West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney was the guest speaker at the Martinsburg Chamber of Commerce monthly breakfast meeting Friday, July 9. Raney provided an overview of the importance of coal to the state’s economy with a focus on the impact the state’s coal production has even on areas of the state where coal is not produced, such as the Eastern Panhandle. Raney outlined the basic findings of the joint study released earlier this year by the West Virginia University/Marshall University business research groups, which showed total economic impact to the state of some 63,000 jobs and the $25.5 billion in total business volume generated by the industry in the state each year. He also noted $630,000 in severance money received by just the three easternmost counties in the Panhandle and that a significant amount of the $26 million the industry pays to support the state’s infrastructure bond fund goes to projects in the area. Raney also joined FACES’ Jay Murphy in encouraging the Chamber to sign the petition supporting FACES.
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