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Hal Quinn, the National Mining Association’s (NMA) executive vice president, has been asked by the Association’s leadership to serve as interim president of NMA following the departure of Kraig R. Naasz as president and CEO of the organization.  The Association’s leadership has expressed confidence in the team at NMA and its ability to execute the association’s mission of advancing mining’s public policy objectives.

NO substance in America has been more demonized in the last year, nor revealed as more necessary, than coal. Liberals - and competing energy producers - condemn it as filthy.

But it's clear the nation needs coal if it is to shake its economic dependence on oil-producing dictatorships.

In a new ad, Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito pointed out that America's coal reserves are kryptonite to the oil cartel, and can be used to cut this nation's dangerous dependence on foreign and often hostile energy producers.

Hold it and they will come.

 

Especially if Ken Halloy is involved.

 

Halloy, the Bridgeport, W.Va., native who helped turn the Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge into a brand name event, is well on his way to success in another Labor Day weekend extravaganza, this one in his home state.

 

The inaugural Friends of Coal Prep Football Classic is set for Monday, Sept. 1, at the 12,000-seat Wheeling Island Stadium in Wheeling, W.Va. It’s difficult to imagine a better first-time lineup of teams.

 

The noon tripleheader will be comprised by six schools from four states that went a combined 74-8 in 2007 and won three state championships, with two of the three titles being captured in the grueling Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association playoffs.

The Greater Bluefield Area is a beautiful, mountainous community, which crosses state lines along the border of southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia. Located in the mountains along the foothills of one of the most picturesque mountain valley settings to be found anywhere, the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce is hosting the Bluefield Coal Symposium with the theme "Coal Mine Safety: The Road to Zero Harm". 

For two days, August 26 and 27, the Bluefield Coal Symposium will address providing greater safety and increased productivity.

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The WV Coal Forum and Marshall University will hold an energy forum from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, August 19 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Charleston.  Everyone is encouraged to attend and there is no fee.

The purpose of this forum is to expose civic, legislative and opinion leaders in West Virginia to Imagine West Virginia’s
Coal: "Energy, The Environment & West  Virginia Policy Recommendations” and to facilitate discussion on coal’s role in our state and nation’s energy strategy.

The event will include three segments, which include:

• Comment by elected officials;
• Presentation by Imagine Wet Virginia outlining their study recommendations;
• Panel discussion on the Imagine West Virginia report and coal’s position in state and national energy policy;

You can find additional information on the West Virginia Coal Forum at www.wvcoalforum.org

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A visit by President George W. Bush was the highlight of the West Virginia Coal Association’s recent annual meeting in White Sulphur Springs.  The event was a huge success locally but it also resulted in a great deal of media coverage.  According to Metro Monitor News Tracking Service, the event resulted in 51 television news spots, reaching a total of 2.5 million people and resulting in a publicity value [the amount of money it would cost to pay for the same time] of $134,000.  Even this number was dwarfed by the coverage when print media was added to the total.

According to Lynn Swann, Director of Public Relations for The Greenbrier Resort, coverage reached an estimated total of 21 million people with total impressions (views) estimated at 62 million.

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A survey commissioned by the West Virginia Coal Association indicates most West Virginians support the coal industry. The study further shows the industry’s message of coal as a dependable and clean alternative to foreign oil is getting through to the general public.

Brian Brown, of Charleston-based Brown Communications, joined Mark Blankenship, president of Mark Blankenship Enterprises, in making the presentation to members of the Association at the annual meeting in White Sulphur Springs.

According to the survey, which utilized 601 telephone surveys across the state, 88 percent of the people surveyed believe electricity can be produced in environmentally responsible ways through the use of technology. Further 86 percent believe the use of clean coal technology is the best way to grow the state’s economy and create jobs.  In terms of the environment, fully 86 percent of the public believes the coal industry is doing a better job of protecting the environment today than it did 20 years ago.

A group of anti-coal extremists says Walker Machinery’s latest advertising campaign is “fraudulent” and they liken it to “brainwashing”. The group is calling on Walker to stop the campaign and to pull the ads and billboards that claim coal is “clean [and] carbon neutral. “

Coal industry officials say it is uncertain what the group sponsoring the petition wants to accomplish. The petition is just another attempt to distort the facts about coal and paint the average coal miner as a polluter rather than the true environmentalists they are.

The public comment period on the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed revisions to the state’s Mining and Reclamation Rules will close next Tuesday, August 12, 2008. 

To obtain a copy of the proposed revisions contact jbostic@wvcoal.com

Earlier the week, the Coal Association filed comments on two separate environmental rulemaking initiatives.  The first was the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed revisions to the agency’s certification of the Corps of Engineer’s General Section 404 permits for coal mining: Nationwide permits 21, 49 and 50.  Comments were also filed on the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s review of recent changes to West Virginia’s mining regulatory program, specifically the changes to the state’s alternative bonding system and the per-ton coal tax collected to fund the reclamation or forfeited mine sites. 

To obtain a copy of the comments, contact jbostic@wvcoal.com

In comments before a public meeting of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, West Virginia Coal Association Vice President Chris Hamilton called for changes to a proposed rule governing the construction of refuge chambers in the state’s underground coal mines.  Hamilton said West Virginia already has refuge chambers in 90 percent of its 280 underground mines. Changing the construction requirements could mean a great deal of additional cost to the state’s mining industry and set back implementation of the refuge chambers.

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