Massey Energy Co. has bought additional coal reserves from the bankrupt Appalachian Fuels LLC and its affiliates. The metallurgical and steam coal reserves, bought for about $6 million, consist of about 15 million tons of highvolatile coal located in Barbour County, W.Va. Richmond-based Massey also acquired permits which will eventually be necessary for production on the property.

Headquarters: Abingdon (moving to Bristol)
  Employees: 6,200
  Top executive: Kevin S. Crutchfield, chief executive officer
  Founded: 2002, after the private-equity firm First Reserve Corp. bought the Virginia operations of Pittston Coal Co.
  Key products: Coal for steam and metallurgical uses

Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources chose to build a new corporate headquarters in Bristol for economic reasons and to stay close to its roots in rural Southwest Virginia, its chief executive officer said. The company said yesterday that it plans to open a new headquarters building in Bristol’s Sugar Hollow Business Complex by 2011, bringing 69 jobs to Virginia.

In a case that led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on judicial ethics, Massey Energy Co. asked West Virginia’s top court to stick with earlier conclusions absolving it of a multimillion-dollar judgment. For the third time in nearly two years, state justices heard the Richmond-based coal producer appeal a verdict won in 2002 by competitor Harman Mining Co. and its president, Hugh Caperton. The verdict is now worth $85 million.

Both sides in a dispute over a coal-fired power plant in far Southwest Virginia said they were happy after the state issued a new permit for the plant yesterday. David K. Paylor, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality, issued the permit shortly after a Richmond Circuit Court judge released an order setting aside the original permit.

A demonstration project to remove carbon dioxide from coal-fired smokestack emissions has been proposed for a controversial power plant under construction in far Southwest Virginia.

A Richmond judge says a state permit for a coal-burning power plant in Wise County did not adequately limit mercury pollution. Circuit Judge Margaret P. Spencer said the state Air Pollution Control Board erred in issuing the permit for the $1.8 billion Dominion Virginia Power plant. The ruling, released yesterday, means the board must craft a revised permit for the plant.

They volunteer to go into spaces that are dangerous, on fire and full of deadly smoke. They’re willing to risk their lives to help co-workers in trouble. They train constantly—at work, after work and on weekends. They’re on call 24/7. On Friday, 16 mine-rescue teams demonstrated their skills at the Governor’s Cup Mine Rescue Contest, held annually at Southwest Virginia Community College.

Former Gov. and U.S. Sen. George Allen has launched an organization, the American Energy Freedom Center, to try to influence the public debate about energy. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Allen said coal, oil and natural gas are the solution to the nation’s energy problem. “The sun doesn’t shine all the time; the wind doesn’t blow all the time,“ he said, referring to alternative energy sources of wind and solar power.

The proposed coal-fired power plant in Surry County has emerged as one of few issues that clearly divide the Democratic candidates for governor. On Jan. 22, former Del. Brian J. Moran of Alexandria announced his opposition to the plant, holding a news conference outside the Department of Environmental Quality headquarters in Richmond.

The $4 billion Cypress Creek power plant would be big, and it would burn coal. And those are problems, say opponents who argue that there are better ways to deal with rising energy demands. If built in Surry County to provide 1,500 megawatts, Cypress Creek would be Virginia’s largest coal-burning plant, topping Dominion Virginia Power’s Chesterfield Power Station near Chester.

DENDRON Surry County Administrator Tyrone W. Franklin thinks of the proposed Cypress Creek power plant as a redevelopment project that will bring good jobs as well as energy. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Dendron was a big company town, built and run by the Surry Lumber Co. to house its mills and employees. The company—the largest processor of yellow pine timber east of the Mississippi River—thrived, and by the 1920s nearly 3,000 people lived in Dendron. The town’s very name comes from the Greek word for “tree.“

The Energy Department will use $2.4 billion from the economic recovery package to speed up development of technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and factories that burn coal. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a meeting of the National Coal Council yesterday that it’s essential that ways are found to capture carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants and other sources.

Alpha Natural Resources will buy Foundation Coal, controlling 59 coal mines and 14 preparation plants with combined reserves of more than 2.3 billion tons of coal.

Coal producer Massey Energy Co. said it has cut the base salaries of its chief executive and four other top officials 10 percent. Richmond-based Massey disclosed the pay cuts for CEO Don Blankenship and others in a regulatory filing. Other compensation such as stock awards are not being reduced, nor are payments they would receive if the company were sold, according to the filing.