LOGAN -- The Logan County Commission made the first donation to a new coal lobbying organization with a $2,500 donation on Tuesday. The avowed purpose of Citizens for Coal is to educate the public with facts about the importance of coal to the nation as an economic force and an affordable source of energy.
Spokesman Roger Horton told County Commission members Art Kirkendoll, Willie Akers and Danny Godby that anti-mining extremists and activists had done a good job of attacking the coal industry with anti-mining television ads and programs and the industry had done a poor job of defending itself from the attacks.
Horton, a miner and UMWA spokesperson, addressed the county commission about Citizens for Coal, a new not-for-profit coalition formed to educate the public about the real face of coal in an era where spin doctors and attack ads had made major impact on people outside our region. Citizens for Coal is a forum for miners, elected officials, union officials, mining companies, union members and vendors who do business within the coal industry to become a voice of concern.
"There is a lot of negative publicity generated by people who don't want us to mine coal," Horton said, adding that coal's profile needed to be raised as a national issue noting that without American coal, the nation might have to import more expensive sources of energy.
"I decided to develop a not-for-profit called Citizens for Coal," Horton said. "I have a board of directors who are working miners, vendors and a variety of people who have a stake in this."
Horton said his group would visit other county commissions and attempt to gather funds to meet its objectives of educating elected officials and the public about how important coal is to the nation and our state's economy. Horton noted surface mining land is often used to build economic development projects after the coal has been removed in a region where flat land is limited and often unavailable.
Horton said he wants Citizens for Coal to become a resource for the people of the coalfields to reach out to the public and make them aware of the importance of coal.
County Commission President Art Kirkendoll said that if coal is regulated out of existence it would devastate our region and could negatively affect the rest of the nation which doesn't have a reliable and affordable energy source to compete with it.
Horton said the region needed to realize that activists and environmentalists have come at our region "in full attack mode."
"Everybody needs to stand up for the common citizen," Kirkendoll said, adding that a united effort was needed to get the truth out in order to ensure a quality way of life for the future of southern West Virginia.
"It is important for everyone to do a little bit," Horton agreed.
Kirkendoll said he wanted the Logan County Commission to be the first donor to come on board, and challenged other county commissions to "put their money where their heart is."
"It may not be a huge donation," Kirkendoll said of the $2,500 amount, "but it will get the ball rolling. We want other agencies and commissions which receive funding from coal mining and taxes and royalties to support this too. Hopefully others will follow suit. Coal is the lifeblood of our economy."
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