Bluefield Daily Telegraph - January 10, 2011
BLUEFIELD — The 11 state legislators from West Virginia and Virginia who met with the Bluefield Daily Telegraph editorial board last week face different challenges when they return to Charleston and Richmond, Va., this week. In West Virginia, a senate leadership change will take center stage, and in Virginia, legislators will deal with trimming the budget.
However, there is one area that the coalfield legislators of the two Virginias could pledge their support for without hesitation or reservation — coal.
“I wish there was some way to just flip a switch and show the people of this nation just how much of their energy comes from coal,” State Senator Phillip P. Puckett, D-Russell said. “You can’t find any energy source right now that can replace coal. I believe we are all united in our support for coal.”
The question begged a brief response, and there was none more brief that the one State Senator H. Truman Chafin, D-Mingo gave. The editorial board session was running long, and Chafin was scheduled to take depositions that afternoon. He walked to a reporter, stuck both thumbs into the air and said: “Coal. You know how I feel about coal.”
When Chafin left, other legislators said the $3 billion coal-to-liquids plant near Gilbert is moving ahead. Puckett’s senatorial district is home to Dominion’s Hybrid Energy Center in Virginia City, Va. He noted that when it comes on line, it will be the world’s cleanest coal-fired energy plant.
Delegates Anne B. Crockett-Stark, R-Wythe and James W. “Will” Morefield, R-Tazewell both expressed their support for the coal industry — saying that the industry is vital in terms of the energy is provides the nation and for the jobs it provides in southwestern Virginia.
“I’m on board with coal,” Delegate-elect Joe Ellington, a Mercer County Republican said. He said that the industry needs to continue searching for ways to mine coal safely and to continue efforts to protect and preserve the environment. “It’s been part of our past, our present and will be our future.”
While he expressed his support for the coal industry, Delegate John Frazier, D-Mercer, said that everyone in the coalfields shares the pain of families who have lost loved ones on coal mine accidents. “Coal, or any other industry, shouldn’t be given a blank check,” Frazier said.
Delegate Clif Moore, D-McDowell, said he is “sick and tired of these outside wackos” who try to destroy the coal industry, and Senator-elect Mark Wills, a Democrat from Mercer County, said his grandfather worked and died in a coal mine. He said he agreed with Frazier that industry needs to be accountable, but he also encouraged people to look outside the window of the Daily Telegraph board room at the “absolutely clear and beautiful day,” and noted: “This is a coal state.”
Senator-elect Ron Miller, also a Democrat representing the 10th Senatorial District said, “I’m a strong supporter of coal,” he said. “We ought to be talking about our metallurgical coal. We have some of the best, if not the best metallurgical coal in the world.”
Delegate-elect Marty Gearheart, a Republican from Mercer County, said that coal can compete against all energy sources. “Coal is the most efficient, abundant source of energy,” he said.
Delegate Daniel Hall, D-Wyoming, said he lost a family member in the coal mine explosion last year, but he said he remains a supporter of the coal industry. “As a House, we’re united,” Hall said.