By BILL RANEY, PRESIDENT

West Virginia Coal Association

It appears Barack Obama didn’t learn anything from his resounding defeat this past November. In fact, it appears he and his administration are “doubling-down’ on their efforts to ram through their radical anti-job agenda. If they can’t do it by passing legislation, they seem determined to bypass the Constitution altogether and impose their agenda through over-reaching regulation and rule-making.

CHARLESTON – Today’s announced closure of AK Steel’s Ashland Coke Plant is yet another example of the arrogance of the Obama Administration and the U.S. EPA. The closure of the the coke plant will put some 263 people out of work at a time when the nation’s reported unemployment rate is approaching 10 percent and many estimates place the real rate at nearly 15 percent.

According to the company, the decision to close the plant is the result of significantly higher operational costs related to the EPA’s imposition of increasingly stringent regulations.

“As a result, the total per-ton cost of coke produced by the plant is significantly higher than all other sources of coke for the company,” AK Steel said in its news release.

As 2010 draws to a close, do you remember hearing any good news from the mainstream media about climate? Like maybe a headline proclaiming "Record Low 2009 and 2010 Cyclonic Activity Reported: Global Warming Theorists Perplexed"? Or "NASA Studies Report Oceans Entering New Cooling Phase: Alarmists Fear Climate Science Budgets in Peril"? Or even anything bad that isn't blamed on anthropogenic (man-made) global warming--of course other than what is attributed to George W. Bush? (Conveniently, the term "AGW" covers both.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Nick Joe Rahall met recently with officials from Mingo County to discuss local projects and the future of coal mining.

Terry Salmons and Mike Whitt with the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority (MCRA) were among those who traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak with the Congressman. The group talked about airport and highway infrastructure initiatives, including a unique public/private partnership brokered by MCRA with CONSOL Energy to construct a five-mile section of the King Coal Highway (KCH).

MetroNews
Williamson, Mingo County

Mingo County students will move into a brand new high school with all the bells and whistles come next Fall.

Gilbert, Birch, Matewan and Williamson High Schools and the Mingo County Career Center will all become Mingo Central High School.

Assistant Mingo County Superintendent Robert Bobbera says it's a fantastic facility.  "It's state of the art.  We're looking at an increase in programs, more so than what we can offer in our individual schools," he says.