BIRCH RIVER – Approximately 100 students from area elementary and high schools, as well as West Virginia University joined the staff of the ICG Eastern Mining Complex in Webster County Thursday for the company’s 5th annual Arbor Day Celebration.

The Friends of Coal and the West Virginia Coal Association would like to remind everyone to vote May 14. The economic future of our state is too important to sit back and allow others to make the decisions for you. Take that little bit of extra time and stop by the polls. Tell your friends and neighbors and if they don’t have a way to get to the polls, drive them.

Vote for your future!

Vote for jobs!

Vote for coal!

Kevin Stricklin, Administrator for MSHA’s Coal Mine Health & Safety Division, addressed WVCA’s Mine Safety Committee in Charleston this week and provided an update on organizational and personnel matters.

MSHA’s District 4 will be divided into two districts with a new MSHA District 12 will be created.  Mt. Hope, Mt. Carbon, Summersville and Uneeda will remain with District 4 out of Mt. Hope and the Princeton, Logan and Pineville offices will be merged into District 12.

The new district will eventually be housed in a new facility but for the interim will operate out of the current Pineville MSHA Office and possibly the Mine Academy in Beckley.

Charlie Carpenter will succeed Bob Hardman, who is leaving his post as District Manager of District 4 this summer and Tim Watkins will be the District Manager for District 12.  Carpenter worked for Consol in Northern WV before joining MSHA.  He’s a former Field Office Supervisor in Alabama and is currently working out of Arlington on special safety projects and petitions. Watkins has been with MSHA for 20 years and was recently an ADM in District 6 in Pikeville KY;  he also worked in the agency’s technical support and ventilation division.

Additionally, Link Self will remain with District 4 and Luther Marrs will be reassigned to District 12.  Existing District 4 personnel will likely be given an opportunity to be reassigned to District 12.

Representatives of the West Virginia Coal Association and Friends of Coal joined with members of the West Virginia Business & Industry Council (BIC) for an early voting day in Charleston Friday.

“We urge everyone who can’t make it to the polls on May 14 to stop by their local courthouse and take advantage of early voting in this very important election,” said Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association. “To take part in early voting, a voter must be registered to vote in the upcoming election and have his or her identification.”

Early voting continues through Wednesday, May 11.Need to find your Early Vote location?  Contact your County Clerk CLICK HERE

Representatives of the West Virginia Coal Association and the Friends of Coal joined Senator Joe Manchin for the recent South Charleston stop of his “Common Sense” tour. Manchin talked about the current budget crisis and his determination to address the problem, while protecting the nation’s safety net.  “Left unchecked, our exploding national debt will paralyze this nation,” he said. “It will cost us countless jobs. It will derail critical programs like Social Security and Medicare.”

Manchin also addressed the efforts some have made to criticize efforts to curb the budget by scaring seniors and people who depend on the nation’s social safety net.

“Talking about cutting Social Security and Medicare scares people, but they will be protected,’ Manchin said. “If you are 35 or younger, there will be some adjustments, but it is not going to change things for people who have been paying into those programs for a long time.”

Manchin vowed, however, that he will not vote for the critical bill that would raise the nation’s debt ceiling “until we have a long-term fix.”