentally sound fuel source.

While my activities don’t quite rival those of Buzz Lightyear’s “To Infinity & Beyond”, they certainly do involve many meetings and events inside Washington, D.C.’s infamous beltway and beyond. In May, for example, my DC-based activities included: