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The New Era and New Future underground mines that make up the Galatia complex operated in Saline County, Illinois, by Murray subsidiary American Coal Co. enjoyed a strong production year in 2014 and more of the same is anticipated for 2015, according to Gary Broadbent, Murray Energy assistant general counsel and media director. New Era turned out 5.5 million tons and New Future about 5.7 mil- lion tons in 2014, for a total of more than 11.2 million tons, easily eclipsing their combined 2013 total of 9.8 million tons, federal Mine Safety and Health Administration figures show. A further increase is possible this year, Broadbent said. "We expect The American Coal Co. to produce approximately 11.6 million tons of high-quality bituminous coal in 2015," he said in late January. Early this year, Lakeland, Florida, awarded AmCoal what is thought to be its first coal supply contract with the city- owned electric utility to supply high-sulfur Illinois Basin coal from New Era and New Future. Details of the agreement were not avail- able in late January. Robert E. Murray, the company's chairman, president and CEO, has railed for several years against the Obama administration's "war on coal" that has resulted in a succession of stringent pollution rules by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) targeting coal. ICF International, a Fairfax, Virginia, consulting firm, is projecting 62 GW of coal generating unit retirements in 2015-2016 in the U.S., mainly because of new EPA regulations such as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule that takes effect in April. Against this daunting backdrop, Murray Energy expects that coal markets "will continue to be severely depressed in 2015 and beyond," Broadbent said. Nevertheless, Murray Energy plans to modestly boost production this year. Of the projected 66.3 million tons for 2015, approximately 38 million tons will be mined at Murray American Energy operations in West Virginia, he noted. Those operations include the McElroy, Shoemaker, Blacksville, Loveridge and Robinson Run underground mines acquired by Murray Energy, the fifth-largest coal producer in the nation, from Consol Energy in late 2013. All five mines since have been renamed by Murray Energy. In early 2015, Ohio Valley Coal Co., another Murray Energy sub- sidiary, was in the midst of a major longwall move at its Powhatan No. 6 mine in Belmont County, Ohio. The relocation, scheduled for com- pletion early this year, will allow Powhatan to access additional coal reserves. Powhatan is expected to produce about 6.6 million tons in n e w s c o n t i n u e d January 2015 www.coalage.com 19 Mingo Logan Coal's Left Fork surface mine received the National Wild Turkey Federation Award for its work in restoring former surface mine land for wildlife habitat. Also taking home individual awards for environmental restoration at the symposium were Coal-Mac's Pine Creek No. 1 surface mine (Good Neighbor and Community Outreach Award) and AML Awards went to Eastern Arrow/Whitman Barbie Highwall No. 1 and Green Mountain Co.'s Colliers Sportsman Club Highway. The refuse reclamation award for the northern region was earned by Arch Coal's Sentinel complex; in the southern region, the honor went to Greenbrier Smokeless Coal's Buck Lilly mining complex. The winners for surface reclamation in the southern region were Met Resources' McComas No. 2 surface mine, Alpha Natural Resources' Republic Energy No. 2 surface mine and Coal-Mac's Phoenix No. 4 sur- face operation. Winning for valley fill construction in the southern region were Catenary Coal's Samples surface mine and Alpha Natural Resources' Republic Energy Empire surface operation, and earning honors in water treatment was Alpha Natural Resources' Road Fork Development Turkey Creek refuse area. Earning recognition for their impoundment construction efforts in the southern region were Alpha Natural Resources' Kepler Processing Wallace Cabin Branch impoundment and Alpha Natural Resources' Power Mountain Coal Sugarcamp refuse impoundment. Finally, Consol of Kentucky's Twin Branch surface mine received the award for the haul road construction category. News Continued on Page 54 Operators large and small, and from four state regions, were eligible to win Mountaineer Guardian awards for safety in 2014 based on final incident rate figures and total man-hours worked. Catenary Coal Co.'s Sample surface mine earn a reclamation award at a cer- emony held by the WVCA on January 30.