The 2012 WV Mining Symposium will begin on February 1 thru February 3^rd at the Charleston Civic Center.  Registration information was sent to all members on Monday and have been coming back into the Association at a steady clip.

The program will be finalized in the next week and will also be sent to all members via e-mail.  Please complete and return the registration form so all nametags will be available upon your arrival and we have good counts for all of functions.

Please contact Sandi at 304.342.4153 or e-mail: sdavison@wvcoal.com with any questions.

The new edition of Coal Facts will be sent to all members, legislators, key-government officials, all libraries, all chamber of commerces and media next week. The publication will once again feature all the annualized data for production, employment, distribution, coal severance taxes and other information, as well as features on the history of mining, an overview of surface and underground mining, post-mine land use and restoration efforts, and our annual award-winning operations.

A pdf copy of the publication will also be available online.

Delegate Tim Ennis (D-Brooke) is leaving the West Virginia Legislature to fill a vacancy on the Brooke County Commission. The Herald-Star of Steubenville, Ohio, says the commission appointed Ennis on Tuesday to fill the seat held by the late Commissioner Bernie Kazienko, who died Dec. 5.

Candidates planning to run for public office in the 2012 elections may begin filing candidacy papers on January 9, according to the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office.

The office also will offer a free live video stream every day of the filing period, including up to the midnight deadline on January 28, for people wanting to watch who is filing. The live streaming video will be available on a link that will appear at the top of the Secretary of State's website at www.wvsos.com.

The West Virginia Contractors’ Expo will be held at the Charleston Civic Center March 21 & 22. The event is one of the largest events in the annual trade show calendar for the state.

The West Virginia Coal Association and Friends of Coal will once again man a booth at the event during the two days. Look for us there.