The Annual Coal Lobbyist meeting is set for Wednesday, December 15 at the Charleston Marriott beginning at 9 a.m.  Discussion of potential legislative issues and the strategies for the 2011 legislative program will be the morning agenda, followed by lunch for the newly-elected Senators and Delegates.  More details will be sent within the next week.

On Monday, Subcommittee A of the Joint Judiciary Committee, an Interim Committee, recommended a draft coal bed methane ownership bill for next year’s Session.  A copy can be obtained clicking here. This is only a recommendation.  This same subcommittee pulled a bill that would codify the current DEP moratorium on slurry injection before the meeting.

According to a report by the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Committee, the Friends of Coal has recognized almost 61,000 state champions during the 10 years the group has sponsored the state high school athletic championships.  Below is a listing of the awards presented in each of the sport categories.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

CHARLESTON — A new report by the West Virginia Division of Energy and the Office of Coalfield Community Development has found that 13,000 people are working in West Virginia as a result of projects created on land that has been reclaimed after surface mining.

The report found that 13,335 jobs were created from 43 different projects on reclaimed land in 12 counties, including McDowell. The report found that the uses of surface mine sites are varied, and include residential development, tourism, energy, schools, government facilities and manufacturing.

There are more than 15,000 operations that mine for raw materials in the United States, excluding oil and gas, based on information from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. U.S. mining has a broad impact on the national economy. Mining provides jobs, pays salaries and generates value in all 50 states. The economic contribution of mining is greater than these direct effects. Mining operators purchase inputs from other parts of the economy, and these suppliers in turn purchase goods from other companies. Employees spend wages at local businesses, whose owners in turn spend the proceeds on new supplies and other goods. Governments at the federal, state and local levels collect taxes on this activity. From a broader perspective, the products produced by U.S. mines provide the raw materials required by the rest of the economy. The ability of the U.S. economy to compete internationally depends on the availability of such inputs.