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An editorial in this week’s State Journal addressed the "The minority staff of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plans to issue a report this week that shows the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's holdup of mining permits in Appalachia jeopardizes more than 5,600 jobs in West Virginia alone."

"If you consider that there has been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theater of operations during the past 22 months, and a total of 2112 deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers. The firearm death rate in Washington , DC is ...80.6 per 100,000 for the same period. That means you are about 25 per cent more likely to be shot and killed in the US capital, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the US, than you are in Iraq.

“I am looking for a source of Sewell vein coal. I checked out the www.wvcoal.com website and it indicated the Sewell vein is located in the following counties: Greenbrier, Raleigh, and Nicholas, among others. I am wondering if you could assist me in finding a mine where we could purchase a semi-truckload of Sewell vein coal. We are prepared to take 22-25 tons.” Contact: Thomas J. Pliura, M.D., J.D., P.C., Physician & Attorney at Law, P.O. Box 130, Le Roy, IL 61752 -- Ph. (309) 962-2299 -- Fax (309) 962-4646
e-mail: tom.pliura@zchart.com

Legislation introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Frank Palone (D-N.J.) and in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) will severely restrict all types of coal mining, threatening thousands of high-paying coal jobs.

ACT now and urge Congress to reject the so-called "Clean Water Protection Act" (H.R. 1310) and the "Appalachian Restoration Act" (S. 696).

These bills jeopardize the future of domestic coal mining and will saddle American consumers and businesses with massive energy price hikes. Hundreds of thousands of mining jobs could be lost and many projects that help stimulate the economy will never be brought to fruition.

ACT now and urge Congress to reject misguided and ill-informed efforts to prohibit mining practices that create good American jobs and help power our homes and businesses with abundant and affordable domestic energy.

To write your members of Congress, please click here.