Testimony of Chris R. Hamilton, Senior Vice President, West Virginia Coal Association and Chairman, West Virginia Business and Industry Council before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources of the Natural Resources Committee oversight hearing: “EPA v. American Mining Jobs:  The Obama Administration’s Regulatory Assault on the Economy”.

US House of Representatives -- Washington D.C. --  October 10, 2013

 

Good afternoon!  I’m Chris Hamilton, Senior Vice-President of the West Virginia Coal Association.  I appreciate the opportunity to participate in your meeting and discuss the actions or inactions of this Administration on West Virginia’s economy.

More information on my background and experience in coal is included in my prepared remarks before you.

The 92^nd edition of the West Virginia Blue Book is available for the first time on the WV Legislature’s website.  The comprehensive reference guide on current officials in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of states government, federal officers and political leaders is a very useful resource tool.  The Blue Book also contains information on state and federal agencies, the US and State Constitutions and statistics on counties, municipalities and statewide organizations. The West Virginia Blue Book can be found online at: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/2012/BlueBook/BlueBook2012.pdf

WVCA will host a one-day workshop on “communications and social media” onFriday, October 25 in the WV Room 103 of the Charleston Civic Center.  The meeting, open at no cost to all WVCA members, will commence at 9 a.m. and should conclude my mid-afternoon.  All WVCA members are encouraged to have representation at this event.

This workshop is designed to expand WVCA’s and Friends of Coal’s overall effectiveness by incorporating a larger number of member companies into our communications and social media program and interlock network.

Attendees will learn how to effectively communicate with legislators utilizing our new legislative communications program and build an internal team of individuals who can be called upon from time to time as resource multipliers in order to maximize industry’s response to critical legislative or regulatory issues.  Additionally, attendees will also learn how to develop a Facebook or Twitter account for their individual company and have it “plugged-in” to WVCA.

To register for the October 25 workshop, please contact sdavison@wvcoal.com.

A documentary on "Editions" which is narrated by Terry Bradshaw and titledAmerican Industry Series will air on Sunday October 13th, at 4:00 pm ET on Fox Business Channel. Those participating included Bill Raney (president of the West Virginia Coal association), J.D. Fairchild (Caterpillar) and Joe Owens (Caterpillar) and Dave Bundy (CEO and owner of Contour Highwall Mining, LLC).

Because of the government shutdown, EPA has postponed two of the public “listening sessions” (mentioned above) on its carbon pollution standards that were scheduled for October 15^th in Boston, MA, and October 18^th in Philadelphia, PA. The sessions will apparently be re-scheduled when the government reopens.

As indicated in Congresswoman Capito’s Resolution, EPA has announced 11 public “listening sessions” across the country – none of which is anywhere near a coal-producing area -- to solicit ideas and input from the public and stakeholders about the best Clean Air Act approaches to reducing carbon pollution from existing power plants.