The last week of April (April 28 – May 4, 2013) will commemorate Coal Education Week in the Mountain State, as officially declared by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin.
The Proclamation recognizes the importance of coal in West Virginia from fuel that powered the transformation of the United States during the Industrial Revolution to present day through economic development and diversification resulting in new commercial, industrial, agricultural, public, residential and recreational facilities on land made available through coal mining.
63,000 West Virginia families depend on the coal industry and 98 percent of West Virginia’s electricity is generated by coal.
The Coal Education Week includes a Regional Coal Fair held at the Harless Center in Gilbert, a picnic/tour on Tuesday night to recognize all the winning students with WVKM & WVOW radio stations live interviewing students, and Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College videoing winning students.
The Tug Valley Mining Institute will host their monthly dinner meeting on Thursday night, May 2, at the Harless Center with guest speaker, Frank Matras, Alpha VP of Operations.
Pocahontas Land will have a coal tree exhibit on display and Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College’s Coal Academy will have an exhibit on display.
Everyone is invited to come out during this week and support our coal miners by visiting the projects on display at the Harless Community Center in Gilbert, WV. CEDAR educates students, teachers and parents about coal and its benefits through grant initiatives, coal educational fairs, and scholarships.
For more information, contact Georgene Robertson, President of CEDAR of Southern West Virginia, 304/792-8433.
The CEDAR golf tournament will be May 14 & May 15, at The Twisted Gun Resort, for more information contact Bud Clapp,304/324-2430.