US mines buck hiring trend

International Longwall News Monday, 22 December 2008 US MINE operations have gone against the trend of widespread job losses across the nation, adding 16,000 new jobs in 2008, according to the US Department of Labor. Across America, 2.7 million jobs have disappeared since December 2007. However, as of December coal added 7,000 new positions while metal and mineral mine staffs jumped by 9,000. The agency said the increased numbers represent a rise of 10% over the final numbers of 2007 for coal complexes, 4% for metal/nonmetal. It warned, however, that some producers have announced layoffs since the data was compiled due to the ongoing economic environment. For November the US lost 533,000 jobs but coal actually gained 1,000 in 30 days, a 1% rise. During that same period, metal and mineral mines added 300 new jobs to their payrolls.

CONSOL Gets Arena Naming Rights

KDKA TV is reporting that the new Pittsburgh multi-purpose-arena naming rights will belong to CONSOL Energy. What could be more cool than a partnership between Tom Coal's two favorite things... Coal and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Another Coal to Liquids Plant in WV

WV is getting a second Coal to Liquids plant in Mingo County, WV. GO COAL!

CONSOL Coal to Liquids Back

WVNS TV reports that Consol's Coal to Liquids plant in Benwood, WV (near Wheeling) is still a go. This follows their biggest technical partner's exit from the deal a few months back.

What is a Scrubber?

..."COAL is our most abundant fossil fuel. The United States has more coal than the rest of the world has oil. There is still enough coal underground in this country to provide energy for the next 200 to 300 years..."

..."Most modern power plants — and all plants built after 1978 — are required to have special devices installed that clean the sulfur from the coal's combustion gases before the gases go up the smokestack. The technical name for these devices is "flue gas desulfurization units," but most people just call them "scrubbers" — because they "scrub" the sulfur out of the smoke released by coal-burning boilers..."

See what we're already doing to our coal to make it better... According to the DOE.

First Post

Go Coal!
..."Despite the lumps that it has deservedly taken over the years, coal helped spark the Industrial Revolution and continues today to have a positive side: it’s cheap, the United States has lots of it, and, believe it or not, the technology to burn coal without harming the environment already exists. With the price of oil and natural gas sky-high and concerns about our addiction to these mostly imported fossil fuels even higher, it’s time, the school’s researchers say, to give coal, in its new cleaned up state, another chance..."

This is a message from 2006. But, it still seems fitting: See Link