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news continued because several electric companies plan to build new gas plants. They include Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities, PPL Corp. subsidiaries and the state���s largest electric utililties, which recently started construction on a 640-mw, $583 million gas plant at the site of the Cane Run coal plant in southwestern Louisville. Kentucky Power, an American Electric Power subsidiary, is weighing options for 800-mw Unit 2 at its Big Sandy coal plant near Louisa in Lawrence County. The utility already has said Unit 2 is expected to stop burning coal in 2015. In western Kentucky, Big Rivers Electric Corp. plans to convert one unit at its 130-mw Reid coal plant to natural gas, largely to comply with new federal Environmental Protection Agency rules. m Gooch said he���s concerned that if utilities can use the FAC mechanism, which is regulated by the Public Service Commission, to automatically recover fuel costs from gas plants, the bills of many Kentuckians could increase dramatically without the benefit of a full-blown utility rate case. If utilities know they cannot automatically use the FAC to pass along higher gas costs that could serve as a disincentive for switching to gas in the first place, he said. ���I���m just trying to get a conversation started��� about a scenario he contends could prove expensive for Kentuckians. The bill has been assigned to the Natural Resources and Environment Committee chaired by Gooch in the House of PEOPLE IN THE NEWS Luminant has appointed Mac McFarland CEO. He is the company���s former chief commercial officer. McFarland succeeds David Campbell, who resigned in December. Mac McFarland Arch Coal, Inc. has appointed Russ Lorince vice president of external affairs for the company���s eastern region. Patriot Coal Corp. announced that Michael D. Day has been promoted to the new position of executive vice president of operations. Previously, he served as senior vice president overseeing Patriot���s West Virginia Central and Kentucky operations, along with its centralized engineering group. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced that James Graham, formerly vice president, general counsel-global operations has been elected vice president and chief legal officer. Carolyn Cheverine, formerly general counsel-corporate affairs and secretary, has been promoted to vice president, general counsel and secretary. The company also announced that Paul West has been appointed director of corporate sustainability. Coalspur Mines Ltd. has appointed Richard Tremblay vice president of operations. Ingram Barge Co. announced the promotion of Robert Barker to senior vice president and chief information officer. Robert Barker David Abraham Zegeer, a mining engineer and former assistant secretary for the Mine Safety and Health Administration recently passed away. After attending West Virginia University and serving in World War II, he became a mining engineer and then division manager of Consolidation Coal Co. and Beth-Elkhorn Corp. until 1977. During his 30-year career, he was active in various state and national coal associations to promote mine safety and health and received countless awards and recognition from his peers. He served on the National Academy of Sciences��� Committee on Underground Coal Mine Safety and was confirmed as assistant secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health in 1983. During his three-year tenure, he made remarkable progress in safety for U.S. mining. Zegeer ensured that nearly one-half million workers at more than 18,000 mines were protected from hazards to their safety and health. With fewer than 100 deaths in coal mining, this was the first time in U.S. history that the number of fatalities had ever decreased to those levels. He was recognized for his contributions to the coal mining industry with the David A. Zegeer Railroad and Coal Mining Museum built in his honor. Ronald Eugene (Gene) Samples recently passed away. With more than 40 years in U.S. mining, he served as chairman and CEO of both Consolidation Coal Co. and Arch Minerals Corp. He was a leader of the National Coal Association (a predecessor organization of NMA) and the American Coal Foundation. The Samples mine in West Virginia was named after him. The Tennessee Valley Authority recently named four new members to its board of directors. Michael McWherter , V. Lynn Evans , Peter Mahurin and Joe H. Ritch were all confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on January 1. Frank Fetty The American Coal Council (ACC) announced that ACC CEO Janet Gellici will be leaving the association in mid-May for the position of executive director of the National Coal Council, an advisory group to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. Gellici has been with the ACC since its inception 30 years ago, and has served as chief executive since 1991. Dr. Stewart Gillies, interim director of the Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center at Missouri University of Science and Technology since 2009, has been named director of the center. Gillies is also the Union Pacific-Rocky Mountain Energy mining professor at Missouri S&T.; Stewart Gillies 14 www.coalage.com J.H. Fletcher & Co. has appointed Frank Fetty and Mike Gissel to its sales staff. They will be working to improve existing customer relations by working with customers and field service representatives to make the Fletcher repair and warranty process easier. Mike Gissel Tenova has appointed Alberto Iperti CEO. Double Coin Tires has appointed Pete Salvan Southwest regional sales manager. Magnetek, Inc. has appointed Kevin Senn business development manager for mining controls. GKN Wheels has appointed Greg Mowrey North America sales Greg Mowrey manager. February 2013