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14 www.coalage.com July 2016 news continued said. "I was born and raised in Marshall County. I'm a retired coal miner. I worked in the mines for 38 years. Coal made the state of West Virginia." Thomas said gas plants like Moundsville Power could cause more coal plants to close, resulting in even fewer jobs for coal miners. OVJA contends coal plants provide substantially more jobs for families in the region — both in the plants and the coal mines that serve them — than natural gas plants will provide. In neighboring Ohio, South Field Energy is one of five large gas plants either under construction or development in the Buckeye state. Together, those plants would generate in excess of 4,000 megawatts, or more than the two largest Ohio coal plants combined. Floods Ravage West Virginia Called a "thousand-year flood" by many, much of central and southern West Virginia was inundated by several inches of rain — up to 10 inches in less than 24 hours in some places — on June 23 and 24, leaving more than 23 dead, many injured and thousands without homes. The devastating flood event was the third-deadliest in state history, and resulted in losses that residents are only now begin- ning to completely fathom. With billions in damage left behind once the deluge ended, West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin de- clared a state of emergency for 44 of the state's 55 counties, and the West Virginia National Guard and teams for search and rescue were deployed from border to border. The greens and fairways of the Greenbrier, owned by coal magnate Jim Justice, became a river through the middle hard-hit White Sulphur Springs. Many of the areas impacted the most by the worst U.S. flooding in more than a half-decade were, unfortunately, also areas crushed by the industry's downturn. Miners, many of them living on unem- ployment assistance or trying to track down another line of work to support their families, found themselves without the homes they were already working diligently to keep and maintain. From an industry perspective, coal operators across Southern Appalachia seem to have escaped the flooding event largely without significant issue. A spokesman for Alpha Natural Resources noted that, while their people were certainly impacted on a personal level, none of their mines sustained any issues affecting worker safety. An Arch Coal representative reported the same. West Virginia Depart- ment of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokeswoman Kelley Gil- lenwater said no flood-related problems were reported at the state's impoundments or abandoned operations. 4 Plants Will Stay Open and Comply With EPA Regs Four large coal-burning power plants owned and operated by Ken- tucky's largest electric utilities, Kentucky Utilities (KU) and Louisville Gas & Electric (LG&E;), would remain in operation for many more years under an environmental cost recovery settlement reached in June between the utilities and two major interveners. The parties unanimously agreed that KU and LG&E; should be allowed to spend almost $1 billion on projects that will enable the 1,932-megawatt Ghent, 1,472-megawatt Mill Creek, 1,274-megawatt Trimble County and 749-megawatt E.W. Brown plants to comply with federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. To- gether, KU and LG&E; serve about 1.2 million electric customers. If the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) approves the settlement, as expected, later this year, KU will be authorized to spend $678 million and LG&E; about $316 million primarily to meet the EPA's new Coal Combustion Residuals Rule that took effect on October 19, 2015. KU and LG&E;, subsidiaries of Pennsylvania-based PPL Corp. that burn about 15 million tons of steam coal annually, sought to recover the project costs through a special mechanism under Ken- tucky's 1992 environmental surcharge law. Enacted by the Kentucky General Assembly a quarter-century ago to encourage the state's util- ities to continue burning coal, the law authorizes utilities to recover the costs of complying with federal, state and local environmental c a l e n d a r o f e v e n t s August 23-24, 2016: 124 th Annual Illinois Mining Institute (IMI) Meeting and Expo, Marion, Illinois. Contact: Web: www.illinoismininginstitute.org. September 14-16, 2016: 2016 MEMSA Technical Symposium, Sher- aton Sand Key, Clearwater Beach, Florida. Contact: Web: www. miningelectrical.org. September 26-28, 2016: MINExpo International 2016, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Contact: Web: www.min- expo.com. September 20–21, 2016: S&P; Global Platts 39 th Annual Coal Market- ing Days Conference, Omni William Penn Hotel, Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania. Contact: Web: www.coalmarketingdays.com. October 16-18, 2016: World Coal Leaders Network, EPIC SANA, Lis- bon, Portugal. Contact: Web: www.coaltrans.com/world-coal-con- ference/details.html. December 5-9, 2016: American Exploration and Mining Association Annual Meeting, Sparks, Nevada. Contact: Web: miningamerica.org. January 29-February 1, 2017: ISEE 43 rd Annual Conference for Explosive and Blasting Technique, Orlando, Florida. Contact: Web: www.isee.org. February 20-23, 2017: SME Annual Conference & Exhibition, Denver Convention Center, Denver, Colorado. Contact: Web: www.smenet.org. May 7-9, 2017: Haulage & Loading, Wigwam Resort, Phoenix, Arizo- na. Contact: Web: www.haulageandloading.com. June 13-15, 2017: Longwall USA, David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Contact: Web: www.longwallusa.com. West Virginia saw historic flooding June 23 and 24. (Cam Huffman/ Greenbrier)