Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has officially declared the fourth week of April (April 19 –April 25, 2105) Coal Education Week in the Mountain State. Tomblin made the announcement at a ceremony at the State Capitol Monday, April 13, 2015. CEDAR board members, WV Coal Association members and Burch Elementary second grade students were present for the ceremony.
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.
Over 50,000 West Virginia families depend on the coal industry for their livelihoods. The industry each year pays more than $3.4 billion in wages and generates more than $26 billion in total economic impact. Coal severance taxes pay for the construction of roads, bridges, hospitals and schools throughout the state and 95 percent of West Virginia’s electricity is generated by coal.
Coal Education Week includes a Regional Coal Fair that will be held at the Chief Logan Conference Center (www.chiefloganlodge.com) in Logan April 20 – April 24, a picnic/tour of the student projects on Tuesday night to recognize all the winning students with radio station WXCC interviewing student participants live. Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College is taping a television show with the winning students.
The Logan Chamber of Commerce will host a Commerce Business After Hours on Wednesday evening, April 22.
The Tug Valley Mining Institute will host their monthly dinner meeting on Thursday night, April 23, with guest speaker, Bob Murray of Murray Energy.
Pocahontas Land will have a coal tree exhibit on display, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, the West Virginia Division of Energy and Coal Heritage 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 Chief Logan Conference Center in Logan, 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.