A Fall Gathering will be held in Morgantown on October 30^th – 31^st at the Waterfront Hotel, beginning with a West Virginians for Coal (our PAC) reception on Thursday evening, October 30^th.  For those staying over, November 1^st will be Energy Industry Appreciation Day at the WVU v. TCU football game with special pricing for all those who work in the energy industries. Registration information was sent out a couple weeks ago and again yesterday, if you did not receive please contact Sandi at sdavison@wvcoal.com

A Fall Gathering will be held in Morgantown on October 30^th – 31^st at the Waterfront Hotel, beginning with a West Virginians for Coal (our PAC) reception on Thursday evening, October 30^th.  For those staying over, November 1^st will be Energy Industry Appreciation Day at the WVU v. TCU football game with special pricing for all those who work in the energy industries. Registration information was sent out a couple weeks ago and again yesterday, if you did not receive please contact Sandi at sdavison@wvcoal.com

According to the latest information from the U.S. Energy Information Agency, coal production in the United States was up 2/10th of one percent for the week ending September 20^th, compared to the same week last year, although it remains off by 1.8 percent year over year.  Production for the week stood at 18.8 million tons compared to 18.78 million tons in 2013.

As noted, coal production for the 52 weeks ending September 20^th was also off by 1.8 percent, from 992 million tons in 2013 to just 974 million tons this year.  This reduced production was reflected in the number of rail cars loaded, which fell by 1.3% year over year, from 6 million cars loaded in 2013 to 5.9 million cars in 2014.

The Friends of Coal social media network is continuing unprecedented growth, adding another 1,400 fans over the past 15 days, bringing our total footprint to 88,271 fans. During that period we made 1,200 posts and received 32,600 incoming comments from 20,600 unique users. In total, we garnered 1.2 million impressions during the two-week period.

Over the past 90 days we added 13,900 new fans and 285 new Twitter followers. We made 6,500 posts and received 164,900 incoming messages and comments from 102,900 unique users. In total, we garnered 6.8 million impressions during the period.

A new episode of the Coal Seam television show is now airing. This episode features West Virginia Division of Energy Director Jeff Herholdt discussing current trends and issues related to the coal industry and energy. The episode will be broadcast through most of October.  It is available on the state Library Television Network at http://www.librarycommission.wv.gov/programs/ltn/videoserver/Pages/coalseam.aspx, as well as your local cable system’s public access channel. In the Charleston area, it is on Suddenlink Channel 17.