The first Coal Caucus meeting of the House of Delegates will be held on Monday, January 20^th, beginning at 11:30 a.m. in Room 252 on the House of Delegates side of the Capitol Building.  Last week’s meeting had to be cancelled because of the chemical spill and water problems in Charleston.  Following the Coal Caucus the WVCA Government Affairs Committee will hold a meeting in the same location.

To register for the WV Coal Mining Symposium please go to: http://www.wvcoal.com/2014-symposium-registration.html to make your reservations for the Symposium and pay by credit card, if you so desire, or I will invoice your company.  If you have more than one attending and would like to submit one registration form, please indicate how many will attend each event and then list the names in the comment section.  Don’t need to know who will be attending what function, just a number, then the name so nametags will be available upon your arrival.  If you have any questions or concerns, please give me a call or e-mail.  (304) 342-4153 or sdavison@wvcoal.com.  The agenda, as it is updated and stands now, is at this site as well.

The State Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety agreed to propose for public comment an Administrative Rule requiring proximity detectors on place-change continuous mining machines along with a number of additional safety standards for underground section haulage equipment and equipment operators.

Before adoption of the proposed rule, a number of changes were made which are highlighted in the below summation.

Senate Bill 355 -- Water Use Legislation Introduced

The legislation makes several changes to the West Virginia Water Resources Management Act (WVWRMA).  A summary of the draft bill, prepared by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, is below.  The bill is double referenced, first to the Senate’s Natural Resources  Committee http://www.legis.state.wv.us/committees/senate/SenateCommittee.cfm?Chart=nr and then to the Judiciary Committeehttp://www.legis.state.wv.us/committees/senate/SenateCommittee.cfm?Chart=jud We expect a companion bill to be introduced in the House as well.  The provisions of SB 355 are also included in SB 373.

Richard Neil Farmer, who served as general counsel of United Coal at the time Massey Energy acquired it in the late 1990s passed away on Sunday, January 5 in Hurricane

Joseph B. Talbott, a former Webster County House of Delegates member, passed away last week, according to officials with the state House of Delegates.

John Sabo, retired employee of Weir International and served as their representative as WVCA Associate member, passed away on January 6.

Bud Runyon, former VP of Sales at ICG, passed away yesterday, January 9^th.