The West Virginia Coal Association is continuing its outreach efforts across West Virginia and across the rest of the country.

·       Approximately 200 people turned out last week for a rally co-sponsored by the West Virginia Coal Association, Friends of Coal, Citizens for Coal and the Friends and Families of Coal, in Beckley. The rally was held at the Madison Convention Center and included presentations by WVCA Senior VP Chris Hamilton, VP Jason Bostic and Citizens for Coal President Roger Horton and others on issues related to the Obama EPA’s ongoing war on coal.  We received good media coverage including television stations WCHS and WSAZ.

The September episode of the Coal Seam television show is now airing on your local public access channels. Our special guests this month include WVU Head Football Coach Dana Holgorsen and Marshall University Head Football Coach Doc Holliday as they discuss the final installment of the Friends of Coal Bowl and their respective schools’ prospects for the upcoming season. Tune in for a fun and exciting Coal Seam.

The West Virginia Coal Association, the Friends of Coal and several other coal industry groups continue to expand their social media presence. Our efforts so far, without the use of paid web advertising, have been very successful. We have added another Friends of Coal state page for North Carolina that has been well-received.

As it stands, Friends of Coal – West Virginia continues to grow. It is up to approximately 3,000 likes and reaches an average of about 40,000 each week.  Friends of Coal – Virginia has seen phenomenal growth over the past week and is now up to 3,000 likes and an average reach of about 65,000 per week.  Our newest state page – Friends of Coal- North Carolina – is already up to 1000 likes in less than a week and is reaching an average of 15,000 each week. Friends of Coal Ohio and Friends of Coal Pennsylvania are slower growing, with both pages seeing about 250 likes and reaching approximately 20,000 people per week combined.

WVCA Senior Vice President Chris Hamilton has drafted a letter to C.A. Phillips, director of the OMHS&T related to HB 4351, a set of proposed revisions to the state’s electrical certification standards under Administrative Rules Title 48, Series 7 and the State Rules Governing Assessments of Health & Safety Violations under Title 56, Series 12. This draft letter has been forwarded to WVCA members for review.

There are several areas of the comprehensive legislation which have been misread or misapplied by the agency which we’ll attempt to rectify.  In short, the proposed changes to the electrical rule primarily affect the manner by which the experience of apprentices is maintained and verified. Heretofore, the mine operator and apprentice mine electrician are responsible for recording electrical work performed by apprentices. The draft revision would additionally require supervising mine electricians to verify the time devoted to electrical work by apprentice electricians under their supervision. The proposed changes also extend the validity of Apprentice Mine Electrician Certification from one year to eighteen (18) months.

As you know, HB 4351 directs the Board of Miner Training Education and Certification to conduct a review of all applicable training requirements for miner specialty areas and make recommendations to the Legislature by December 31, 2012.

The Board has partnered with the WVU Mining Extension Service to assist in its review and have jointly developed a proposal to guide this review going forward. A copy of this proposal has been forwarded to our members for review.