Sunday, April 03, 2011
EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...4-4-'11
Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has proclaimed Tuesday a day of prayer and remembrance for the victims of the Upper Big Branch mine explosion. Tuesday marks one year since 29 miners were killed in an explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine near Montcoal, the deadliest U.S. coal mining accident since 1970. Tomblin has asked for observance to start at 3:01 P.M., the estimated time of the explosion, and for churches in the state to ring their bells 29 times at that time.
- West Virginia State Police are investigating after a state road crew found female human remains in a Summers County culvert on Hix Mountain in Hinton. A skull was found Wednesday and State Police found the rest of the bones Thursday. Police believe they have been there for several years. Experts from the Smithsonian Institution are attempting to identify the victim.
- Based on the results of a new industry study, the National Mining Association said Friday that a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency measure that relies on mayflies to determine water quality in headwater streams in Central Appalachia's coalfields should be re-evaluated. The study, by GEI Consultants Inc., of Denver, Colorado, contradicts EPA's claim that even the loss of a small number of headwater streams would harm the biodiversity of an area. The association says the study raises doubts on EPA's assumptions because mayflies were not found in many of the streams studied.
Alpha Natural Resources has cleared a key regulatory hurdle in its $7.1 billion proposed takeover of Massey Energy Co. The companies say the antitrust waiting period under U.S. law has expired, allowing the deal to proceed. The companies have also won foreign antitrust approvals, although the deal still hasn't been approved by shareholders of either company. Combined, Alpha and Massey would have sales of about 131 million tons annually and would control about 29 percent of the U.S. supply of metallurgical coal. Demand from Asian steelmakers has driven up prices for metallurgical coal worldwide. The companies operate mines in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia and Wyoming.
- Bobby Jo Vance, 28, and Joseph Eric Frazier, 33, were both charged with operating a meth lab after a meth lab exploded inside an apartment building on Lee Street in Charleston late Saturday and blew out some windows. Police are searching for 28 year old Anita Lopez. The lab explosion forced police to temporarily condemn the building and move its occupants out until Environmental Protection Agency and city building inspectors test the air for traces of potentially explosive chemicals.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:43 PM 
